I started my submarine career on the WWII diesel boats. I was much later that the war periods. I was fortunate to be walking in the shadows of gods. How I wish I could meet them again and thank them for trying to make a sailor out of this snotty-nosed kid. But enough about me, I mention this only to set the period of when submarines carried doctors, instead of the independent duty corpsmen of the rest of history.
The Cold War resulted in nuclear submarines carrying nuclear weap- ons (Polaris Missiles initially). In early years we had just a few boats with this capability. Not to get into the classified details of the missions, they were few and critical in their employment. Critical enough that they were not to come off patrol! Significantly important that a sailor injured, or sick was not justification to abort a patrol even in critical condition!
For that reason, each crew (gold and blue) carried a doctor aboard to give treatment and comfort for sailors, sick or injured, even critical, to the extent possible without abandoning the mission.
There are many stories of the doctors we had aboard submarines – many of them true. We had the best doctor who came with the best story of all.
We were working out of Charleston, South Carolina. We took over the boat, completed our upkeep, and we were starting our patrol with sea trials the next day.
A few of the chiefs with the duty were sitting around the Chiefs’ Quarters (goat locker), finishing up final chores, when the phone rang. The duty chief answered it, as the call was probably for him. The caller, the topside watch, advised the chief, “You got to come up here and see this.”
The message was enough to pique the chief’s interest. Going aft alongside the sail, he noticed an officer (or at least a male in an officer’s uniform) standing alongside the topside watch. The thing that caught his eye first was that the gent was in blues. That is to say, he was in a blue coat, trousers, and a white shirt. The notable items were the white shoes and white belt. The topside watch introduced the duty chief to him. He was the new ship’s doctor.
The chief directed the topside watch to call the wardroom and have the steward fetch the doctor’s luggage. He invited the doctor to join him in the goat locker, so they could get acquainted.
When they settled in the goat locker, the chief provided a cup of cof- fee, explained the imminent deployment, and tried to get familiar with the new doctor.
The doctor was one of twelve doctors from Puerto Rico who were just finishing their training in Spain. When they returned home, each had a draft notice. The rest were drafted into the U.S. Army.
Was he married? Yes
Where is his wife? In the hotel.
We need to fix this.
Oh yes, by the way: she does not speak English.
The chief saw the water getting deeper by the minute. He requested
another chief take the duty, as he would be busy for a while.
The chief and the doctor went to the captain’s stateroom. When re- ceived, the chief introduced the doctor to the skipper who graciously did not comment on the uniform, though he did notice.
The chief explained the problems to be resolved. The skipper asked if he could handle it. The chief said he might need to use the captain’s horsepower at times. They both agreed that the captain would back them up.
First, they went to the hotel and met with the doctor’s wife. Another
noteworthy thing: she was nine months pregnant.
The three of them went to the base housing office where the housing duty petty officer informed them that the subject would be settled in the morning. The chief explained that was unacceptable. He called his commanding officer (CO) who called the base CO and explained the sit- uation. The base CO contacted the base housing officer who came to the office with his staff and issued housing to the doctor. Next, he addressed the need for quartermaster (military) furniture, which was delivered that afternoon.
The pregnancy necessitated medical access. The trio went to the hos- pital and after doing similar dances to the prior requests; they developed a medical chart in her name. The medical staff readily scheduled exams for the next week.
A visit to the military ID pass office was a waltz with similar steps
to the earlier dances.
Afterward, the group returned to the hotel to check out and move the couple’s belongings to their new quarters. The chief agreed to return later with his wife, so they could go to dinner.
The last major item was a distaff watch bill – actually, two watch bills. The first was a listing assigning each wife of the crew a day to provide the doctor’s wife with transportation, companionship, and ser- vices. The second listing scheduled days for the four bilingual wives to be available by phone to translate for the doctor’s wife.
This doctor was and still is a great man as well as a wonderful doctor. He and his wife graced a few of our reunions and their popularity has not faltered in the least.
