Submariners: Unknown World Record Holders?

As all submariners know, whenever we're asked how deep our submarines can go, all we can say is "in excess of 800 feet"; it becomes very second-nature for us to say this, much the same way that "in excess of 25 knots" and "I can neither confirm nor deny the presence of..." are. While not revealing exactly how much deeper than 800 feet we can go makes sense from an OPSEC perspective, it now appears that it's costing us some props from the World Record Book people.

Check out this Reuters article about how a Brit singer recently set a "verified world record" by performing an underwater concert:

Singer Katie Melua swapped the recording studio for a North Sea gas rig in her successful bid to set a new record for the deepest underwater concert, the Guinness World Record organisation said on Tuesday.
Melua and her five-member band performed two concerts of one hour each on Monday at a verified depth of 303 metres underwater to an audience made up of staff from the Statoil Troll A platform.

Doing the math, it looks like 303 meters is about 994 feet. While we don't know how deep our submarines actually go, of course, if for some reason our submarines can go enough "in excess of 800 feet" to get to greater depths than what the concert was held at, a submariner may be the rightful holder of this World Record. What is a "concert", anyway? Wouldn't someone singing a cheerful ditty like "The Ballad of the Silver Dolphins" to one of his buddies count? And if he did it at some depth below 994 feet, he could be famous now -- if the Navy would only verify it (which they won't).

Who knows how many other World Records submariners could be recognized for if not for the secrecy surrounding the Force: Most disturbing discussion of bodily functions by people being paid to work? Biggest duct tape ball that contains a person? Most disgusting nicknames for normal food items? The possibilities are endless...

Bell-ringer 2109 05 Oct: Vigilis has more on the subject.

There Shall Be Groundings And Rumors Of Groundings

Here at TSSBP, I normally try to avoid posting single-source rumors -- except for tonight when submarine news is slow. This one really doesn't pass the smell test (as far as this being something the Navy wouldn't announce), so I don't think it's true, but here goes...

Over at the military.com submarine discussion board, "Mack the Knife" posts:

Unbelievable - the stellar crew of the USS Texas managed to run it aground at Port Canaveral! I have two emailed pictures of tugs pulling her off of the mud - about 20 yards from a grassy bank. Looks like someone's back yard. (Little bike path, little 'grassy knoll' veeeery close aboard). Haven't figured out how to post 'em. The caption says "...nothing was damaged, except some egos..." Um, try a 4-striper's career!
Some of you may remember how I have decried the loss of basic seamanship skills in today's submarine force. Here is another prime example. I know we are talking about littoral tasks for submarines - but this is ludicrous.
I wonder if Cat Futch....nahhh.

As I said, I don't necessarily believe this is for real, but if anyone happens to have the pictures they're talking about, I'd love to see them...

Update 2252 03 October: Speaking of USS Texas, I was looking through some of the other posts on the Military.com Submarine discussion board, and came across one item that I hadn't noticed earlier. From the Navy NewsStand article about Texas' commissioning:

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Galveston native, said her hometown has had strong historical ties to the Navy. The city was the homeport to the Texas navy that fought for independence from Mexico, she said, and is home to USS Seawolf (SS 197), a decommissioned World War II submarine.

[Emphasis mine] As "edclark65" points out:

I'm sure I'll not be the first to point out to the Senator that the USS Seawolf (SS 197), went down with all hands during WWII. There is a USS Seawolf (SS 197) memorial abeam the bow of the USS Texas (BB35) in San Jacento, and there is the USS Cavalla (SSK 212) and the destroyer escort Stewart (DE 238) at Seawolf Park. USS Cavalla is a memorial to the USS Seawolf. Each state has been designated a lost submarine crew to perpetuate. Texas was assigned the USS Seawolf (SS197) which was lost on October 3, 1944 with all hands--83 men and officers including 17 U.S. Army Rangers that were in transit to the Philippines.

I discussed the effort to get WWII submarine monuments in each state here.

Update 0634 04 Oct: I'm wondering if this is the picture the original poster I discussed was talking about:

If this is the picture he was talking about, then, as Emily Litella used to say: "Never mind".

Bell-ringer 1944 04 Oct: Based on MT1(SS)'s comment below, I think we can safely say that, in fact, Texas did not run aground in PCAN.

A Sad Loss For Idaho

I was going to blog tonight about the state of Idaho politics in the last month before the election, but given the news of the tragic death of former Representative Helen Chenoweth-Hage in a car accident earlier today, I think I'll hold off for a bit. Dennis Mansfield offers some personal memories, and Adam also offers his thoughts. Sympathy is also expressed over at the campaign blog of Larry Grant, who's running for the seat she once held.

Update 2243 02 October: I almost hesitate to link to this, but I think it's important to remember the state of unthinking hate the unbalanced left has allowed themselves to drift into; that being said, check out the responses to the story of Helen's death over at Democratic Underground. Disgusting.

New Navy Professional Reading List

The Navy just came out with a new professional reading list that differs greatly from the existing lists (officer and enlisted). The new list has a total of 60 books, 12 for each of five "experience levels": Junior Enlisted (E1-E4), Leading Petty Officer (E5-E6), Division Leader (O1-O3, CWO2, and E7), Department/Command Leader (O4-O5, CWO3-CWO4, and E8-E9), and Command Leader (O-6 and up, CWO5, and CMC) -- I think that's a better breakout than the old "officer/enlisted" lists. Each of the 12 book lists has two books from each of six categories: Leadership, Naval and Military Heritage, Joint and Combined Warfare, Regional and Cultural Awareness, Critical Thinking, and Management and Strategic Planning.

I'm excited to see some of the additions ("Ender's Game" for Junior Enlisted and "The World Is Flat" for Division Leaders), and perplexed about some others ("Starship Troopers" under the Leadership category for Junior Enlisted?), but overall they seem to be pretty good choices. I was disappointed, though, to see two books in particular that didn't make it from the old lists: "Thunder Below" by Gene Fluckey, and "The United States Navy: 200 Years" by Ned Beach. The fact that both were by submariners had nothing to do with my sorrow at seeing them go -- they're just good books. (I'm wondering, though, if Capt. Beach's tendency to take a more "critical" look at some Naval leaders of the past may have led to his book not making the list.)

I think that Navy's plan to give a copy of all the books to each ship (fittingly, USS Constitution got them first) is a great idea; as a taxpayer, I fully approve of this use of the Navy's money. (On a personal note, Master Chief Juskiewicz, SEA CMC, shown in this photo delivering the books to the Constitution, is an old shipmate of mine.)

Gallant Men Gather On Sacred Ground

There have been many men of uncommon valor who have sailed aboard USS Constitution in her storied history, but probably very so many as those who gathered for her turnaround cruise on Saturday. Here's a picture of the group:

What makes these men so special? Well, they include 70 recipients of the Medal of Honor, who were onboard the Constitution for a very special purpose:

More than 60 Medal of Honor recipients took part in a special Medal of Honor flag presentation in a ceremony aboard USS Constitution, "Old Ironsides," here Sept. 30.
The flag was created by an Act of Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush Oct. 23, 2002. Each service was charged with presenting the flag to its recipients in an appropriate ceremonial manner.
The flag can only be presented to a Medal of Honor recipient or a recipient’s primary next of kin by a top-ranking member of the armed forces.

More pictures of the event can be found here. I was originally going to call this post "A Gathering Of Heroes" when I first saw the picture this morning, but I saw tonight that Eagle1 had beat me to that tagline. No matter what you call it, it's still a chance for us to reflect on the valor shown by these men in the service of our country, and honor them for their bravery.