Random Stuff

Here's some submarine/Navy-related stuff in the news:

1) Here's a follow-up story from the Associated Press with more details about the submarine CO who faked his own death to try to dump his mistress. The question remains: Is this a more salacious story than the Australian officer who repeatedly spanked a junior female sailor?

2) The LANTFLT winner of the 2012 Stockdale Award is USS Boise (SSN 764) Commanding Officer CDR Brian Sittlow. w00t! This comes a year after the Boise won the Battenberg Cup.

3) Here's a story of an ET1(SS) from USS Missouri (SSN 780) who was re-enlisted at Foxwoods by an Elvis impersonator. What's your favorite "non-traditional" re-enlistment story?

4) In some sad news, the United States Submarine Veterans of WWII national organization officially disbanded following their convention in Norfolk. The youngest member is 86, the oldest 102. The Submarine community will have lost the best of us when the last of these heroes finally departs on Eternal Patrol.

Update 1615 25 Sep: Q. When is a diesel submarine louder than any Western nuke boat? A. When it's an Iranian Kilo-class boat that just got out of an overhaul in an Iranian shipyard in which they fabricated the repair parts in Iran!

Also, two submarines were recently announced as the winners of the CY 2011 Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Award for superior performance in intra-type battle efficiency: USS Newport News (SSN 750) from LANTFLT, and USS Hampton (SSN 767) over in the Pacific.

Newport News is on a similar roll to Boise, with their CO earning the Darby Award from the Submarine League back in July.