The Editorial Page - 10 News

Ok, I get it. The Dolphin being decommissioned ruffled some feathers out there. Here's a television stations editorial about the decommissioning. Someone should give them a glimpse on how the government is going to "dispose" of the ol'e girl. So, without further ado, I give you the link to the 10news editorial. Maybe we can leave some feedback too!

The Gotland

Here's a glimpse of the Swedish Submarine - The Gotland and a graphic of one.

If you're interested - there will be a tour of the Gotland on October 18th and November 28th
of 2006. Go to the United States Submarine Veterans website for more information on how to sign up.

Now, who could this be?

This famous photo that has been floating around the internet for a while was used for a cover on
a memorial DVD. What my SO noticed is that the person circled seems familiar. Who could this be? Anyone want to guess?


I'll answer that in a later post.

UPDATE:
The picture in question was taken circa 1995 I believe. The person who is circled, well, its me. I recall the photographer taking pictures that day.

Now this guy is Famous!

(Storekeeper Seaman (SS) Daniel A. Rody)
The Navy Compass on September 15th, 2006 wrote an article with the subject heading of:
"USS Dolphin Pins Last Silver Dolphin". HERE IS A BLURB:

The 23-year old Philadelphia native was the last USS Dolphin (AGSS 555) crew member ever to earn the highly sought-after qualification Sept. 12, 2006 during a Naval Submarine League luncheon at Naval Base Point Loma, Calif. Rody will report to USS Springfield (SSN 761) this fall and hopes to finish his Associate of Arts degree soon after.


After 38 years of active service, Dolphin will decommission later this month with 100 percent enlisted submarine warfare qualified Sailors.

The San Diego-based submarine, Dolphin is the Navy's only diesel-electric, deep-diving, research and development submarine employed by both the Navy and civilian personnel.

I'm choking......back......tears............

Lets have a moment of silence whilst I do some upkeeping on the blog. Until then America..........

UPDATE

The subreport.com has audio and a film slide show of the Dolphin decommissioning if anyone is interested.

Thanks again to the U-T for this article and slideshow.

Some people have money riding on what happens to the Dolphin after the decommissioning. Others want it as a museum. As we heard through sources, there are two groups who are actively trying to get the Dolphin and make her a museum. But where would you put her? How about back into the San Diego bay right next to the Midway as a floating museum? Heck, I'd go see her!

The Reunion of All Reunions

Well, here's where the "reunion" was taking place. "Family". Thats what we represented that night. Young and old alike agreed. Many "sea tales" were orated. Others were acted out.


Overall, we had a good time. Oh yeah, the food and the service was good too.

On the inside, there were displays of old pictures of yesteryear and what the Dolphin had accomplished during its tour of duty. Unfortunately, the pictures are a wee bit out of focus. The funny thing was that these two guys before they shut down the shin-dig took them away.

After the official shin-digger, the next stop was to Desi 'n Friends - the ol'e Horse and Cow where some took it up a notch. Or did I say too much....

And last, what I would like to say is - for all those who are PC about words, please don't read this. Here is the "submariners song" which the younger generation were singing :

submarines once submarines twice

holy jumpin' jesus christ

we go up and we go down

we don't even **** around

Aoooga Aoooga dive dive

diveratshit batshit dirty ole **** 69

*******s tied in a knot cumsucker mother****er

gobble gobble chew

i'm a submariner who the **** are you?

If you can read that, your eyes are better than average!

What you can see and what you can't.....

Found a video from the Navy News desk that takes a quick peek at the newly reconditioned insides.

DPG

Decomming the Dolphin

Since 1968, the USS Dolphin has faithfully served the United States Navy. Its with sadness that we must report that the Dolphin is being decommissioned this year. Some would say finally, considering that it was supposed to be decomm'd a while ago. We will miss her.






Here is a photograph taken when the Dolphin was in Canada/Washington.

UPDATE

The San Diego Union Tribune and 10News.com both have articles about the Dolphin
being decommissioned. Would like to thank the author of the Trib's article and Bubblehead's
posting. Thanks fellas!

There are other people to thank, just can't find the links yet. More to come.

UPDATE

Here's one from the Strategy Page about the Dolphin by J. Dunnigan entitled "Old Subs Do Eventually Die".

Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day!
Hope everyone enjoys the day off, and please don't drink and drive. We've had a lot of crackdowns lately on unruly partiers as well. So enjoy yourself, just don't go overboard.

Navy Cooks helped by local restaurant

On the local station KUSI this morning, our local legend Rod Luck was at Humphreys by the bay (link here) with cooks from the Navy. These cooks learned new skills to better the breakfast, lunch and dinner for countless other Navy personnel. Some of them were mentioned
by name, others were appearing to be busy at their work.

Hudson, if you can see this - congrats on going to the White House. To all the other cooks -
hope you had an enjoying experience with one generous Chef.

Remember the Horse and Cow?

Found some pictures on the Horse and Cow website. If you want to see the wallart of the Horse and Cow here's what you do - go to the website, then download filmloop (optional). The neat thing is that I'm thinking about having the Dolphin pictures displayed this way (ok, I'm a copycat!).

There are other things on the website that might interest you as well. For example - the clip
about the correlation between the "silent service" and the "horse and cow".

More clips coming soon - don't be a stranger

P.S. Pssst! The H&C have other submariner memorabilia.. Find your ship today!

DPG

Cool Picture of the Dolphin Crew

Only here for a limited time... check it out before its taken again!!!!!
aag

Submarinars to honor their own - article

There was an article in the san diego tribune about a group of submarinars from the WWII era and beyond doing a good thing - honoring the ir fallen. They need some help with fundraising - money to make this dream come true. You see, they are going to have 52 or so Elm trees on
Liberty Station - what was the Naval Training Base in San Diego, California. Along with the trees there will be plaques of the submarines and crew who are on "eternal patrol". We wish these fellas all the luck in the world, they deserve our thanks.

The project is supposed to be finished by next year. So far, the group has collected 30 thousand out of the 250 thousand that is needed to finish this memorial. So, I call upon those who can spread the word - calling all hands- to help these guys out.

I have linked to the article so you may read all about it.
If you have any other questions about the project, or would like to contact the group directly,
here is the address:

sandiegochapter@san.rr.com
San Diego Chapter,
U.S. Submarine Veterans of WWII,
P.O. Box 81984, San Diego, CA 92138

Memorial Day

Its Memorial Day. Have a great weekend and remember those who are and have served in the armed forces.
Those who are celebrating (with alcohol): reminder - the cops are out there watching you.
Speaking of which, there is a rumor going around that a "social law" is being hashed out
in San Diego. Not sure if its going to take hold, but the law would mean that underage
drinkers just aren't (drinking). More deta ils to come.

Enjoy the "first day of summer"!

DPG

Submarines on Television Programs

This is classic Homer Simpson. He's at boot camp right now, but in the episode "Simpson Tide" ( somewhat of a parody of the movie "Crimson Tide") Simpson actually saves the other
submarinars from a fate worse than no beer. Found the picture at this website. In the same episode (we believe), there was a parody of the Village People's song "In the Navy" that
depicted a submarine (class unknown).

More to follow (just have to find them first).

UPDATE

Bubblehead has another on his site. Guess "24" is going to show some submarine on their program. We'll be looking for the critique later.

Found a webpage about the show "JAG" (now in rerun mode) that had mentioned the Dolphin in an episode called "Overdue and Presumed Lost".

As for the Dolphin crewmembers who were on board at the same time as I, the song from Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody - comes to mind. Ah, those were the days.

Why the Dolphin almost didn't make it that fatefull night...

FLASHBACK.... May 21, 2003 - the day that the Dolphin almost didn't make it .....

Berlitz created the reenactment in a commercial. To those who served on the Dolphin, you'll appreciate this little piece of irony.




DPG

Mercy Me! She's going again....to SEA

The USNS MERCY, and its crew (can't forget about the crew) is on its way to Southwest Asia..?
Ok... These brave men and women who are going out for a 5 month deployment are on a humanitarian mission.

We'll be waiting for you at homeport!
Best wishes.......




UPDATE: 29 May 06
I found the webpage that will give more information on what the Mercy is doing while at sea. To
view this webpage, click here. Lots of pictures there too!

Cool Pictures of the Dolphin at the Pier

Cool huuh? Its the Dolphin at the Pier!

Fossett in the News again...

This time it seems as though Steve Fossett is trying to go the deepest in a submarine..
We say, good luck to him. OF course, the USS Dolphin is THE deepest diving diesel submarine in the United States Navy! Got the information from BYMnews.com (to those who don't know what this stands for its Boating and Marine News). Not sure about the accuracy of the information - maybe he's trying out for another world record of another sort.

We here have a suggestion - for the best diving experience, maybe Mr Fossett might look into
going to Monterey, California, where there is actually a canyon down there and explore that.
Ok, maybe not.

Submarine Movies Real or Fictional?

Found a fictitional deptiction of the USS Dolphin actually portrayed by the USS Ronquil (SS - 396) in the Movie "Ice Station Zebra". Did you know that the Ronquil was also a diesel sub? Yup again. Kinda interesting how the story plot goes with the Dolphin in the arctic.

Bet you didn't know that the Ronquil changed names and hands in the 1970's. Yup. We gave it toSpain. They changed the name to SPS Isaac Peral (S-32) and was decommed in the 1980's.

Oh, forgot to say that the Dolphin in this picture is supposed to be a nuke.
There's a couple of actors you would probably recognize, others you'd probably not but hey, its a movie. Supposed to be a good one. Here's the link to the site where I found the info, they also have some other good movies about submarines real or fictitional.

The Politics of Political Cartoons

The Muslim population is upset about this cartoon. To know more about the history of this cartoon, click on the
cartoon, which should lead you to wikipedia's website. If you want to see a larger version of that cartoon page, go to this websitevia Faithfreedom.org. On the bottom left corner, there should be a green button with 4 arrows on it. Click that button on to see the larger pictures. IF you get adventurous, go see Muhammed's Believe it or Else pamphlet. Warning: It does quote the Q'uran

Wanna Rent the McGaw?

She's for rent... to someone who needs her.

The McGaw was the vessel that actually helped rescue the crew of the Dolphin. SO, to honor those people who actually helped the Dolphin, we give you the opportunity to browse their website. But wait! Look at the history log, you'll see info on the accident.

Aw c'mon, it wouldn't hurt, right?

Santa Barbara Experiment - Circa 1998

1998 - April
Santa Barbara Experiment
The USS DOLPHIN and the USS ACOUSTIC EXPLORER were there along with MIT.

So, without further ado, here is the weblink to the site and another one here. Caution: There are some .wav files on there that sound like *gasp* sonar!
Bathymetry. Whatarush!

Ah, they return to Duty.... this time, prepared....

December16th 2005 -

Just finding some information. This time from the MaritimeTechnology Reporter about the USS Dolphin doing what it does the best - testing. . In 2006, the shallow water acoustic torpedo testing will occur - to some, its the same stuff that they did before the accident. But to others its a new day, a new experience. In the meantime, hey, there's always a good fire drill that can be
squeezed in with all of the stuff thats going on!

Update - found another site that had the same interesting information.

Happy New Year

Its 2006.

Be safe. Drink, don't drive. Act stupid only when in public (just kidding) and don't do what this guy did.

Around San Diego County, law enforcement is out there. You don't want to be one of those guys who actually gets to go into the "drunk tank" just to stay for a couple of days until your court date. SO why drink and drive? Get a taxi, ask friends who aren't drinking, go by trolley or by train. Just don't get on the freeway, pass through a checkpoint and get caught.

Yes, this has happened tonight, er, last night believe it or not.
Just heard on the news that there was this unfortunate person, not sure if it was military, but thats what the news reported, underage too ( I believe it was 18), who got caught. He did the whole sobriety test. I believe I heard that he didn't really act drunk or look drunk - ok, whatever - but when he took the brethalizer test he didn't pass. Boy is his hiney in BIG trouble.

Will bring you more info on this later.
Go have fun now.

Happy New Year!

David