RE: ONKEL KARL AND UNCLE CHARLIE
November 20, 1999
I would like to offer some comments and observations on Captain Enos’ excellent article, which appears in the October 1999 edition of THE SUBMARINE REVIEW, comparing the styles of Admiral Donitz and Admiral Lockwood; it is right on target!
There is one additional comment and observation that I would like to add. I believe that a major difference between Admiral Donitz and Admiral Lockwood, further to those mentioned by Captain Enos, is that Admiral Lockwood never hesitated to write about the exploits and heroics of his wartime submarines.
While it is true that, as Captain Enos points out, Admiral Lockwood’s Down to the Sea in Subs, shows Admiral Lockwood’s human side much more than Sink ‘Em All, perhaps the best tribute to Admiral Lockwood’s professionalism and human side in his book, co-authored with Colonel Hans Christian Adamson, USAF-(Ret.) Through Hell and Deep Water, (Library of Congress catalog card number: 56-11388, 1956).
Through Hell and Deep Water is the stirring story of the Navy’s deadly submarine, USS HARDER (SS 257) under the command of Sam Dealey, destroyer killer.
Admiral Lockwood, as co-author, dedicated Through Hell and Deep Water “to all men of all ranks and ratings, who served aboard the United States submarine HARDER. May this book pass the word which our nation has passed: Well done!”
Admiral Donitz may not have been as publicly expressive towards his U-bootwaffen achievements, his best known writing his Ten Years and Twenty Days, which was primarily Admiral Donitz’s memoirs.
Admiral Lockwood’s proud acknowledgment of HARDER, Sam Dealey, and HARDER’s crew, was supported, also publicly, by then Seventh Fleet wartime commander, Admiral Thomas C . Kinkaid, who stated: “I am proud to have served in the wartime Seventh Fleet with Sam Dealey.”
Finally, Frank C. Lynch, was one of the HARDER veterans who survived the loss of the ship. He went on to command HADDO (SS 255) until its tenth and final patrol, which terminated in Tokyo Bay in September 1945, when she participated in the occupation of Japan. The other great HARDER veteran was Rear Admiral John (Jack) Maurer, who commanded USS ATULE (SS 403). Both HARDER and ATULE had excellent war records earning many commendations for the ships and decorations for their personnel.
Rear Admiral Maurer held many postwar submarine divisions and squadron commands, too numerous to mention here.
Admiral Lockwood’s dedication and prophecy through his writings and in particular, Through Hell and Deep Water, proved true and eloquent testimony for Admiral Lockwood’s human side. Well done , Admiral Charles A. Lockwood!
I believe that this public acclaim for his subs, crews, and wartime exploits, was the main difference between the extroverted Admiral Lockwood, and equally talented but introverted Admiral Donitz.
Sincerely,
Lawrence J. Opisso
20 Ballard Lane
Stony Brook, NY 11790
FROM A DOLPHIN SCHOLAR
January 12, 2000
On behalf of the Dolphin Scholarship Foundation and myself, I wish to thank the Naval Submarine League for its participation in the Dolphin Scholarship Program. As the Naval Submarine League Scholar for 2000, your organization’s generous donation has assisted me in funding my education and, thereby, coming one step closer to achieving my goals.
To help familiarize you with whom the League is sponsoring, I would like to tell you a little about myself and where I came from. My father, Captain George M. Koucheravy, USN has been a submarine for over 20 years, and his naval career has led our family as far south as Kings Bay, Georgia, and as far north as Saratoga, New York. For the past seven years, we have been based out of Norfolk, Virginia, a tenure long enough for me to complete my high school education at Catholic High School in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
I currently attend North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina where I am a Caldwell Alumni Scholar, a Thomas Jefferson Scholar, and a University Scholar. At NC State, I am dual-majoring in Animal Science and Multidisciplinary Studies, with aspirations to go on to veterinary school. After veterinary school, I hope to work for the USDA, serving the United States Government just as my father so honorably does.
Once again, I thank the Naval Submarine League for its participation in the Dolphin Scholarship Foundation’s program of assistance to the sons and daughters of submariners. It is benefactors like the Naval Submarine League that help keep the spirit of the Foundation and the dreams of its scholarship recipients alive.
Sincerely,
Diana M Koucheravy
Dolphin Scholarship Foundation Scholars/zip Recipient
RE: FAB, THE FIRST SUBMARINE TOWED ARRAY?
(Submarine Review, January 2000)
February 2, 2000
My colleague, Herbert J. Nyberg an ex-submariner, brought to my attention the subject article with the question as to whether or not the 1967 experimental use of FAB on ALBACORE represented the first use of towed arrays on submarines.
During 1959 operations with ALBACORE, operating out of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, we first deployed a towed array from the sail of ALBACORE. The AX-58 hull-mounted hydrophone system was the Navy’s standard submarine noise monitoring system at that time. Our measurements were some -20 dB to 40 dB lower.
These measurements, together with our previous (1958) towed array measurements made from the converted seaplane tender, J WILLARD GIBBS, (in the Tongue of the Ocean, Bahamas) launched the major revolutionary advance in sonar since WWII; and a most important factor in the United States domination of the Cold War submarine conflict.
It is interesting to note that Dr. Harvey Hayes, operating out of the Navy’s New London Laboratory, experimented with a rowed array consisting of carbon-button microphones in an oil-filled hose in 1918 (WWI). He was my boss at the Naval Research Laboratory (Washington, DC) during WWII.
Perhaps this bit of sonar history may be of interest to members of the Naval Submarine League.
Sincerely,
James W. Fitzgerald President
The Kildare Corporation
One Spar Yard Road
New London, CT 06320-5527
RE: REGULUS, THE FORGOTTEN WEAPON
January 2, 2000
The October 1999 issue of THE SUBMARINE REVIEW contained a most confusing review of my book, R.egulus:_Ihe Forgotten Weapon, by Captain R. Norris Keeler, USN(Ret.). I think it is only fair to make readers of THE SUBMARINE REVIEW aware of his mistakes. Without belaboring any of the points, let me address them in a concise manner as they appeared in the review:
1) Keeler indicates that TUNNY, BARBERO, and HALIBUT were the only Regulus boats. My book clearly indicates GRA YBACK and GROWLER were also deployed with Regulus at the same time;
2) As operationally deployed from 1960 to 1964 (as part of the Single Integrated Operations Plan for use of nuclear weapons), not 1956 to 1963, Regulus submarines did not make use of the relay capability mentioned by Keeler. Although developed in the time frame he discusses, actual deployment with the relay boats in the North Pacific did not take place according to the captains of the five submarines in question;
3) Rear Admiral Russell E. Gorman was clearly thanked for his assistance on page 6, the acknowledgments section of the book;
4) Keeler is correct that the guidance system development is not discussed in as great a detail in the main body of the text as the airframe. It is, however, discussed in great detail in Appendix I: Guidance Systems. By reading the complete book, the reader is well informed as to the guidance system development;
5) Admiral B. Osborn was interviewed by phone and via taped replies to a list of questions. Admiral Osborn is clearly credited, along with Captain Pappy Sims, as being one of the key Navy players in the development of Regulus. As for interviewing Lieutenant Klotzner, at the time of my interview with Captain Keeler, I was asked to forward my questions to Klotzner through Keeler. I chose not to do this;
6) Keeler’s somewhat bizarre comment that I focused on the later and less important individuals in the program is without merit. The forewords by Captain William Sims, USN(Ret.)
and Rear Admiral John J. Ekelund clearly speaks to this issue.
David K. Stumpf, Ph.D. Author
