• Gar Class Submarine
• Keel laid: April 2, 1940, at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Portsmouth, NH
• Launched: November 20, 1940
• Commissioned: May 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

The battle-tired submarine departed Australia on March 20 on her last war patrol and headed for the Strait of Malacca, gateway between the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Patrolling along the Malay and Thai coasts, Grenadier claimed a small freighter off the island of Phuket on April 6. She remained in the area and late in the night of April 20 sighted two merchantmen and closed in for the attack. Running on the surface at dawn April 21, Grenadier spotted, and was simultaneously spotted by, a Japanese plane. As the sub crash dived, her skipper, Commander John A. Fitzgerald commented “we ought to be safe now, as we are between 120 and 130 feet.” Just then, bombs rocked Grenadier and heeled her over 15 to 20 degrees. Power and lights failed completely and the fatally wounded ship settled to the bottom at 267 feet. She tried to make repairs while a fierce fire blazed in the maneuvering room.

After 13 hours of sweating it out on the bottom Grenadier managed to surface after dark to clear the boat of smoke and inspect damage. The damage to her propulsion system was irreparable. Attempting to bring his ship close to shore so that the crew could scuttle her and escape into the jungle, Commander Fitzgerald even tried to jury-rig a sail. But the long night’s work proved futile. As dawn broke, April 22, Grenadier’s weary crew sighted two Japanese ships heading for them. As the skipper “didn’t think it advisable to make a stationary dive in 280 feet of water without power,” the crew began burning confidential documents prior to abandoning ship. A Japanese plane attacked the stricken submarine; but Grenadier, though dead in the water and to all appearances helpless, blazed away with machine guns. She hit the plane on its second pass. As the damaged plane veered off, its torpedo landed about 200 yards from the boat and exploded.

Opening all vents, Grenadier’s crew abandoned ship and watched her sink to her final resting place. A Japanese merchantman picked up eight officers and 68 enlisted men and took them to Penang, Malay States, where they were questioned, beaten, and starved before being sent to other prison camps. They were then separated and transferred from camp to camp along the Malay Peninsula and finally to Japan. Throughout the war they suffered brutal, inhuman treatment, and their refusal to reveal military information both frustrated and angered their captors. First word that any had survived Grenadier reached Australia on November 27, 1943. Despite the brutal and sadistic treatment, all but four of Grenadier’s crew survived their two years in Japanese hands.

Grenadier received four battle stars for World War II service.

Naval Historical Center

Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet

Patch(es) were obtained from:
NavSource Online (Submarine Photo Archive).
Originally contributed by Mike Smolinski.

No one can know for certain what becomes of unbaptized babies since Scripture is largely silent on the matter, a recent document approved by the pope on Jan. 19 and was published on the Internet says.

Curiosity got the best of me and I made a trip to the vatican website to research where scripture is not silent on the topic of infant baptism. The best I could find was a explanatory comment on the text where Christ admonishes his disciples to not prevent the children from coming to him.

This seems like a pretty fine thread to base a teaching on. Especially in light that for many centuries infants were condemned to hell until they were baptized into the church. Without broaching the entire doctrine of baptism, I want to ask why it is necessary to take a stand on something that is so clearly not addressed in scripture? What possible good can come out of “formal speculation”?

Now in a document, much softer than a formal declaration of doctrine, it is suggested that we can “hope” an unbaptized infant will be graced with living eternity in a state of bliss, eternally separated from God (limbo). That’s not much hope, if you ask me. Again, why even go there. It’s OK to not have all the answers.

• Gar Class Submarine
• Keel laid: November 22, 1939 at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, CA
• Launched: January 25, 1941
• Commissioned: April 21, 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

Gudgeon sailed for her 12th war patrol on April 4, 1944. The submarine stopped off for fuel at Johnston Island on April 7, and was never seen or heard from again. On June 7, 1944, Gudgeon was officially declared overdue and presumed lost. There is conflicting information on the loss of the boat.

Reliable accounts are that USS Gudgeon was sunk April 18, 1944 by an aircraft on patrol, 166 nautical miles south-east of Iwo Jima. The pilot claimed to have sighted a surfacing sub and in the attack scored direct hits on the bow and the conning tower with 2-250 kg (550 lb) bombs, leaving a gaping hole in the center section. A column of oil was thrown into the air and the sub sank quickly, followed by a heavy under water detonation.

For her first seven war patrols Gudgeon received the Presidential Unit Citation. She earned 11 battle stars for World War II service.

Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet

Patch courtesy of Mike Ostlund, author of
Find ‘Em, Chase ‘Em, Sink ‘Em: The Mysterious Loss of the WWII Submarine USS Gudgeon.

As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. 1 Samuel 18:1 – ESV

What is this being knit together? How do people get there?

I like to think of a picture of fabric with a line drawn down the middle. If you cut it on the line you have two independent pieces of fabric. They are not knit together. They have no combined strength. However, if you take the threads of one piece and weave them into the threads of the other they have combined strength. The greater the number of points of intersection the greater the strength – until all points intersect at which point they are one in the same (right where we started).

When it comes to individuals it is very much like the fabric. Consider my life a piece of fabric. Everything about me is that piece of fabric. My education, my career, my family of origin, my relationship with my spouse; with my kids, my feelings about my status in life, you name it, it’s there. The more points of contact another has with me the more they know about the breadth of me. However, the bond is no tighter than the depth of that knowledge. It only a few threads are common between the two of us then the relationship is more easily broken.

You may know of me. You may know that I seem to be educated to some degree. You may know that I have an Associates in General Studies. You may know that my degree is based upon CLEP exams and life/work experiences plus professional naval schools. You may know that my circle of acquaintances includes many with Bachelor’s, Masters and Ph.D.’s. You may know that among this higher educated group I may feel out of my league, even intimidated. You may know that it’s fear of failure that keeps me from pursuing higher education. But do you KNOW me until you release that deep down inside there’s this little voice that says “you’ll never be good enough, you can’t do it, so don’t make a fool of yourself”

The breadth AND depth of who I am and who you are is what knits our souls together. Until we go deep across a broad range of who I am our bonds are not as strong as they may appear.

It’s been estimated that [U.S] $800 or $900 million is lost in business on this day because people will not fly or do business they would normally do.
Donald Dossey, Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina

This ailment is known as paraskavedekatriaphobia. Interestingly, although 13 has long been considered an unlucky number, it is not documented to have linked up with Friday until slightly over 100 years ago. In fact some cultures feel that Tuesday the 13th is the unluckiest of days and don’t bat an eye at the occurrence of Friday the 13th.

There are an average of 1.7 days per year with Friday the 13th. There is always at least one and at most 3 in a given year.

As the list below indicates, over a 400 year period the 13th is most likely to be on a Friday! I’m sure what this means but it is interesting trivia.

• Sunday – 687 times
• Monday – 685 times
• Tuesday – 685 times
• Wednesday – 687 times
• Thursday – 684 times
• Friday – 688 times
• Saturday – 684 times

• Thresher Class Submarine
• Keel laid: May 28, 1958, at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kettery, ME
• Launched: July 9, 1960
• Commissioned: August 3, 1961
• Displacement: 3,540 tons surfaced; 4,200 tons submerged
• Length: 278′ 6″
• Beam: 31′ 8″
• Test depth: 1,300′
• Complement: 12 officers, 94 enlisted
• Armament: four 21″ torpedo tubes, UUM-44A SUBROC, UGM-84A/C Harpoon, MK57 deep water mines, MK60 CAPTOR mines

On April 9, 1963, Thresher, commanded by LCDR John Wesley Harvey, began post-overhaul trials. Accompanied by the submarine rescue ship USS Skylark (ASR-20), she sailed to an area some 350 km (220 miles) east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and on the morning of April 10 started deep-diving tests. As these proceeded, garbled communications were received over the underwater telephone by Skylark, indicating that after initial problems Thresher had tilted and the crew were attempting to regain control. A few words were understandable, including the famous final phrase “… minor difficulties, have positive up-angle, attempting to blow.” When the garbled communications — which were followed by the ominous sound of pressurized air escaping — eventually ceased, surface observers gradually realized that Thresher had sunk. All 129 officers, crewmen and military and civilian technicians aboard her were lost.

This brass pipe, with the inscription: ‘JO 10 … 3-O-5091-05; DM 263-109-61; PL-1862791 PC.75; 1.050 Brass Pipe; 593 Boat’, was recovered by the bathyscaph Trieste during the second series of dives in the search for USS Thresher. The nuclear powered submarine which sank April 10 some 220 miles east of Cape Cod had the hull number ‘593′.”

Details of Loss
7:47 AM: Thresher begins its descent to the test depth of 1300 feet.
7:52 AM: Thresher levels off at 400 feet, contacts the surface, and the crew inspects the ship for leaks. None are found.
8:09 AM: Commander Harvey reports reaching half the test depth.
8:25 AM: Thresher reaches 1000 feet depth.
9:02 AM: Thresher is cruising at just a few knots (subs normally moved slowly and cautiously at great depths, lest a sudden jam of the diving planes send the ship below test depth in a matter of seconds.) Commander Harvey orders a course change: “Twenty degrees right rudder and five degrees down angle.”
9:09 AM: It is believed that a brazed pipe-joint ruptures in the engine room. The crew attempts to stop the leak while the room is filled with a cloud of mist. Harvey orders full speed, upward tilt of 15 degrees, and emptying the main ballast tank in order to surface. Due to Joule-Thomson effect, the pressurized air rapidly expanding in the pipes cools down, condensing moisture and depositing it on strainers installed in the system to protect the moving parts of the valves; in only a few seconds the moisture freezes, clogging the strainers and blocking the air flow, halting the effort to blow water out of the ballast tanks. The water leaking from the broken pipe most likely causes short circuits leading to an automatic shutdown of the ship’s reactor. The vessel loses propulsion. Harvey orders propulsion shifted to a battery-powered backup system. Assuming that the flooding was contained quickly, the engine room crew begins to restart the reactor, an operation that is expected to take at least 7 minutes.
9:13 AM: Harvey reports status via underwater telephone. The transmission is garbled, though some words are recognizable: “We are experiencing minor difficulties, have positive up-angle, and are attempting to blow.” The submarine, growing heavier from water flooding the engine room, continues its descent. Another attempt to empty the ballast tanks is performed, again failing due to the formation of ice.
9:15 AM: Skylark attempts to contact Thresher, gets no immediate answer.
9:16 AM: Garbled transmission received from Thresher.
9:17 AM: A second transmission is received, with somewhat recognizable phrase “exceeding test depth … nine hundred north”. The leak from the broken pipe grows with increased pressure.
9:18 AM: Skylark detects a high-energy low-frequency noise with characteristics of an implosion.

On April 11, at a news conference at 10:30 AM, the Navy officially concluded the ship lost.

Naval Historical Center

Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet

Patch(es) were obtained from:
NavSource Online (Submarine Photo Archive).
Patch on right contributed by John J. Cook, patch on left contributed by Mike Smolinski.

 
 
Easter, the Sunday of the Resurrection, is the most important religious feast of the Christian year. It celebrates the resurrection of Jesus, which his followers witnessed to have occurred on the third day after his death by crucifixion some time in the period AD 27 to 33.

 
 
Oft times Christmas is considered the high point of the Christian year since this is the celebration of the coming of the long promised Messiah. When the importance of Easter is considered, it’s usually the death on a cross that takes prominence.

It’s so easy to miss the true reason that Jesus became flesh and lived among us. He was to be the sinless lamb upon which our transgressions were laid. His days upon Earth gave us hope and light. He lay down his life as a ransom for me, but it didn’t stop there. The greatness comes from the fact that he lives today. The tomb was found empty on that first Easter morning. He conquered death and brought life!

• Gato Class Submarine
• Keel laid: April 17, 1942, at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, ME
• Launched: August 15, 1942
• Commissioned: August 24, 1942
• Displacement: 1,526 tons surfaced; 2,410 tons submerged
• Length: 311′ 8″
• Beam: 27′ 4″
• Operating depth: 300′
• Complement: 6 officers, 54 enlisted
• Armament: ten 21″ torpedo tubes, six forward, four aft, 24 torpedoes, one 3″/50 deck gun, two .50 cal. machine guns, two .30 cal. machine guns

Snook was lost while conducting her ninth war patrol, in the South China Sea and Luzon Strait. On April 8, she reported her position to submarine Tigrone (SS 419) and when she did not acknowledge messages sent from Tigrone the next day, it was presumed that she had headed toward Luzon Strait. On April 12, she was ordered to take lifeguard station in the vicinity of Sakeshima Gunto in support of British carrier air strikes. On April 20, the commander of the British carrier task force reported that he had a plane down in Snook’s assigned area, and that he could not contact the submarine by radio. Snook was ordered to search the area and to acknowledge the order. When she failed to make a transmission, submarine Bang (SS 385) was sent to make the search and rendezvous with Snook. Although Bang arrived and rescued the downed aviators, she saw nothing of the missing submarine; and, on May 16, Snook was presumed lost, the victim of unknown causes.

The actual whereabouts of SNOOK may have been discovered during a deep sea dive in 1995. The possibility exists that a U.S. submarine lies in about 350 meters of water off the coast of Iriomote island, the far southwest island in the Okinawa chain. During operations with an Okinawan company using a U.S. made “SCORPIO” ROV in 1995, a group of divers encountered a sonar contact with what appeared to be a metal structure, about 6 meters in girth and about 35 meters in length (exposed) at roughly an angle of 20-30 degrees. The sonar image of a large unexpected obstruction to the operations prompted the divers to command evasive maneuvers and avoid the area for the safety of the ROV.

The divers, thinking they would have another opportunity to work in the area at a later date, left the area and never returned to that site. Their ROV was lost in 1997 off Yonaguni island, the last island belonging to Okinawa off the east coast of Taiwan. They were fairly certain that the object was a submarine, and quite possibly the SNOOK (SS 279). No further dives in the area were ever attempted.

Snook was credited with sinking 17 enemy vessels in her two and one-half years of active service. She earned seven battle stars for World War II service.

Naval Historical Center

Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet

Patch(es) were obtained from:
NavSource Online (Submarine Photo Archive).
Originally contributed by ussubvetsofworldwarii.org

I want to comment on two recent articles from USA Today.

The first: Expert: Risky teen behavior is all in the brain.

A new review of adolescent brain research suggests that society is wasting billions of dollars on education and intervention programs to dissuade teens from dangerous activities, because their immature brains are not yet capable of avoiding risky behaviors.
[...]
“We need to rethink our whole approach to preventing teen risk,” says Steinberg[...]

“Adolescents are at an age where they do not have full capacity to control themselves,” he says. “As adults, we need to do some of the controlling.”

After age 18
Neurological researchers around the country, spearheaded by Jay Giedd of the National Institute of Mental Health, have in recent years found that the brain is not fully developed until after 18. The brain system that regulates logic and reasoning develops before the area that regulates impulse and emotions, the researchers say.
[...]
Peer pressure rules
Now he’s using brain imaging to better understand why teens are so susceptible to peer pressure. He has just begun pilot projects to study brain activity in teens when doing various tasks with their peers, compared with adults under similar circumstances.

Steinberg believes raising the driving age, increasing the price of cigarettes and more strongly enforcing underage drinking laws are among ways to really curb risky behavior.

“I don’t believe the problem behind teen risky behavior is a lack of knowledge. The programs do a good job in teaching kids the facts,” he says. “Education alone doesn’t work. It doesn’t seem to affect their behavior.”

Michael Bradley, a Philadelphia-area psychologist and author specializing in teenagers, says U.S. culture tends to view teens as small adults when, neurologically, they are large children.
[...]
USA Today – April 4, 2007

The next: Boys contaminate W.Va. town with mercury

A group of boys playing with mercury swiped from a dental office created an environmental headache after tracking it into their school, homes and church and up the steps of the public library.
[...]
USA Today – April 4, 2007

Our approach to handling most problems today seems to be to throw money at it; take the blue pill. Maybe society (that’s each of us individually) should take the more difficult red pill approach to find the truth. Neo knew what to do. Why don’t most parents?

Yesterday the family sequestered ourselves indoors; pulled the drapes; unplugged the phones. From 6:30am until midnight last night we experienced as day in the life of Jack Bauer and as they say the “events occurred in real time.”

Popcorn, veggies and other snacks were planned. The hide-a-bed was unfolded. Blankets and pillows were in abundance. 24 episodes of 24 were played back to back with minimal intermission.

We had fun and you know what? We’re all glad we don’t have to walk for even 1 hour in the shoes of Jack Bauer.