Submarine History

The second of two articles on food published in the 1961 edition of All Hands was entitled “Miniature Meals” and addressed issues specific to submarines. (See yesterday’s “Tidbit” for the first article.) […]

The November 1961 edition of All Hands, the Bureau of Personnel’s information bulletin, included two articles on food. One of them, entitled “The Science of Good Eating,” addresses some of the issues, including the advent of nuclear power, faced by [...]

On the night of 17 February 1864, Confederate Ship Hunley made its silent way into the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, to attack the sloop-of-war USS HOUSATONIC. The boat was under the command of 25-year-old Lieutenant George Dixon and crewed [...]

The third war patrol of USS AMBERJACK (SS-219) began with a false start on 24 January 1943. She had concluded her previous patrol just thirteen days before, but she was needed back on the water so her refit was cut [...]

Where did the submarine warfare insignia, sometimes known as “dolphins” or “fish,” come from? The website of the Commander, Submarine Force Atlantic, gives us a history lesson. “On 13 June 1923, Captain E.J. King, Commander, Submarine Division Three (later Fleet [...]

On 25 March 1918, USS L-10 (SS-50) became the first U.S. submarine to be depth charged. Unfortunately, her attacker was a U.S. destroyer. L-10 and the destroyer had spotted each other early in the evening. “She passed nearly overhead,” wrote [...]

In January of 1942, just weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, USS SHARK (SS-174) set out on her first war patrol. She was dispatched first to Ambon Island in Indonesia; then, on the 27th, she joined several other [...]

“1109   Moored starboard side to USS COUCAL [ASR-8, a submarine rescue ship] at DARWIN. “1200   203 MILES, 4400 GALLONS.” With those words, the commanding officer of USS NAUTILUS (SS-168) concluded his boat’s fourteenth and final war-patrol report on 30 January [...]

As Alfred Giddings reveals in an article published in Naval History magazine in 1998, sometimes submarines benefit from a little help from above—on the surface, that is. The article, entitled “Rudder Assist” appears below. […]

As USS POGY (SS-266) set off from Pearl Harbor on her fourth war patrol on 25 November 1943, the crew must have been feeling pretty good: over the course of their first three patrols, they had sunk two freighters, a [...]