Midway Nov 8th

[Hoobilly]

Just watched the trailer for Midway

I have to go watch this. Looks good from the video clip

https://youtu.be/BfTYY_pac8o

[OLE RASPY]

Yep it does look good

[ICDEDTURKES]

Right up my alley my b day weekend too

[Hoobilly]

Right up my alley my b day weekend too

Come on down I’ll buy the

[Hoobilly]

HaPpYbDaY Tommy Byle!

BTW the Midway movie is two thumbs up from me!!!!

[Hognutz]

Happy Birthday, Tom!
I love me a good war movie! Not many made, anymore.

[Cut N Run]

My great uncle, B.D Claggett, was a submarine commander of the SS Dace and others in the Pacific theater. He saw a lot of action and still ranks in the top 10 of tonnage sunk by a sub commander. I don't know how much time he spent around Midway, but I remember him speaking of it. He had lots of war trophies and surrendered swords & flags & stuff, that my niece got when he passed.

They even did a newsreel story on him saving the crew of their sister ship, SS Darter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24VvBQ2FpbU
His heroics and exceptional service earned him a career in the Pentagon.

Jim

[Hoobilly]

My great uncle, B.D Claggett, was a submarine commander of the SS Dace and others in the Pacific theater. He saw a lot of action and still ranks in the top 10 of tonnage sunk by a sub commander. I don't know how much time he spent around Midway, but I remember him speaking of it. He had lots of war trophies and surrendered swords & flags & stuff, that my niece got when he passed.

They even did a newsreel story on him saving the crew of their sister ship, SS Darter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24VvBQ2FpbU
His heroics and exceptional service earned him a career in the Pentagon.

Jim

that is most awesome! Hero!!!

[GLS]

The father of a hunting and fishing buddy was a PT boat skipper at Pearl Harbor during the attack. He spent the day fishing sailors out of the drink. Six months later he led 10 PT boats of Motor Torpedo Boat Sqdn 1 from Pearl to Midway, a distance of over 1300 miles. They refueled their plywood Elko 77' boats powered by three 1200 hp Packard V12 gas engines along the way by seaplane and strategically placed ships. They dispersed at Midway to hunt the Japanese carrier fleet but were unsuccessful. During the battle, the PT boats rescued downed airmen and helped provide AA cover. These were the smallest craft in the battle and my buddy's dad is listed in the official order of battle as commanding MTB Sqdn 1. After the war, one of his duties was as liaison between the USN and the Senate in Washington. Gil

[Swampstalk]

Jim,

The subs during WWII sank more tonnage that all the rest of the Navy. As a former sub sailor I fully am amazed as to the thousands of miles the diesel boats traveled on patrol, the pounding they took from depth charges, and the hardships many POWs endured. 52 boats were lost during the war, many of which were never confirmed, except from captured Japanese war records later on. Recently the USS Grayback was located, by a private team dedicated to try and locate all lost boats, SE of Okinawa in 1400 feet of water which was lost late in the war. All the lost Sub sailors are listed on Eternal Patrol and all these men are truly Heroes of the First Order!

[Cut N Run]

Thank you for your service Don. My older brother's son is stationed aboard a Boomer (Nuclear ballistic missile sub) and has sailed all over the world. Trouble is, he's never seen any of the places they've been. They always stay submerged,out at sea, and never go into foreign ports. Whenever things get hot somewhere in the world, he gets deployed and is usually gone for months. He has to wear sunglasses for days whenever they get back in port, because they're usually only exposed to artificial light. He often makes hazardous duty pay and said they've been in "a few difficult situations", but he's not at liberty to go into detail.

My great Uncle Clagg's boat, Dace was a Gato class sub that ran by diesel and battery power. They did a lot of travel on the surface and had a limited time they could spend submerged compared to today's subs. He said they were attacked by reconnaissance and torpedo planes on the surface pretty often, but depth charges were the most nerve racking. Clagg had nerves of steel and was one of the baddest men I ever met.

Jim

[Swampstalk]

Jim,

The subs I served on were Boomers also. Homeported out of Charleston, S.C., but operated out of Rota, Spain. My first boat, USS Sam Houston was the only boomer to ever make a port of call other than were we operated out of. She went into Turkey as a PR stop in the '60s after the Bay of Pigs standoff to freak out the Soviets at that time. We would stay submerged 72 days, and yes sunglasses were needed. The other thing was the smell of outside air when we opened a hatch. It was overwhelming smelling fresh air with organics smells of seaweed, biological stuff. While submerged we had scrubbed recycled air. Always smelled of hydraulic oil, cooking oils. Even today when I go into an older elevator the hydraulic oil smell reminds me of the sub.

Fast Attack boats operate out of numerous ports and can be deployed extended times for various missions, snooping, collecting intelligence, tracking foreign subs and war ships, monitoring a situation, ready to support ground forces when needed or deploying special forces personnel, etc.

The diesel subs of WWII, ran on the surface most of the time, especially at night back then to charge batteries and better speed. They dove when they made contact with planes and/or surface ships/enemy subs, and conducting attacks on shipping. Depending on an opportunity they might conduct surface attacks on lone or unescorted surface shipping with deck guns as well. Boats of steel, men of iron!