News from National

 Here are a couple items of interest from USSVI National. The first is about a way to communicate with the National Officers and the second is about a way to get episodes of the old TV series 'The Silent Service.'

 

Announcing the USSVI Member Questions and Comments Bulletin Board System (BBS)

We are happy to announce that USSVI has a new Bulletin Board System (BBS), the USSVI Member Questions and Comments BBS at: http://bod.subvets.net/category-view.asp

This is a place where any member can ask a question, comment or make a complaint. Ground rules are: identify yourself, keep it clean, and fraternal. Got a problem? Offer a solution. We want to build a better and more satisfying organization for all our shipmates. Our mission is to remember our fallen shipmates, encourage fraternalism between subvets and benefit our submarine family. Your questions and suggestions to help achieve these ends will be very much appreciated.

There are six topic areas covered on the BBS:

• Constitution and Bylaws related questions and comments
• USSVI Membership questions and comments
• AMERICAN SUBMARINER related questions and comments
• Charitable Foundation Questions and comments
• National Convention questions and comments
• General Questions and Comments

To participate, go to the BBS and click the General Member Questions and Comments section. Find the topic you are interested in and click on it. From there you can read through the information in the thread and add your own questions and comments by clicking the Reply button.

Don’t forget to add the BBS to your bookmarks.

Your National E-Board

The Silent Service TV Series Available
Thanks to the generosity of USSVI Northern VA Base member Ray Stone, episodes from the submarine adventure series 'The Silent Service', which aired during the 1957-1958 television seasons, are available for downloading.

The Silent Service is a documentary styled anthology series about the U.S. Navy's submarine fleet and their missions during World War II and the Korean War. Every episode was fact based and the realism of the show was elevated by the use of actual combat footage from the files of the United States Navy.

The stories, which varied between the South Pacific during World War II, the Atlantic campaign and the Korean War, were the brainchild of Rear Admiral Thomas T. M. Dykers, himself a WWII submariner who commanded USS Jack (SS-259) and retired from the Navy in 1949 after 22 years of service.

Admiral Dykers also did an introduction for each episode, narrated the action and filmed a closing segment, usually with a member of the crew of the submarine that was highlighted on that particular episode.

Each season was comprised of 39 episodes. All of the episodes for season one are complete, however there are three missing episodes for season two. (If anyone has copies or knows where they are available, please let Ray know).

In addition to the episodes, Ray has included copies of the press kits that were issued to the stations along with the films. He also included episode summaries which are handy in preparing notices/programs for individual viewing.

All episodes are in MP4 format. Ray suggests downloading to your device rather than trying to view online. Each episode is about 30 min. in length so consider that when trying to download. To download the episodes, go to www.olgoat.com, scroll down and click DOWNLOAD to get to the Silent Service page. Then click the appropriate series (SERIES ONE or SERIES TWO), find the episode you want to download, right-click on the title and then select “Save Link As” to save the file.

For those interested in short-cutting this process, the entire series can be purchased on DVD from USSVI Member John Clear. Visit www.usssealion.com for more information.

Submarines in History

On October 26, 1963,the first submerged launching of the Navy’s A-3 Polaris Missile was successfully made by the gold crew of the USS Andrew Jackson (SSBN-619), from a point some 30 miles off Cape Canaveral, Florida. A practice warhead was hurled over 2,000 miles down the Atlantic Missile Range to land on target. The A-3 Missile, with a range of 2,500 nautical miles, added 1,000 miles to the reach of the Polaris missile system.

As we think about the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis from 50 years ago, we would be remiss if we didn't remember the Soviet submarines involved in that action. Recent the PBS program Secrets of the Dead aired a program on one of these submarines.

Set over four hours on October 27, 1962, during the tensest moments of the Cuban Missile Crisis, this program tells the powerful story of Vasili Arkhipov and Soviet submarine B-59. With most of the action set in a claustrophobic submarine running out of air, “The Man Who Saved the World” combines tense drama with eyewitness accounts and expert testimony about some of the most critical events in the Cold War. You can click on the Full Screen icon in the lower right corner to expand the video. If the embedded video isn't working, go to this link to watch the program.

Watch The Man Who Saved the World: Full Episode on PBS. See more from Secrets of the Dead.

A Couple Updates

I wanted to test out a new look for the blog. So I've added a photo of USS Bonefish (SS-223) to the blog header. Bonefish is the memorial submarine for the state of Washington and was sunk on June 18, 1945.

Let me know if you like the photo. I am thinking of trying a few others, but I thought I'd start with Bonefish.

Also, I wanted to pass along a TV programing note:

21st Century Stealth Sub

Countless movies and novels have fictionalized the secret brotherhood of the submariner. But few of us outside this close-knit community ever get to witness what really goes on deep beneath the ocean waves. Take an unprecedented journey with the US Navy's latest weapon in the global fight against terrorism: the SSGN or 'guided missile submarine.' National Geographic Channel joins Captain Randy Crites and the crew of the USS Florida as they engage in a covert Joint Operations mission with Special Forces: sneaking Navy SEALs on to shore to identify a terrorist target, and taking it out with guided missiles - fired from the submarine itself.

Get an in-depth look at the technology that allows this sub to go deeper, remain submerged longer, and stay quieter than previous generations of submarines.
And witness the secret weapons that lay hidden within her hull, allowing her to enable Special Forces deployments anywhere, anytime. This is a new weapon for a new war.



Come aboard as National Geographic takes a ride on the 21st Century Stealth Sub. The program airs Thursday June 24 at 8 pm on the National Geographic Channel.

A couple follow-ups

I wanted to follow-up on a couple previously posted items.

First off, I wanted to pass along a message from Michael Bircumshaw regarding the USSVI Survey. He says:

"I want to thank you for taking the member survey. I will be answering or commenting on all of your comments as they come in and give a final review when it is done. 496 Shipmates have responded and that makes for statistical impact although I would like to hear from 2,000 or more shipmates by the time it is done."

If you haven't had a chance to take the survey, please click on the link below and answer the survey questions (it only take about 10 minutes).

USSVI Survey

Next, if you didn't get a chance to watch the Japanese Super Sub program on PBS, the full episode it up on the PBS website (the only problem being that you have you watch it on your computer). I thought it was a really interesting program.

You can click here to watch the full episode on the PBS website OR click the embeded version below to watch it right now.

Be sure to click on the Full Screen icon at the bottom of the video player (just to the left of the Menu) to watch the larger version of the video. The program is about 54 minutes long, so make sure you have your popcorn ready (although you can pause it by clicking on the Pause/Play button in the bottom left corner of the video player).



I hope you enjoy the program.

Dave Schueler
USSVI Seattle Base Newsletter Editor

Japanese Super Sub

PBS is running a feature on the Japanese I-400 class on the Secrets of the Dead program. The program airs locally (in the Puget Sound area) at 8:00PM this Wednesday (May 5) on KCTS Channel 9.



Seattle Base member Victor Horgan was on USS Segundo (SS-398), which captured one of these subs at the end of the war. When I spoke with Vic at the Christmas Luncheon, he mentioned that he had talked with the people working on the program, but I don't know if he will be included in the final production.

You can read a little more about the program at the PBS website

I think the program will be available for viewing online sometime after the 5th.

Dave Schueler
USSVI Seattle Base Newsletter Editor