My service memoir

Grampa Don

Grampa Don

Yep, that's me
Location
Orange county, Calif.
I published a memoir of my time in the submarine service as an Amazon e-book. It's fairly short but so was my time on active duty. So, I called it Several Leagues Under the Sea. If you would like to check it out, it's free on Amazon for the next 5 days. If you have Amazon Prime, you can borrow it any time. I hope it's an enjoyable read.

Don
 

Grampa Don said:
I published a memoir of my time in the submarine service as an Amazon e-book. It's fairly short but so was my time on active duty. So, I called it Several Leagues Under the Sea. If you would like to check it out, it's free on Amazon for the next 5 days. If you have Amazon Prime, you can borrow it any time. I hope it's an enjoyable read.

Don
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That's awesome Don. Not something I'd be able to follow to be honest but thank you for your service and good luck with the book!
 
Thanks, RadishRose. There is very little technical stuff in it. I purposely wrote it that way. It's mostly about my experience during that time and what it was like. I don't expect to make any money from it. It was just a fun thing to do.

Don
 

Spent most of my forty years trying to ensure that your kind died a particularly unpleasant death!

Worked on my first sub-surface missile (developed from a captured Italian device) in 1956, and my last (which is still secret but makes cruise look like a sling shot!) in time or deployment against the Argies in 1982.

With respect to all those "Still On Patrol".
 
There was something called ASROC when I was in. One of the boats came in with one stuck in the sail after an exercise. War is nasty no matter how you participate. Thankfully, I never had to.

Don
 
Just bought it. (Sorry, no profit as it was free with Amazon Prime.) I'll read with interest. Many years ago I worked for a while as a clerk in an NROTC office on a major college campus. I remember a lot of emphasis was placed on the psychological aspects of those interested in submarine duty. A particular mindset was necessary to serve in a sub.
 
Thanks, helenbacque. It's actually free to anybody for the next 5 days. Amazon allows me to do that once every 3 months. I hope you like it.
You've got me curious about that mindset business. There are all kinds of people and personalities on the boats. I just took what seemed like the best way to satisfy my draft obligation.

Don
 
helenbacque said:
Grampa Don said:
You've got me curious about that mindset business. /QUOTE]

Please don't think my comment was meant to be negative. It most certainly was not. As I remember it, only the best of the best were even considered for service on subs. And my time there was very short and a very long time ago.
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No, I didn't take it negative. It just made me curious. I don't know about that best of the best. My shipmates seemed pretty average.

Don
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Grampa Don said:
There was something called ASROC when I was in. One of the boats came in with one stuck in the sail after an exercise. War is nasty no matter how you participate. Thankfully, I never had to.

Don
Click to expand...

I remember ASROC, though I was never involved with it. It was sip borne and I was Air Force.

I remember visiting a boat in the Falklands and telling the Chief of the Boat a tale about a torpedo trial some years before where the fish had missed the padding and hit the submarine an almighty clang (the torpedo had switched to attack speed) on the conning tower, which I think is what you call the the sail.

The skipper surfaced and refused to play any more!

The Chief took me outside, with a powerful torch and showed me this big dent in the conning tower! It's a small wield.

It's a paradox that we spent our lives practising and training for an event that most of us prayed would never happen.
 
my naval service was surface ships including a sub tender for the boomers, between the missiles stored on the ship and the subs there were 244 nuclear warheads. you take the time to think about that much destructive power it gives you a new perspective on things.
 
Physically, we've come a long way from throwing rocks at each other. Mentally, we're still either chucking those rocks, or stacking them up just in case.

The sail is the structure around the conning tower. Ours was made of fiberglass. It makes a smaller target on radar.

Don
 
The boat I served on was an old diesel type launched in 1945. But it had been converted a couple times and the new sail was part of the latest conversion. It reduced drag and put the bridge up high. Some of the boats had a stepped sail with the bridge about half way up.

Don
 
I downloaded your book a short while ago. Will read it over the next few days. Congrads on publishing a very important period in your life. I know some events during my own service stint will remain with me always.
 
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Thank you to those who downloaded my book. I hope you like it. A special thanks to whoever it was who added a review on Amazon. I appreciate it.

Don
 

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