Well, I have to confess to some small sense of not liking the day. We left port for an "undisclosed purpose" (monitoring electronic signals) in an "undisclosed location," (off the North coast of Russia) on a Friday the 13th in 1962, and we almost didn't make it back, as we steamed (actually "motored") directly into the path of a North Atlantic storm. Those storms make hurricaines look like pansies. The biggest wave we measured was 70' above our bridge. That was not the biggest one we saw, merely the biggest one we got the range finder on to measure. There were no satellites in those days, so we didn't see it coming and did not know to avoid it.
We had a bad feeling as we left port, actually, as there were no dolphins accompanying us to sea. Sailors are highly superstitious, and dolphins leaving port are a sign of a happy voyage.
We didn't spend all that much time submerged, actually, other than on station in hostile waters. Those boats were not true submarines, but really were just ships that could submerge. It was not until the nuclear boats that we had true submarines, ships that were "at home" beneath the water, and I never served on one of those.
3 comments:
Well, I have to confess to some small sense of not liking the day. We left port for an "undisclosed purpose" (monitoring electronic signals) in an "undisclosed location," (off the North coast of Russia) on a Friday the 13th in 1962, and we almost didn't make it back, as we steamed (actually "motored") directly into the path of a North Atlantic storm. Those storms make hurricaines look like pansies. The biggest wave we measured was 70' above our bridge. That was not the biggest one we saw, merely the biggest one we got the range finder on to measure. There were no satellites in those days, so we didn't see it coming and did not know to avoid it.
We had a bad feeling as we left port, actually, as there were no dolphins accompanying us to sea. Sailors are highly superstitious, and dolphins leaving port are a sign of a happy voyage.
That does not sound good. Sub service would be interesting but I just don't think all that underwater time would have been for me.
We didn't spend all that much time submerged, actually, other than on station in hostile waters. Those boats were not true submarines, but really were just ships that could submerge. It was not until the nuclear boats that we had true submarines, ships that were "at home" beneath the water, and I never served on one of those.
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