Submarine History

Today’s submarine sea story comes from Larry Smith, who served aboard USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (SSBN-600). It is entitled, “The Barber Chair.” […]

On 18 December 1917, the U.S. Navy issued a brief statement revealing that “the American submarine [USS] F-1 [SS-20] has been rammed and sunk by the submarine [USS] F-3 [SS-22].” The incident had happened the day before in the waters [...]

On 17 December 1927, USS S-4 (SS-109), an eight-year-old S-class submarine, was running submerged just off the coast of Provincetown, MA, conducting speed and maneuverability tests between the two white buoys that marked the beginning and end of a measured [...]

John MacKenzie was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on 7 July 1886; he enlisted in the Navy on 20 December 1902 when he was just 16 years old. He was discharged five years later, but returned in 1917 when the United [...]

USS GRAYLING (SS-209) stood out from Fremantle, Australia, on her eighth war patrol on 30 July 1943. The boat was fresh off a 24-day refit and had a brand-new C.O., Lieutenant Commander Robert M. Brinker. (His predecessor, Lieutenant Commander John [...]

Just after 7 PM on 4 December 1965, astronauts Frank F. Borman, II, and James A. Lovell, Jr., were carried into outer space on GEMINI VII. America’s twelfth manned space flight would last nearly fourteen days and carry Borman and [...]

In October of 1944, Flying magazine published its annual naval-aviation edition. In his introduction to the issue, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Air Artemus L. Gates acknowledged, in a roundabout way, the accomplishments of America’s submarine force. “When I [...]

On the morning of 25 August 1949, USS COCHINO (SS-345) and USS TUSK (SS-426) were engaged in a training exercise north of the Arctic Circle in the roiling waters of the Barents Sea. The following is from a publication, entitled [...]

Alexander Bonnyman, Jr., was born on 2 May 1910 in Atlanta, Georgia. He attended Princeton University, served as a U.S. Army Air Corps flying cadet in 1932, and worked in the coal-mining industry during the 1930s. (He washed out of [...]

USS SCULPIN (SS-191) began her ninth war patrol on 7 November 1943, departing Johnston Atoll, where she had stopped to fill up on fuel after leaving Pearl Harbor, for the Caroline Islands in the western Pacific Ocean. The United States [...]