Some traditions are worth forgetting – Real Submariners

The Old Navy. The ship in the background was my Grandfather MacPherson’s ship during World War 1, USS Amphritite. Grandfather Mac was old Navy. His ship however was considered New Navy by the men who sailed on wooden ships with real sails.

Each submariner’s journey begins when they finish all of their training and the hatch closes when the last man is down. For a hundred and seventeen years, submariners have steered a course unique to their own generation and their own type of boat. From the wildly dangerous gasoline powered boats to the sleek new nuclear powered leviathans, submariners have all pioneered their own form of warfare facing unique challenges. In my lifetime, I have watched the demise of the diesel boats and an entire generation of nuclear boats that had vastly different missions and capabilities.

The lessons learned on the early boats have been passed along in design…