The obituaries about Admiral Maurice H. “Mike” Rindskopf have tended to focus on his remarkable service on the USS DRUM (SS 228), as the youngest officer to command a fleet boat during WWII, and his later career in flag billets. He was also one of the very few-if not the only officer- to serve continuously on the same boat from beginning to end of the war. I first encountered him in 1949 when I reported on board his postwar command, the USS SEA CAT (SS 399). Oddly enough, during my time on board I never heard a word about his extraordinary wartime service.
The SEA CAT was a happy and well-run boat with an exceptionally congenial wardroom family under Commander Rindskopf and his lovely wife, Sylvia. Regrettably, they were soon transferred to other duties, but it was long enough for me to recognize him as the best commanding officer I would ever serve under. One unique aspect of his command style has always impressed me: the absence of profanity and obscenity in the crew. It was his stated position that such language was simply evidence of mental deficiency on the part of the user, and the crew followed his example as long as he was in command.
John D. Alden, CDR, USN (Ret.)
