| Question: Cameron: I just finished reading “Sink The Shigure” which I enjoyed very much. I look forward to reading your other 2 books. I received my gold dolphins on TUSK SS-426 in 1961. In the late 50s/early 60s there were still quite a few crew members wearing combat pins who had very interesting tales to tell. There were a couple of thing I noticed in your book which were not quite accurate for the time of the book. The E-8 and E-8 ranks did not come into being until the very late 1958/ early 1959 time frame. I was Engineer on a destroyer when the Senior and Master Chief ranks were added. Early promotions to E-8 and E-9 were very slow. During my time in the Submarine Force, most COBs were still E-7 Chiefs who had been promoted to CPO many years before. When I reported aboard TUSK, the COB was a TMC who qualified on the DOLPHIN SS-169 prior to WWII. Also the Command at Sea insignia for COs was not an authorized insignia to be worn on the uniform until the early 1960s. According to your book, the WHITEFIN was a Manitowoc build boat. All the Manitowoc boats were built to Electric Boat designs with GM engines. None had FM opposed piston engines. All the boats with GM engines had GE generators and motors. All the EB designed boats had the GM/GE combination of machinery. The Portsmouth design boats had the FM engines with either GE or Elliott generators and motors. I also served on ENTEMADCOR which was an EB boat with the GM/GE machinery arrangement. TUSK had the FM/Elliott combination. A very good reference book on the WWII boats is “The Fleet Submarine in the U. S. Navy” by John D. Alden. It was originally published by the Naval Institute in 1979. I guess it is only us old diesel boat sailors who would notice such things. I look forward to reading your other books. Regards, Joe Koch, former LT USN |
| Answer: Dear Joe, thanks for the great info and for taking the time to post it. Very interesting and informative. It sounds like you served with some very salty sailors. I would have loved to hear their stories. I only ran into one WWII vet who was still on active duty when I was an ensign. He was a Pearl Harbor veteran and had been in the navy forever. I could kick myself for not writing down some of his stories, but at that time I had no idea I would eventually pursue a writing career. Anyway, I hope my errors didn’t distract too much from the story. Thanks again for the great comment! Pride Runs Deep, sir! All Best – RCC |
