Boat History

12 May 1995 – The movie Crimson Tide is released starring Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington as the skipper and executive officer of USS Alabama (SSBN 731). When ‘War Traffic’ is interrupted during  an escalating conflict involving a potential nuclear exchange, the ship’s crew is divided when

How many of you can claim to be a member of this rather exclusive submarine inclinometer club ?

Max Merrell Wicklander MM2 – May 4, 1945 USS Lagarto (SS-371) Built in Manitowoc Shipbuilding in Wisconsin, Lagarto was launched on May28, 1944. Transported down the Mississippi via the Illinois River, Lagarto departed New Orleans on 12 November 1944. Transiting the Panama Canal in December, she reached

25 April 2026 USS Idaho Commissioned – also on this day in 1960 The USS Triton (SSRN 586) Under the command of Edward L. Beach completed the first submerged circumnavigation of the world. Sailing with the code nameOperation Sandblast, the United States Navy nuclear-powered radar picket submarine

James Robert Ball SN – April 18, 1944 – USS Gudgeon (SS-211) Departed Pearl on her 12th War patrol on  April 4, 1944, topped off fuel at Johnston Island on April 7th and proceeded to her patrol area. Gudgeon was never heard from again. Japanese records obtained

Sidney Lynn Middleton MM1 – April 10, 1963 – USS Thresher (SSN-593) Approximately 300 miles off the coast of New England. Most likely cause of the sinking was a failure of a silver-brazed pipe allowing sea water to spray onto a panel. The resulting short circuit resulted

Delmer Lemar Crawford GM1 – April 9, 1945 – USS Snook (SS-279)  Snook arrived on station in the South China Sea on her ninth War Patrol on 8 April 1945 and reported her position to the submarine Tigrone (SS 419). The next day she did not acknowledge

Beryl Glyde Osborn CS3-  April 3, 1943 – USS Pickerel (SS-177) Off Honshu, Japan.  Pickerel left Pearl and subsequently topped off for fuel at Midway on 22 March ’43 and then headed for the assigned patrol area. Pickerel was never heard from again. No clear cause of

March 26, 1944 – USS Tullibee (SS-284) On March 14th Tullibee departed Midway, bound for its patrol area of the Palau Islands with orders to support aircraft carrier operations on March 30 to 31st. Tullibee arrived on station on March 25th and reported in. The next day

On March 17, 1898, St. Patrick’s Day, Irish-born engineer John Philip Holland demonstrated a submarine he designed, the Holland VI, for the U.S. Navy Department, off the coast of Staten Island. (The green in the pic is pure coincidence. Right? ) During the demonstration, the vessel was