USS Pasadena (SSN 752) departed from Naval Station Pearl Harbor for a regularly scheduled six-month deployment to the Western Pacific Oct. 31. Though the deployment is a routine one, the Pasadena is traveling with history.I'm glad the Submarine Force continues to honor our heroes from the past. I'm just wondering where the "undisclosed location" is they're going to conduct the burial at sea? I propose Namkwan Harbor...
A portion of the cremains of decorated Navy Rear Adm. (Retired) Eugene Bennet Fluckey was brought on board Pasadena moments before departure. There, the remains will make the journey with the sub to the Western Pacific, where a ceremonial burial at sea will take place at an undisclosed location. While a portion of the cremains travel with the sub, as per Fluckey’s wishes, the rest of his ashes were entombed at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.
The retired Rear Admiral passed away June 28, 2007 at Anne Arundel Medical Center in Maryland. He was 93 years old.
Fluckey, a Washington, D.C. native, was a highly decorated and world-renowned submarine commander also known as “Lucky Fluckey” and “The Galloping Ghost of the China Coast.” He is credited as being the skipper who sunk the most enemy tonnage during World War II: some say 17 ships, others say as many as 29...
... Chief of the Boat MTCM Jim Lyle carried the cremains onto the sub. “I’m honored”, said Lyle of his involvement in this historic event. “I had goose bumps.”
An Appropriate Ending...
I got choked up reading the story at the SubPac website about RADM Gene Fluckey's final voyage:
