Submarine History

On 5 January 1944, two days into her fourth war patrol, USS SCORPION (SS-278) reported that a member of her crew had broken his arm and requested a rendezvous with the homeward-bound USS HERRING (SS-233) to effect a personnel transfer. [...]

Today’s submarine sea story comes from Jim Braden, who served aboard USS CASIMIR PULASKI (SSBN-633). It is entitled, “The Key to Waking Up.” […]

When USS LIONFISH (SS-298) was commissioned on 13 October 1944, a program was created for the official after party at Club Pannaway in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. On the cover the author noted that “the spines of the dorsal fin [of [...]

The national pastime, on ice. In the photo, a Sailor from USS SEADRAGON (SSN-584) waits for the delivery of the first baseball ever pitched at the North Pole, August 1960. (The crew laid out their diamond with the pitcher’s mound [...]

Don’t you hate it when your car door freezes shut? Then be thankful you weren’t part of the crew of USS TREPANG (SSN-674) when she visited Ice Camp Opal, a research station on the polar ice cap, in 1985. In [...]

Cold-weather décor in a warm-weather port: Christmas decorations adorn the deck of USS KEY WEST (SSN-722), Naval Station Pearl Harbor, 2005. Happy holidays from the Submarine Force Museum!  

December of 1941 found USS SEALION (SS-195), commissioned in 1939 and the veteran of one war patrol, in the midst of a routine overhaul at Cavite Navy Yard in the Philippines. She would never make it back to sea. On [...]

On 25 November 1942, USS SILVERSIDES (SS-236) completed her third war patrol when she pulled into Brisbane, Australia. By 17 December the boat had refitted and was headed back out. Within days she was passing the Louisiade Archipelago, a string [...]

IREXGRAMS, familygram messages from USS IREX (SS-482), were sent out by the C.O., D.V. Murray, to the families of the entire crew on at least four occasions during a deployment that lasted from the fall of 1964 into the new [...]

ALVIN (DSV-2) is a deep-diving research submersible that is operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, although she is owned by the Navy. ALVIN, which began her service in 1964, has carried up to three people at a time on [...]