Wow! I visited the Titan Missile Museum in the Tucson area today and it was very enlightening. In case you haven’t already noticed elsewhere on this blog – I was on both Poseidon and Trident submarines spending over 2 years under water making cold war deterrent patrols. My job was specifically working with the computer systems that programmed and launched the SLBM’s (Submerged Launch Ballistic Missiles). I found it fascinating to see what this portion of the triad were doing and how they were living while I was concurrently performing my similar duties deep under the seas.

If you have not served in the military, it’s hard to understand the level of sacrifice of the men and women of the armed forces. Imagine the sacrifice of leaving family and friends, possibly to give your very life. Imagine the stress on relationships with your spouse and children. Imagine the stress of upholding the highest standard of commitment and honor even when there are days you just don’t’ feel like it, or agree with it. If you ever get a chance visit museums and memorials do so. If for nothing else to gain insight into the thoughts and motivations of those that pledge their all to this country that we can enjoy the freedoms we do. The cold war is a couple decades behind us but has affected the motivations and ideals of several generations. The effects both good and bad will be with us for many years to come. Experience history.

California has a new law on the books. Take more than 25 free newspapers for recycling or to keep someone from reading it and you have violated the law.

I guess the need for this law was spawned from several incidents of taking mass quantities of free newspapers and selling them to recycler’s in a country south of the U.S. Seems strange that someone would go all the way to Mexico to recycle their newspapers, but I guess they haven’t heard about the price of gas these days. I am all for the intent behind this law, but it makes me cringe to think that here’s another law on the books. One more law to enforce; one more statute to add to an XXL sized bureaucracy. Why does it have to be so complicated? Why can’t right be right and wrong be wrong without having to spell it all out?

• Gar Class Submarine
• Keel laid: December 15, 1939 at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Portsmouth, NH
• Launched: September 4, 1940
• Commissioned: March 1, 1941
• Displacement: 1,475 tons surfaced; 2,370 tons submerged
• Length: 307′ 2″
• Beam: 27′ 3″
• Test depth: 250′
• Complement: 5 officers, 54 enlisted
• Armament: ten 21″ torpedo tubes, 24 torpedoes, one 3″/50 dual purpose deck gun, two .50 cal. machine guns, two .30 cal. machine guns

USS GRAYLING II (SS209) under the command of Lcdr. R.M. Brinker, departed Fremantle on 30 July 1943, for her eighth war patrol during WWII, going through Makassar Strait and thence to the Philippine area. On 19 August, she reported having damaged a 6,000 ton freighter near Balikpapan, and the following day told of having sunk a 250 ton Taki Maru-type pocket tanker by gunfire in Sibutu Passage, taking one man prisoner. This was the last report received direct from GRAYLING. On 23 August, she completed a special mission at Pandan Bay, Panay, delivering a cargo to guerillas. This mission was reported by guerillas. Then she departed for Tablas Strait, there to reconnoiter until 2 September, when she would patrol approaches to Manila until 10 September. She was to return to Pearl Harbor for refit, passing from SubSoWesPac to SubPac on 13 September.

She was not heard from after 19 August 1943, and on 30 September 1943, GRAYLING was reported as presumed lost.

Following the war’s end, the Japanese have submitted the following reports which bear on GRAYLING. On 27 August 1943 a torpedo attack was seen by the enemy, and the next day a surfaced submarine was seen northeast. On 9 September a surfaced U.S.Submarine was seen inside Lingayen Gulf; this ties with GRAYLING’s ordres to patrol the approaches to Manila. It is said that the freighter-transport Hokuan Maru was engaged in a submarine action on the 9th in the Philippine area, but no additional data were available, and no known enemy attacks could have sunk GRAYLING. Her loss may have been operational or by an unrecorded enemy attack. At any rate, it is certain that GRAYLING was lost between 9 and 12 September 1943 either in Lingayen Gulf or along the approaches to Manila. ComTaskFor71 requested a transmission from GRAYLING on the latter date, but did not receive one.

GRAYLING’s first war patrol, made in January and February 1942, was a reconnaissance of the northern Gilbert Islands. She went to the Japanese homeland for her second patrol, and sank a freigher and damaged a sampan. Truk was the scene of GRAYLING’s third patrol; she sank a large freighter. On her fourth patrol, this boat again went to Truk, and sank a medium tanker, while she damaged an aircraft transport. In January and February 1943, she patrolled the approaches to Manila on her fifth patrol. Here she sank two freighters and a medium freighter-transport. GRAYLING patrolled the lesser islands south of the Philippines on her sixth patrol, and sank two freighters, a small freigher-transport and two schooners. She went to the area west of Borneo for her seventh patrol, and sank a medium freighter and two sampans. Damage was done to a large tanker. Thus GRAYLING’s total record is 16 ships sunk, totalling 61,400 tons, and six ships damaged, for a total of 36,600 tons.

Submarine and crew had received two Navy Unit Commendations for their 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th war patrols.

Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet

Patch(es) were obtained from:
NavSource Online (Submarine Photo Archive).

How does one create warning signs for someone living 10,000 years from now. It is the realm of sci-fi, which coincidently has been a pretty good predictor of what the future holds. The geek in me found this article fascinating:

Future Be Warned: Keep Out!

Ten thousand years from now, the last remaining monument of the U.S. military-industrial complex could well be the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. And it will be marked by an elaborate keep-out sign. Planners building underground storage for radioactive military waste hope to develop a universal warning system that will communicate its message to future societies, regardless of language, custom or even species. Wired News – September 7, 2006

This article brings up some interesting questions such as what types of markers can last 10,000 years? When language changes, as it will, how can we make it easier to decipher than ancient egyptian was, or more intelligible than pre-medieval Pictish (the language of the 10th century Picts from central and northern Scotland)? How can we create markers that are more of a warning than a curiosity?

I’d like to think that in our modern society, with an awareness of the importance of preserving the present for future generations, that this information would be recorded in so many ways and translated as needed that loss of information would be next to impossible. Oral tradition and limited manuscripts did not fair too well for the Egyptians but in our digital age it may not be a problem of transmitting the information accurately through the ages but instead a risk of losing the information in mountains of other information. Ever try to find a needle in a haystack?

It seems like it’s been forever, but there was a day when VCR’s were the new kid on the block. Some of you that are old enough to remember think back to a day prior to the VCR when, if you missed a television broadcast you were resigned to wait until the next time it was aired. That might be 6 months; it might be a year later. Then the VCR came into our lives. All of a sudden you could set a program to record and watch it later when it was more convenient. You could watch it again and again. Wow! Self-serve when you were used to be served when someone got around to it, now that’s living! For the cost of a tape you could create a library of your favorite visual delights.

Step into the digital world. TiVo and it’s copycat creations slowly but surely moved in on that old analog tape. Do you see what has happened? Now those of us “enlightened” individuals that use digital recording methods, commonly known as DVR’s, now pay a monthly fee to someone for the privilege of recording our favorite shows for later viewing. How in the world did that happen? Don’t we still have to do the recording? Isn’t the actual recording still in our homes? But we now pay for it. Sure there is some value added, instant replay at your fingertips, programming guides, assistance with selecting your favorite shows, etc. But somehow something that was once free became something that we now pay someone for.

I guess it had to happen. How many years have we Americans been paying to go out and spend a night or two camping? Wasn’t that also free at one time?

Everything has a price. Everything has some value. Sometimes the price and value intersect, sometimes not. I don’t know what an economist would say, but I have observed supply and demand in action and have noticed that most people are irrational. Americans as a whole don’t seem to question the rationality of the price of an item.

Movie tickets are a great example. The standard admission price has far outpaced the value of what you get. I love motion pictures. In my opinion, it doesn’t get much better than a nice theater with an awesome sound system and a big bucket of buttered popcorn. There was a time in my life that I could be found in the theater 4 to 7 nights per week. The good, bad and the ugly were all fair game and I thoroughly enjoyed each flick for what it was. The cost of admission was reasonable for the perceived value. Over the years I noticed that as the ticket price went up, my motion picture attendance was more selective and reserved for those few quality pictures that come out each year. As prices continued to rise I found that there was not equitable value in even the best of pictures. Let’s face it. Hollywood releases the best of the best every 3 to 5 years. One very worthwhile picture is released every 3 years. Yes, there are a several more that are fun or exciting but not many that are all this plus compelling as a story.

What would happen if Americans could restrain their lust and say “no” when the value and price do not agree?

• S-4 Class Submarine (Government-type)
• Keel laid: December 4, 1917 at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, ME
• Launched: November 10, 1919
• Commissioned: March 6, 1920
• Displacement: 876 tons surfaced; 1,092 tons submerged
• Length: 231′
• Beam: 21′ 10″
• Depth limit: 200′
• Complement: 4 officers, 34 enlisted
• Armament: four 21″ torpedo tubes, 12 torpedoes, one 4″/50 deck gun

Following builder’s trials, outfitting, and crew training, USS S-5 departed the Boston Navy Yard on 30 August 1920 to undergo full-power trials 55 miles off the Delaware Capes. On 1 September 1920, at 1300, she commenced a “crash dive” for a submerged test run. Water unexpectedly entered the submarine through the main air induction system, pouring into the torpedo room, control room, engine room, and the motor room.

Normal procedure was to leave the main air induction valve open until the engines had a chance to come to a full stop, this operation being so timed as to occur just prior to complete submergence. In the case of USS S-5, however, the man responsible for operating this valve was momentarily distracted. Noticing his mistake, he grabbed the valve lever and jerked hard, causing the valve to jam open.

After considerable difficulty, the system valves in the other compartments were closed, but all efforts to secure the torpedo room valve met with failure. The abandoned torpedo room flooded, making the boat bow heavy. An additional 80 tons of water in the motor room bilges caused her to settle on the bottom.

It was now impossible to eject water from the torpedo room. An attempt was then made to pump out the motor room, but a gasket blew out and there were no means for repair. Lying 194 feet on the bottom, the crew had little hope of being found, much less of being rescued.

Their situation now called for some original thinking. They reasoned that sufficient buoyancy in the after section could tilt the submarine on her nose and extend the stern above the surface. The tilt would cause the water in the motor room to drain forward and increase buoyancy further. However, there was great risk involved because this would allow salt water to enter the battery room, which would generate deadly chlorine gas. They hoped to have enough time, after the water had entered, to close the watertight door before the gas could reach a dangerous level.

After making preparations, air was applied to the after ballast and fuel tanks, blowing them dry. The stern began to rise and then shot to the surface. Men, floor plates, bilge water, and other loose objects fell through the length of the submarine. One man nearly drowned in the battery room, but was fished out and the compartment door was sealed against the gas.

By tapping on the hull, it was determined that the stern extended about 17 feet above the surface of the water. With inadequate tools, they took turns trying to cut a hole in the thick hull. After 36 Hours, they had only succeeded in making a hole three inches in diameter.

Through the hole, crew members saw ships pass without stopping. Finally, the wooden steam-powered liberty ship “SS Alanthus” passed nearby. A seaman on watch spotted what he thought was a buoy through his binoculars, but the Captain of SS Alanthus knew that a buoy should not be that far out to sea, and turned his vessel around to investigate. Approaching in a lifeboat, the Captain asked:

“What ship?”
“S-5.”
“What nationality?”
“American.”
“Where bound?”
“Hell by compass.”

SS Alanthus sent out SOS signals and tried without success to enlarge the hole in the submarine’s stern for an escape passage for the entrapped crew. Responding to the SOS signals, the steamship “SS General Goethals” arrived at sundown and pried a huge steel plate from USS S-5′s hull. Within an hour, all the submariners were out of their boat, some fifty-one hours after the ill-fated dive.

The next morning, dozens of Navy ships came to the scene of the sinking. Battleship USS Ohio (BB-12) secured a towline to the stern of USS S-5, pulled her free of the bottom, and proceeded to tow her to more shallow water. After the S-boat had been under tow for about a mile, she slipped her lines. The loosened submarine bobbed, capsized, and then plunged to the bottom in deep water.

No attempts were made to salvage USS S-5, and she was struck from the Navy List in 1921.

Amazingly, this fourth submarine loss in the United States Navy resulted in no loss of life.

In 1989, 1990, and 1991, the relocated hull of USS S-5 (SS-110) was investigated by divers.

A portion of the hull plating of USS S-5, that was removed by SS General Goethals to permit the S-boat’s crew to escape from the sunken submarine, is on exhibit in the Navy Memorial Museum in the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D. C.

For a more complete description of the rescue operation see Undersea Warfare Magazine.

Naval Historical Center

Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet