Boat Sailors: Vietnam War Action by Fleet Submarines
I would be remiss if I didn't mention my own two commands also, although, while I was aboard we patroled, but "mostly" stayed away from Vietnam. They were the USS Carbonero SS337 and the USS Archerfish SS/AGSS 311.One of Carbonero's highlights was participating in the 1962 nuclear tests (Operation Dominic[before I got aboard]) off Christmas Island and Johnson Island in the central Pacific. Through her periscope, about 30 miles away, she witnessed an atomic blast from a Polaris Missile fired by the USS Ethan Allen SS-480. (Just 30 miles seems a bit...close, to me). On April 27, 1975, Carbonero was taken to sea for the last time and sunk by a Mk48 torpedo fired by the USS Pogy SSN-647. (Made me kind of sad to hear that.)The Archerfish's highlight is the sinking of the Japanese aircraft carrier Shinano in November 1944, the largest warship ever sunk by a submarine, for which she received a Presidential Unit Citation after the war. And for all that, on October 19, 1968, she was sunk off San Diego by a torpedo from the USS Snook SSN-592. (That sinking was sad for me to hear about too, but, maybe, for those old war-girls, sinking by torpedo is a good way to die.)One more thing: Toward the end of her cruises Archerfish's torpedo tubes were removed, a few civilian scientists came aboard, and AG was added to her name, which stood somehow for Oceanographic Survey, which for some reason required an all-bachelor crew (that's when I came aboard, just in time for a 6-month yard period.)For my true navy experiences please see my autobiography "Dying to Live."