I do most of my best thinking between 3 and 5 in the morning as I contemplate whether we should sell wheat to Red China, recognize Buhtan in the UN, or maybe just get up and have a wee taste of scotch.

Once in a while though, my thoughts are a little more productive, as you’ll see below.  These are all big jobs accomplished by ship’s company, rather than putting us in the yard.

In ’51 I was transferred to IREX in NLON. In January 1953, half of New London (including IREX) and half of Norfolk submarines deployed to St. Thomas, VI, for 6 weeks, on what was called “Operation Springboard.” When we returned, the other halfs went. We got in a lot of good training and shooting, and hit some good liberty ports. In late ’52, we had just left Portsmouth Navy Ship Yard just in time for “Holiday Routine” at NLON, and then on to Springboard. While in PNSY we had a new battery installed. Heading for the barn at the completion of our part of Springboard, we hit a helluva storm. The cells were not wedged properly by the yard, and they started “working” in the storm &emdash; buss bars torn out and battery acid all over the place. Jim Mudd, EM1(SS) refused to let his people down in the well to jump out the bad cells, but did go down and make repairs himself.

Normally, upon return to NLON after a trip like this, liberty starts right away, but in this case it was delayed. Messdeck intelligence had it that we were going to return to PNSY or EB for six weeks to have the battery repaired. About an hour later, the word was passed that we would be alongside for 3 months, and ship’s company would perform the repairs.

Twenty-four of the crew were selected to work three shifts, Mon-Fri. The only civilians involved would be the crane operators. From what I remember, five were in the battery well, and three were topside. I was TM2(SS) at that time, and my job was topside rigger, As soon as a cell was hoisted out of the well, it went into a wooden casing on the pier, which then had to bolted tightly together to keep the cell from “pooching” out in the middle, and then loaded onto a truck.

It was a lot of work for the crew, and lasted the full three months. We went to sea after reinstalling the cells and properly wedging them, and had no problems with it at all, at least for the next three years I was aboard. I was topside rigger for about the first two months, and then I was “snapped-up” and sent to MK 16-6 Torpedo School at Newport.

The details of the next part are sketchy because I was not there. By chance, I ran across Dick Cicero, and somehow I told him of the battery job we had done. Well, I assume you’ve been around long enough to know the one-ups-man-ship is de rigueur when swapping sea stories. I’m about 95% confident it was the CUTLASS he was talking about, and I don’t know just when.

According to Dick, the lower crankshaft on #2 Fairbanks broke, and ship’s company was selected to perform the replacement. According to Dick, they had to “clean-out” the lower flats of the After Engine Room in order to get the new crankshaft into the boat. In the meantime, everything from the block up of #2 engine had to be removed. Then the block was tilted inboard. Finally, the new crankshaft had to be moved into the FER, and then “Up and Over” the block for installation. (Sounds good to me.)

Back to IREX for another one. I have no idea why, but the lower main motor field coils had to be replaced. And this was another job that ship’s company had to perform. It took at least the two weeks of a regular upkeep, and during the entire period the EM’s stored all their “stuff” in the After Torpedo Room.

One more story that might fit in to whatever you do between long lunches.

BLUEGILL was a WWII submarine which made 6 productive patrols. Eric Barr was the only Skipper she had, and very few of the crew were transferred between runs. After WWII she was put in “red-lead-row” for a number of years. Ultimately though, she, and 5-6 other EB boats in her series, were converted to SSK’s. Tubes 1 & 2 were removed because she had wrap-around sound gear installed on her rounded bow. She also had a sound shack installed under the Control Room, where she was fitted out with “State of the Art” sonar gear. She was a very quiet boat, and could reach out and hear long distances. I went aboard her in Pearl in 1960 just before making TMC(SS). I put on the hat, and was told I was COB only a few days apart. By then her designation had returned to SS. Our Skipper spoke at a “nooners” meeting in the Philippines, and described BLUEGILL as “an old girl, needing lots of care, but could still put out like a bunny.”

As the “nukes” were sent to Pearl, the smoke boats were returned to San Diego, and eventually put out of commission.

Somewhere along the line, Ol’ BLUE was saved from the breakers yard, and towed back to Pearl, where she was prepared for sinking and salvaging. She was settled on the bottom near Lahaina, Maui, as a Navy diver training site. When ever the Navy was not using her, civilians could dive on her. By agreement between the Navy and the State of Hawaii, at the point she was no longer of use to the Navy, she would be surfaced, and removed from Hawaiian waters.

She was successfully surfaced, and was being towed to a deep spot in the ocean, when a storm came up, she broke her tow line, and went to the bottom in unsalvageable waters.

All of her old crew members still get a little nostalgic, and feel that maybe she was able to choose her own way to go.