Silent Service - The USN Submarine Forces

[Salvage Sailor]

USS BOSTON (SSN-703)

Los Angeles class attack submarine in service 1980 to 1999

USS BOSTON SSN-703 LAUNCHING PATCH

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Salvage Sailor]

On 4/7/2017 at 3:35 PM, Bearmon said:

 

USS Cubera

 

 

USS CUBERA (SS-347)

Balao class in service 1945 to 1972

Looking down the barrel of Cubera's (SS-347) forward 5-inch/25 caliber gun, 1946.

 

 

Through 1957 Cubera conducted local operations, and participated in fleet exercises in the Caribbean, as well as cruising to Sydney, Nova Scotia, in June 1955. During 1959 and 1960, she was assigned to Task Force Alfa, a force conducting constant experiments to improve antisubmarine warfare techniques. With this group she cruised the western Atlantic from Nova Scotia to Bermuda.

 

Task Group Alfa: Formation portrait of the anti-submarine group's ships and aircraft, taken during 1959 exercises in the Atlantic, while Secretary of the Navy William B. Franke was embarked. Ships include the group flagship, Valley Forge (CVS-45) in center, two submarines, Cubera (SS-347) right & Sea Leopard (SS-483) left and seven destroyers.  Destroyers are: Left column, Eaton (DDE-510), Beale (DDE-471), and Bache (DDE-470); center foreground, Waller (DDE-466); right column, Conway (DDE-507), Cony (DDE-508), and Murray(DDE-576).
Aircraft overhead include two formations of S2F Trackers from the Valley Forge air group, plus one shore-based P2V Neptune from Norfolk Naval Air Station, Virginia. Two HSS-1 helicopters are flying low, directly over the submarines.

 

 

 

CUBERA (SS-347) sails alongside the aircraft carrier Valley Forge (CVS-45) for a high-line transfer, during exercises of Task Group Alfa, circa 1959

[Salvage Sailor]

On 9/8/2016 at 10:57 AM, Bearmon said:

 

USS Darter SSN 576 

 

 

USS DARTER (SS-576)

In service 1956 to 1989

 

USS Darter (SS-576), a unique submarine based on the Tang class, but incorporating many improvements, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the darter, a type of small American fresh-water fish.

 

 

The contract to build Darter was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut on 30 June 1954 and her keel was laid down on 10 November 1954. She was launched on 28 May 1956 sponsored by Mrs. G.L. Russell, and commissioned on 20 October 1956.

 

Designed under project SCB 116 with sophisticated acoustic, electronic and fire control gear, Darter was intended to serve as a new generation of post-war ASW submarines, similar to USS Tang (SS-563). Darter was used to experiment with numerous innovations including a three-man helmsman-planesman station using aircraft-style stick controls.

 

 

 

 

 

[Salvage Sailor]

On 9/16/2017 at 3:39 PM, Bearmon said:

 

USS Hawkbill SSN 666

 

USS HAWKBILL (SSN-666)

Sturgeon class in service 1971 to 2000

 

 

GEMSCO

 

UNKNOWN US MAKER

 

 

 

[Salvage Sailor]

On 9/1/2017 at 9:00 AM, Salvage Sailor said:

Balao class USS GUITARRO (SS-363) In service 1944 to 1954

commemorative patch

 

The Second USS GUITARRO (SSN-665)

 

 

USS GUITARRO (SSN-665) 

Sturgeon class in service 1972 to 1992

 

But she sank in 1969...

 

OOPS!

Sinking of the USS GUITARRO

Hon. L. Mendel Rivers,
Chairman, Committee on Armed Services
House of Representatives Washington, D.C.

June 30, 1969

 

Dear Mr. Chairman: Attached is a report entitled "The Sinking of the U.S.S. Guitarro", unanimously approved by the appointed members of the Armed Services Investigating Subcommittee conducting this review. A comprehensive study was initiated pursuant to your instructions and hearings were held at San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard, Mare Island, Vallejo, California, on May 26, 27, and 28, 1969.

I shall appreciate your early approval of the report so that it may be printed.

 

Sincerely yours,

Samuel S. Stratton
Chairman, Special Subcommittee To Investigate the Sinking of the U.S.S. Guitarro.

Full Report Here -->> Sinking of USS Guitarro (SSN-665)

 

   

The Guitarro (SSN-665) is on the bottom of the Napa River after her accidental sinking at Mare Island on 15 May 1969. (Note: The reactor had not been installed). Other vessels in the picture are from left to right; unknown YD, YD-33 (150 Ton Crane), and Satanta (YTM-270). Satanta is preventing the Guitarro from capsizing.  (On a personal note: I was working the installation of her MK-113 fire control system at the time, but I was in training at the time of her sinking and salvage. I did return in time to remove the mounting rails and the reference sensing elements from the forward portion of the torpedo tubes. These units were located on the tubes just before they penetrated the pressure hull. This experiences gave a new meaning to "sewer pipes.")

[Salvage Sailor]

USS ANGLER (SSK-240)

'Hunter-Killer'

1953-1960

 

Commissioned USS Angler (SS-240), 10 October 1943;

Decommissioned, 12 February 1947; Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet;

Recommissioned, 2 April 1951;

Decommissioned in 10 November 1952, for conversion to a Hunter-Killer Submarine, at the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics, Groton CT.

Redesignated (SSK-240) on 18 February 1953;

Recommissioned USS Angler (SSK-240), 10 September 1953;

Redesignated (SS-240) in 1960;

Redesignated Auxiliary Submarine (AGSS-240) on 1 July 1963;

Decommissioned, 1 April 1968;

 

[Old Boater]

On 7/7/2019 at 12:16 PM, Salvage Sailor said:

The Loss of the USS BONEFISH - The 1988 Fire at Sea

 

 

On 24 April 1988 Bonefish was submerged, during an exercise with guided-missile frigate USS Carr, about 160 mi (260 km) off the Atlantic coast of Florida, when seawater began leaking onto cables and electric buses in a battery-supply cableway. Arcing then caused an explosion, which flashed into a fire within minutes, with the temperature in the battery space reaching 1,200° Fahrenheit. The heat was so intense that it melted the soles of the shoes of the crewmembers in the space above.

 

 

Bonefish surfaced, and the captain ordered the crew to abandon ship. The crews of a whaleboat from Carr and helicopters from both Carr and the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy rescued 89 men. Petty Officer Third Class Larry B. Grossman, a Navy Spec Ops Aviation Rescue Swimmer (AIRR) and Navy Diver from Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Seven (HS-7), with total disregard for his own safety, jumped from an H-3 helicopter into the ocean and spent more than three hours rescuing stricken Sailors.

 

 

The first survivor, in a panic, knocked off Grossman's mask and Grossman gave up his own life preserver to calm the Sailor down. Petty Officer Grossman swam over a thousand yards in the choppy waters and received credit for having saved 19 lives. Grossman's eyes were nearly swollen shut from the fuel and saltwater and he also received chemical burns on his body from the diesel fuel spilled from the submarine in the ocean. He remained overnight in the medical ward on the carrier for his injuries. Grossman later received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal from the President for his extraordinary heroism. (The Navy and Marine Corps Medal is the highest noncombat decoration awarded for heroism within the US Department of the Navy, ranking immediately above the Bronze Star Medal in the order of precedence for the awards and decorations of the US armed forces).

 

 

The frigate USS McCloy, serving as headquarters of the rescue operation, pulled alongside Bonefish to remove the bodies. Afterward USS Hoist (ARS-40), a salvage-and-rescue ship, towed Bonefish to Charleston, South Carolina. Three crewmembers – Lieutenant Ray Everts, Radioman First Class (RM1) (SS) Bob Bordelon, and Yeoman Third Class (YN3) (SS) Marshal Lindgren – died due to the fire.

 

Naval authorities deemed the damage to Bonefish to be too extensive to warrant repair and thus decided to decommission and scrap her in 1989

 

USS BONEFISH (SS-582) The last of the Barbel class (and last) Diesel Electric submarine built for the US Navy. In service 1959 to 1988.

 

 

Cut edge missile & torpedo version of her patch

 

 

 

Cut edge torpedo version of her patch

 

 

UNITAS XX (20) 1979 - UNITAS are sea exercises and in-port training involving several countries in North, South and Central America, conducted by the United States since 1959 in support of U.S. policy.

 

 

In 2009, the exercises were named UNITAS Gold, in recognition of the fiftieth anniversary of the first exercises in 1959.

 

As information the Bonefish patch with the missile and radio waves is the original iteration of the Boner Maru patch. That is because the 580 class, Barbel, Blueback and Bonefish were originally designed to be radio guidance boats for the Regulas missile program. These missiles were launched from the 574 and 577 and were to be guided by the Barbel class.