1MC JAN 2016 USSVI MARBLEHEAD BASE

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1 1MC JAN 2016 USSVI MARBLEHEAD BASE "To perpetuate the memory of our shipmates who gave their lives in the pursuit of their duties while serving their country. That their dedication, deeds and supreme sacrifice be a constant source of motivation toward greater accomplishments. Pledge loyalty and patriotism to the United States of America and its Constitution. NEXT MEETING 01 FEB Gerry 5 Hall, 210 Beacon St. Marblehead, MA Lost boats for January USS SCORPION (SS-278) 05 JAN 1944 USS ARGONAUT (SS-166) 10 JAN 1943 USS SWORDFISH (SS-193) 12 JAN 1945 USS S-36 (SS-141) 20 JAN 1942 In this issue LOST BOATS 1 VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE 2 SECRETARY S REPORT 2 SUBMARINE NEWS AND VIEWS 3 ETERNAL PATROL SOUPDOWN LIST FEB HANSON MAR OPEN APR UPTON et al MAY OPEN JUN - COOKOUT UPCOMING EVENTS Submarine Force History Presentation Atria Marland Assisted Living Facility 15 Stevens St, Andover, MA Saturday 13 February 2016 Set-up 2pm, Presentation 2:30pm Base Officers 2016 Commander Tim Grab USS ANNAPOLIS (SSN-760) Cambridge St Chelmsford, MA timg760@gmail.com Vice Commander Frank Harrington USS CAVALLA (SSN-684) Emily Lane Peabody, MA fpharrington@gmail.com Secretary Peter Koester USS PROVIDENCE (SSN-719) Treaty Ct Unit 2 Fremont, NH SubGuySS@verizon.net Treasurer George LeBlanc USS BANG (SS- 385) Mello Parkway Danvers, MA (978) Sun-Tue (603) Wed-Sat gleblanc385@verizon.net Store Keeper - Dana Sweeter USS THOMAS EDISON (SSBN-610) 60 Burley Street Danvers, MA dana610skss@aol.com USS S-26 (SS-131) 24 JAN 1942 Need a USSVI Membership Card? If you want a new membership card from USSVI National, call or them using the following information: Phone , or office@ussvi.org. This will be the quickest and easiest procedure to use. PAST COMMANDERS Mark Ames Jeff Howlett Bob Connery Dick Josephson Ray Comeau 2002 Dave Campbell Don Femino Stan Dixon Dana Sweeter Peter Koester Eric H Ericson III Tom Shannon

2 VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE Winter? What winter? For Massachusetts, the weather is positively balmy. Although now that I ve said that, I m sure were in for a blizzard. We submariners know how to handle rough weather GO DEEP! At the risk of repeating myself, this is the calm before the storm of our busy season. Preparations are being made for the annual Submarine Birthday Ball. (My wife says that if there s no dancing, it s not a ball. I told her to secure that kind of talk and get back in the galley. I laughed, she laughed, she made me scrub all the toilet bowls good times!) The good news is, we already have a guest speaker. The bad news is, the Gerry is not available to us for the month of April, but we have an in at the American Legion in Middleton for April 16th so we can have the Ball there; all we need is a caterer and the rest is gravy. However, it was mentioned to me that we might try to keep the Ball in Marblehead despite the fact that we can t use the Gerry. I am following up a lead on this, but so far it does not look as financially attractive as using the AL in Middleton. I am waiting on further pricing information. I am interested in hearing opinions on this at the monthly meeting on Monday February 1st. Our options seem to be: Stick with the American Legion in Middleton, and find a caterer; it doesn t seem to be a hardship to go to Middleton, since it s not that far from Marblehead; Find a reasonably-priced venue in Marblehead, along with a local caterer, because we are, after all, MARBLEHEAD Base; Move the date of the Ball to a date on which the Gerry is available, after they complete renovations. We don t have an end date for the renovations; just the month of April. However, if the membership decides to go with this option, we ll likely have to wait until about mid-may to have the Ball, and we might have to find a new guest speaker. Some other option we have not yet considered. Keep these ideas in mind for the February meeting and be ready to discuss. If you re at the meeting, your voice will be heard. -Tim Grab SECRETARY S REPORT 04 JAN 2016 Call to Order Annual Meeting - With the sounding of the boat s klaxon at 1932 hours, the Annual Meeting for 2016 was called to order by Base Commander Tim Grab. The USSVI Creed was recited to begin the meeting and lost boats for the month of January were read as shipmate George LeBlanc tolled the bell for each boat. After reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, the 23 shipmates present sounded off with their names and their qual boat. Reports - The Base Commander s Annual Report was read and accepted. - The Base Treasurer s Annual Report was tabled until February due to not having December Bank Statements on hand yet. New Business - Election of Base Officers for 2016: 2 - The Nominations as of December 2015 stood as follows: Tim Grab nominated for re-election as Base Commander. Frank Harrington nominated for reelection as Base Vice Commander. Peter Koester nominated for reelection as Base Secretary. George LeBlanc nominated for reelection as Base Treasurer. - The floor was opened for any further nominations for Base Officers for There were no further nominations. The Nominating Committee Chair Doug Bryant instructed the Secretary to cast one vote for the nominated slate. - The Base Officers for 2016 were sworn in by Base Chief of the Boat Doug Bryant. - The awarding of the 2015 Past Commander s Shipmate of the Year Award was tabled due to the fact the presenter was not present with the award. Adjourn - The Annual Meeting was adjourned at 1949 hours. Call to Order Monthly Meeting - At 1950 hours, the Monthly Meeting for January 2016 was called to order by Base Commander Tim Grab. Reports - The Secretary s report was read and accepted. - The Treasurer s report was read and accepted. - The Treasurer informed the members that there were 4 MHB members DINK on 2016 Base/National Dues. Old Business Submarine Birthday Ball: Commander Grab informed the members that the Gerry Hall may not be available for either the April Base Meeting or the Birthday Ball scheduled for 16 April due to building renovations. More information will be distributed as it is known. - Past Commander Tom Shannon informed the members that this year s Birthday Ball guest speaker

3 SECRETARY S REPORT (cont d) will be Commander Kurt Stronach - Executive Officer, Subase New London. - Wreaths Across America: - Secretary Koester provided a recap on the Wreath Across America event hosted by USSVI Thresher Base at Albacore Park in Portsmouth, NH attended by several members of MHB on Saturday, 12 December. - Stoughton Holiday Parade of Lights: Secretary Koester also provided a recap of the events of the Stoughton, MA Holiday Parade of Lights that occurred later that same evening and was joined by members of USSVI Boston Base. - Kapss for Kidss: - Commander Grab informed the members that National USSVI Kapss for Kidss Chairman John Reiley has been in touch and hopes to have a Kapss for Kidss hospital visit in the Greater Boston area arranged sometime in the Spring, possibly in April. New Business - Summer Uniform Polo Shirts: - Commander Grab is collecting names and shirt sizes for members interested in purchasing new Summer Uniform white polo shirts. He hopes to have an order in on time to receive the shirts prior to the Memorial Day Parade in May. - Submarine Slideshow Presentation: - Due to the success of the Submarine History and USS Thresher Presentation at the Atria Merrimack Asst Living Facility in Newburyport, MA in November, MHB has been invited to make the same presentation at the Atria Marland Asst Living Facility in Andover, MA on Saturday, 13 February 2016 (President s Day Weekend). Set up will start at 2:00PM and the entire presentation is expected to last until approximately 4:00PM (including post presentation break-down). Secretary Koester requests several MHB members be on hand to answer questions and tell sea stories. Good of the Order - Commander Grab informed the members about USS Hampton SSN-767, aboard which his neighbor Nick Annibali serves as a sonarman, and their recent under-ice mission to transit from the West Coast to Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, ME. - The Base members recognized Tom Shannon, whose birthday was that day. Adjourn Mike Hogan gave the benediction and the meeting adjourned at 2021 hours. The meeting was followed by Soup- Down of pizza ordered from a local pizzeria. Close the hatch award winner was Frank Hood, thanks to Brian Shanning. Respectfully submitted, Peter Koester, Base Secretary SUBMARINE NEWS AND VIEWS USS Albacore Park getting $1.2M upgrade Dry basin being repaired to revitalize historic attraction By Jeff McMenemy seacoastonline.com Jan. 14, 2016 PORTSMOUTH Work has begun on a $1.2 million project to rehabilitate the dry basin where the historic submarine USS Albacore sits. Phil Munck, president of the board of directors of the Portsmouth Submarine Memorial Association, said Albacore was an experimental submarine built to prove that the hull shape was in fact the fastest way to go for a submarine that was going to spend most of its time underwater. Before Albacore was built at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, most submarines were really submersibles, Munck said at a press conference Thursday at Albacore Park off the Route 1 Bypass. It ran on the surface, they fought on the surface a lot, they spent some time submerged, Munck said. Albacore would submerge and stay submerged. 3 Munck said many submarines were built based on the success of the hull design of Albacore, which was commissioned in Albacore proved that s the shape to get from here to there as fast as you can, Munck said. The need to rehabilitate the dry basin where Albacore sits came as a result of materials from the basin s sides starting to slide down the slopes and into the basin itself, Munck said. Crews working on the project will have to excavate a good deal of material and then build the sides of the basin back up, he said. Workers are also going to install a low wall made from concrete blocks around the submarine and new side walls of graded stone will be installed. Plus, workers have to deal with problems caused by rainwater or melting snow getting into the basin by installing a dewatering system, Munck said. They are also going to install lights to illuminate the basin and the hull of the historic submarine, he said. He noted that unlike other historic ships or submarines, Albacore sits in a dry basin so association members don t have to worry about the hull corroding, Munck said. Some historic ships are in danger of sinking right along the pier because of the corrosion that takes place where the salt water meets the metal, Munck said. Work on the rehabilitation of the basin has begun and the submarine is fenced off and both it and the museum are closed to the public. They expect to be finished with the project by April, Munck said. Repairs are also being made to the submarine itself. During Albacore's stay in Philadelphia before coming to Portsmouth, the outer metal of the hull suffered a number of dents that are being structurally repaired, Munck

4 Lastly, as we achieve full integration of the force this is an opportunity to update the position titles and descriptions themselves to demonstrate through this language that women are included in these positions," Mabus wrote, according to sources who quoted directly from the letter. Ensure they are gender- 4 integrated as well, removing man from their titles, and provide a report to me as soon as is practicable and no later than April 1, Mabus sent the directive to Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson. A similar memo and mandate was sent to the Marine Corps commandant, asking for the same job title review. Contractors from Cianbro and Shaw Brothers Construction have started work around the USS Albacore in Albacore Park in Portsmouth as part of an effort to clear and improve the basin of the submarine that has been drydocked there since NEWS AND VIEWS (cont d) said, to restore the submarine s original sleek appearance. Like most submarines of its era, Albacore s inner pressure hull is surrounded with a thinner outer layer of tanks that are more easily damaged. Albacore came to Portsmouth in 1985 after a big community effort to bring the submarine back to Portsmouth, he said. It was home-ported here, spent most of its life operating here, doing a lot of experimental things, some of them fairly breathtaking, I m told, Munck said. There will be a walkway around Albacore when the work is completed and the site also offers visitors a memorial garden to commemorate lost submariners and also to recognize the workers from the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard who built the sub, Munck said. The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard was the Navy s submarine design facility for a long time until well into the 1960s, he added. Funding for most of the project came from proceeds the association received when it sold the land for the connector road from the Route 1 Bypass to Market Street to the state, Munck said. GZA GeoEnvironmental Inc. of Newburyport, Massachusetts, is doing the design and construction engineering on the project, he said. Cianbro Corporation of Pittsfield, Maine, is the general contractor, he said. Navy looks to remove 'man' from all job titles Mark D. Faram, navytimes.com January 7, 2016 It could spell the end of time-honored Navy titles like fireman and seaman. The Navy secretary has ordered the service to review all job titles and consider removing any reference to "man" in them, a move that could force namechanges to nearly two dozen specialties, from airman to yeoman. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus ordered the scrub as the force prepares to open the last remaining billets to women sailors in Marine ground combat elements and the Navy SEALs. Is this move about time, or an unnecessary change to tradition? Tell us at navylet@navytimes.com Some hallowed titles like seaman could be tough to replace, but others could be swapped with gender neutral descriptors as the service has done before. In 2005, for example, officials changed personnelman, a rating where many women had served, to personnel specialist. There are at least 20 job titles that include the word "man." Aviation has the most to review, with five of their 12 enlisted rating descriptions ending with man. Surface engineering includes eight. Those don t include the traditional entry-level designations for nonrated sailors as well as designated strikers. How the Navy finds gender neutral titles for airman, seaman and fireman is likely to prove challenging, as well as for the Seabee and medical titles of constructionman and hospitalman for non-rated sailors. Mabus hasn t mandated that any titles go away, according to a source familiar with the memo. He simply wants to see options for making titles as gender neutral, as part of persuading more women to make the Navy a career. This isn t a draconian edict to get rid of all references to the word 'man,' said the official, who asked not to be identified publicly while internal deliberations continue. But it is an opportunity to look at position descriptions and change them where it makes sense.

5 NEWS AND VIEWS (cont d) Nearly all of the Navy s jobs with man in the title have been opened to women for decades, and without interruption since the Women's Armed Services Integration Act was enacted in Women were allowed on active duty briefly during and after World War I as yeomanettes and again in a greater number of enlisted ratings as Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) during World War II. But since the 1948 change in law, women have served permanently in the armed forces, and have been serving in nearly all enlisted ratings ever since. The job of coming up with these options or justifications to keep things unchanged will likely fall to Chief of Naval Personnel Vice Adm. Bill Moran and the enlisted community managers he oversees. He ll most likely delegate the job to his enlisted community managers. "We are in the beginning stages of this review and are working to comply with the Secretary's direction," said Cmdr. Nathan Christensen, spokesman for CNP told Navy Times on Jan. 7. As the Navy has merged or created new ratings, it has opted for gender neutral titles. In 1999, the radioman rating was merged into information systems technician. Take fire controlman. This surface fleet specialty could be renamed to match their counterparts in the submarine force, the fire control technicians. Barring unforeseen technical reasons, adopting the sub designation Navy-wide could be an easy solution, sources say. Simply removing 'man' and replacing it with technician or specialist works in many cases, said the source familiar with the memo. But the toughest to alter will be longstanding titles like seaman and airman, both practically and culturally, according to senior enlisted leaders familiar with the review. Fireman could be easily changed to engineer, the sources say, which is technically a better description today anyway with fires less common than before. NAVY RATING NAME-SCRUB The Navy has 21 rating designations that could get changed as a result of Navy Secretary Ray Mabus mandated review of job descriptions. The job titles include "man" in the title and could be removed: Apprentice, non-rate designations: Airman Constructionman Fireman Hospitalman Seaman General and compression Ratings: Administration Yeoman Legalman Aviation Aircrew Survival Equipmentman Aviation Ordnanceman Aviation Support Equipmentman Aviation Maintenance Administrationman Surface Engineering Damage Controlman Engineman Machinery Repairman Seabees Utilitiesman Master/Senior Chief Constructionman Surface Warfare/Ops Fire Controlman Mineman Medical Hospital Corpsman Supply Ships Serviceman The Navy secretary has ordered the service to review and possibly rename all Navy job titles that include the word "man." Here, Aviation Ordnanceman 1st Class A. Pins, left, and Aviation Ordnanceman Airman G. Nigro conduct maintenance on a 20 mm gun aboard carrier Harry S. Truman. 5

6 ETERNAL PATROL The following is an excerpt from the Wikipedia entry for the USS Argonaut SS-166/SM-1/APS-1. In December [1942], [Argonaut] departed Brisbane under Lieutenant Commander John R. Pierce to patrol the hazardous area between New Britain and Bougainville Island, south of Bismarck Archipelago. On 2 January 1943, Argonaut sank the Japanese gunboat Ebon Maru in the Bismark Sea. On 10 January, Argonaut spotted a convoy of five freighters and their escorting destroyers Maikaze, Isokaze, and Hamakaze returning to Rabaul from Lae. By chance, an army aircraft which was out of bombs was flying overhead and witnessed Argonaut s attack. A crewman on board the plane saw one destroyer hit by a torpedo, and the destroyers promptly counterattacking. Argonaut s bow suddenly broke the water at an unusual angle. It was apparent that a depth charge had severely damaged the submarine. The destroyers continued circling Argonaut, pumping shells into her; she slipped below the waves and was never heard from again. 102 officers and men went down with her, the worst loss of life for a wartime submarine. Her name was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 26 February. Japanese reports made available at the end of the war recorded a depth charge attack followed by gunfire, at which time they "destroyed the top of the sub". On the basis of the report given by the Army flier who witnessed the attack in which Argonaut perished, she was credited with damaging a Japanese destroyer on her last patrol. (Postwar, the JANAC accounting gave her none.) Since none of the histories of the three escorting destroyers report damage on 10 January 1943, the destroyer "hit" may have been a premature explosion. The following is an excerpt from the Wikipedia entry for the USS Swordfish SS-193. On 22 December 1944, Swordfish departed Pearl Harbor to conduct her thirteenth war patrol, in the vicinity of Nansei Shoto. She topped off with fuel at Midway on 26 December and left that day for her area. In addition to her regular patrol, Swordfish was to conduct photographic reconnaissance of Okinawa, for preparation of the Okinawa Campaign. On 2 January, Swordfish was ordered to delay carrying out her assigned tasks in order to keep her clear of the Nansei Shoto area until completion of carrierbased air strikes which were scheduled. She was directed to patrol the general vicinity of 30 N; 132 E until further orders were received. Her acknowledgement of those orders on 3 January was the last communication received from Swordfish. USS Argonaut SS-166/SM-1/APS-1 On 9 January 1945, Swordfish was directed to proceed to the vicinity of Okinawa to carry out her special mission. It was estimated that the task would not take more than seven days after arrival on station, which she should have reached on 11 January. Upon completion of her mission, Swordfish was to proceed to Saipan, or to Midway if she was unable to transmit by radio. Since neither place had seen her by 15 February, and repeated attempts to raise her by radio 6 had failed, she was reported as presumed lost on that date. In the report of her loss, mention was made that Kete (SS-369), which at the time was patrolling the vicinity of Okinawa, reported that on the morning of 12 January she contacted a submarine by radar. It was believed that contact was with Swordfish. Four hours later Kete heard heavy depth charging from this area, and it was believed that this attack might have been the cause of Swordfish s loss. Japanese information on antisubmarine attacks does not mention the attack heard by Kete on 12 January, and records no attacks in which Swordfish is likely to have been the victim. However, it is now known that there were many mines planted around Okinawa, since the Japanese were expecting an Allied invasion of that island. The majority of the mines were planted close in. It is considered about equally likely that Swordfish was sunk by depth charge attack before she reached Okinawa for her special mission or that she was lost to a mine at that place.