Chester and Submarines

We've had several recent posts about submarines -- particularly about China's purported new missile sub. I have always had a fascination with submarines despite being a Marine. My dad, when in his 20s, used to work at the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics in Groton, Connecticut and helped construct submarines. He always used to tell me stories about building them when I was a boy. He even tried to enlist in the Navy to join the sub force, but being deaf in one ear since birth, they wouldn't take him. When I was in college, subs interested me because of the three-dimensional nature of their environment: much more like flying than driving a ship, I've always thought. Once, while in Naval ROTC, Admiral Bowman, the four-star admiral in charge of the Navy's nuclear power program (and therefore submarines) at the time, and also a Duke grad, came and spoke to our NROTC unit. He was a great speaker. That morning the handful of us who were Marines had an amphibious warfare class and he slipped in and joined us for a bit. Very down to earth, and very much a warfighter. He told us that there might be a tendency for Marines to think of submarine officers as "pencil-necked geeks." He recommended that we check out the book "Blind Man's Bluff," to learn a little more about the sub community. The reason I write all of this is to give a high recommendation to that book -- I've just put up a link to it in the sidebar. Truly fascinating stuff, spanning all of the Cold War. Would make a great stocking stuffer. I found out later that Naval submarine officers are actually prohibited by regulation from commenting on the contents of "Blind Man's Bluff." That has to mean something . . .