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36. F.E. for John Carcioppolo - 2012-04-10 13:00:06 |
Shipmates,
On 09 April 1963 USS THRESHER (SSN 593) left Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in the early hours of the morning and put to sea like so many other submarines had done before her. There was nothing unusual about her underway.
On 10 April, THRESHER started deep-diving tests. As Thresher neared her test depth, Skylark received garbled communications over underwater telephone. indicating "... minor difficulties, have positive up-angle, attempting to blow When Skylark received no further communication, surface observers gradually realized Thresher had sunk. 129 Shipmates and Shipyard workers were lost in the tragic sinking of THRESHER. Many friends and Shipmates gave their lives that fateful morning.
Today is the 49th Anniversary of her sinking. The loss of THRESHER was the primary reason for the founding of our organization to remember all Submariners who had given their lives while serving in Submarines.
So today I ask you to pause, and spend a moment of silence to remember our departed Shipmates.
There is a port of no return where ships may ride at anchor for a little space. And then some starless night the cable slips leaving only an eddy at the mooring place. Gulls veer no longer, Sailor rest your oar. No tangled wreckage will be washed ashore.
USS THRESHER SHIPMATES REST YOUR OAR. YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN.
John "Gumba" Carcioppolo
Base Commander
U.S. SUBVETS Groton Base
First and Finest |
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35. Eddie Lynd - 2012-03-05 13:15:16 |
We just learned of the passing of one of our ’Brothers’, Joe Cooper. Our condolences to the Family.
RM Cooper ~ "Rest Your Oar" and may your soul rest in the Peace of Our Lord. |
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34. Fast Eddie - 2011-11-10 11:27:50 |
Special from Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (SS/SW) Rick D. West
WASHINGTON (NNS) -- Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON)(SS/SW) Rick D. West released the following Veterans Day message to the Fleet Nov. 9.
Veterans, Shipmates and Navy Families,
On Veterans Day we pay tribute to all who have served and sacrificed in defense of our nation. Veterans Day was first celebrated in 1919 as ’Armistice Day’ as a way to remember the sacrifices that men and women made during World War I. In 1954, it evolved into ’Veterans Day’ in order to honor all American veterans from all wars.
Since our country’s beginning, there have been men and women willing to fight to guarantee the freedoms that we hold so dear. It is that attitude of ’service before self’ and ’the choice to serve’ that we honor and celebrate. From the American Revolutionary War to our current Overseas Contingency Operations, our veterans have honorably served and sacrificed throughout the world when our nation called.
Our veterans represent the best of America coming from every background and every walk of life. They represent the rich tapestry of our nation and many have paid the ultimate sacrifice. It is with eternal gratitude that we take the time this day and everyday to honor the memory of our fallen while bringing alongside and thanking those heroes still among us.
Each day I’m grateful for the efforts and sacrifices you make in support of our great Navy and our nation; whether deployed at sea, on the ground or here at home where all of our loved ones enjoy the liberties your sacrifices preserve. These efforts and the challenges you are willing to face ensure we continue to enjoy the freedoms we have been afforded by the veterans who went before us.
Thank you veterans and thank you to the service members in uniform today, many in harm’s way, for your continued service to our great nation.
Happy Veterans Day and HOOYAH!
Very Respectfully,
MCPON |
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33. Fast Eddie - 2011-10-26 14:38:28 |
Originally from Hal Anderson ~
Subj; Submarine Force Competing for Shrinking Dollars
The U.S. Navy’s submarine force has long prided itself on operating out of sight, as the military’s self-described "Silent Service." But in the face of shrinking defense budgets, the Navy’s submariners may need to learn how to make more noise in order to get noticed among the many competing priorities inside the Pentagon.
The submarine force, like much of the military, mostly still uses ships and equipment originally designed to fight the Cold War. The missions of that era -- hunting for Soviet ballistic-missile submarines and their world-ending cargoes of nuclear weapons -- today have given way to a broader array of different, but no less important tasks, the Navy’s top sub commanders say.
Vice Adm. John Richardson, commander of the Navy’s submarine force, told a conference of the Naval Submarine League outside Washington last week that his ships and crews are in a "fourth phase" of undersea warfare. It demands that sailors keep all their traditional submarine expertise, plus train to operate in shallow water, conduct surveillance; work closely with special operators; and be prepared to attack targets inland on a moment’s notice. The submarines of tomorrow also will begin to use more of the unmanned vehicles that already have revolutionized war in the air.
Richardson and other Navy presenters gave the example of this year’s Libya operation. Three nuclear submarines were part of the international naval presence off Libya’s coast, and one of them, the guided missile sub USS Florida, fired the most Tomahawk cruise missiles of any warship; 93 weapons with 93 hits.
The Florida is a former ballistic missile submarine converted to serve in Richardson’s "fourth phase;" instead of carrying 24 nuclear missiles as part of the U.S. strategic deterrent, the ship can accommodate more than 150 Tomahawks and has ample room for SEAL special operators. It had been away from the U.S. for some 15 months when it got the assignment to join the armada off Libya, Navy officials said -- proof, they said, of submarines’ enduring versatility.
The long-term problem, another top commander said, is that the Navy’s submarines are in such high demand the fleet cannot keep up. That would a challenge in the best of times, but Vice Adm. Bill Burke, the service’s top logistics boss, said the prospects were even drearier given DoD’s reduced budget growth.
"We are likely to make significant changes to our force structure -- likely in the negative direction," he said. That means that by the 2020s, the Navy may not have enough submarines to meet the demand that today’s brass forecasts for tomorrow’s commanders.
President Barack Obama and Republican congressional leaders agreed earlier this year to reduce DoD’s budget by about $450 billion over the next decade as part of their deal to raise the U.S. debt ceiling. But that was only the first stage of a two-stage agreement; If a special "super committee" of lawmakers can’t agree on a plan to reduce the U.S. debt by about $1.2 trillion that can pass Congress by Christmas, the second stage of the deal goes off, and DoD loses another $500 billion.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and congressional defense advocates have said the consequences of the so-called "sequestration" would be unthinkable for the Pentagon, and that would trickle all the way down to the submarine force. If the Navy can’t keep building its Virginia-class attack submarines at the rate of two per year, its projected "submarine gap" could get even worse, Burke and other officials warned.
As it stands, Richardson’s submarine force is trying to do the best it can with what it has. Crews are beginning to plan for deployments lasting seven months, up from the current six, so that fewer submarines will be available for more time to take commanders’ missions. And as all the strategy and budget dynamics play out, the submarine force also has to absorb two major changes to its culture; The introduction of women into submarine crews and an outright ban on smoking while underway.
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32. mike Bryant mm3 aux forward - 2011-07-08 01:41:12 |
| sorry mm2 |
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31. mike Bryant mm3 aux forward - 2011-07-08 01:39:44 |
| on board "75-79.Hi to all. |
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30. bill miller - 2011-05-30 02:48:43 |
| fn ss willian c miller reporting. |
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29. (not so ) FAST EDDIE - 2011-05-16 14:39:44 |
Commence Preparations for Sea Devil Reunion "VI"
Kings Bay, GA / Spring 2014
Should read; Spring 2013
I’ll make the correction ASAP !!!
SORRY,
F.E.
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28. Freddie Furlan - 2011-05-10 10:17:57 |
Help ~
Freddie Furlan wants to come to the reunion from New Zeland and needs help from this end............
Hi George,
Thanks to the Internet, Skype is very easy to use.
If someone brings a laptop with Skype installed on it to the Sea Devil reunion they can call my Skype name (see attached file) for free. Alternately they can tell me their Skype name and I can call them for free during the reunion.
Skype is freely available from; www.skype.com/intl/en/get-skype/other-downloads/.
Hope there’s some IT savvy blokes attending the reunion so I can Skype in from New Zealand.
Best regards from down under.
Fred
aka EM2 Freddie Furlan during the good ole Sea Devil days 
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27. MSGT Ed Finlay - 2011-05-01 17:51:01 |
I would like to thank the crew of Sea Devil for one of the highlights of my 21 years in the military. As an inspector with the MAC IG I was privileged to be one of the few Air Force members to board your boat. Thank you for a great war story that I still tell today.  |
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Sign guestbook