The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1954-03-05

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the submarines Conger and Spike
fish and on the Staff, Submarine
School, New London.
Commanding officer of the To
is 1t. Edward Holt, of Perrysburg,
Ohio, who graduated from the Ma
val Academy with the class of
1916. He served two years aboard
destroyerS prior to being selected
for Submarine School and duty.
Since Submarine School he has
served in the submarines CobbleT
and Entemedor and on the Staff,
Submarine School, New London.
Commenting on the cruise to
Key West, Snyder said, 1.-THE "trip
was fine and everyone seemed TO
enjoy II, although il meant a Iii-
ile more work for all hands. Gen.
orally, the weather was good,
but we did hit some rough water
coming into Charleston. It's quite
relief coming to such warm
climate as This after those tenn.
peratUres at New London, TOO, he
added.
Holt presented some interesting
facts on the T-2 and its crew, as
well as commenting on the. size of
the midget subs. The average age
of the T-2 sailors is 26 years, and
their average time spent in SUBJ
marines is six years. An especially
unique fact about these subma-
rinerS is that they are volunteer
volunteers-that is, besides volun-
teering for submarine duty, they
are volunteers for duty in these
particular submarines.
"The T-2 people are treaty. turn
ers and burners, though" stated
Holt. "When it come to painting the
sub, it took two men with two paint
brushes two days"
Because Of the numerous duties
performed by the crews Of both
beats, each man serves as a jack
of.aIl.frades. He takes his turn
as cook, heImsman, bow handler,
phone talker, etc.
The To is especially proud of
their Chief-of-the- Boat, J. H. OFT,
radioman first class, who passed
the chief radioman code receiving
part of the exam for advancement
in rating with one hand, because of
a broken finger on the other.
Crewmembers of the tt have al
so showed the true Submariner
spirit by becoming Officers of the
Deck. While at Fort Lauderdale,
Chief Torpedoman's Mate Carlton
H. Davis, who is Chief-of-the Boat,
and William H. Hannaford, quart
ermaster first class, took the boat
out and brought her back along
side the mother ship there.
Soon after arriving here, the
crews of the T-boats began MAX
ing preparations for their new
role in The Navy. For about three
weeks they will make practice
dives and sUrfacings ard perform
various drills to ready them for
the operating tests with other
submarines and anti-sUbmarine
warfare units.
Then, in several months a board
of inspection and survey will ar
rive here to observe tests of the
vessels under all conditions. If they
meet expectations, they'll be fully
accepted by the Navy. At this
time, the target submarines tech
nically are not commissioned but
are in the active-in-service status.
Although the tt and T-2 are
units of the same submarine divi-
sion, they will not necessarily al
ways operate together. For exam
pie, the tt will engage In opera
tional drills from Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba, for about three weeks
in April. while the T-2 will be pro-
viding services in this area.
Both shippers of the boats ex-
pect their power-packed little YES
sells to meet their obligations, even
if they were mauled by porpoises