Friday, January 27, 2012

PEACE IN VIETNAM ANNOUNCED JANUARY 28,1973.
The origin of Sub Pay Should Teddy Roosevelt be the patron saint of submariners? Roosevelt was the first American President to go aboard a submarine and to make a dive. Roosevelt ventured beneath the waters of Long Island Sound aboard USS Plunger (SS 2) on March 25, 1905. Plunger was the United States' second submarine, commissioned in September 1903.... Beyond this historical first, however, is the fact that Roosevelt was the man directly responsible for submarine pay. The Naval hierarchy in 1905 considered submarine duty, neither unusual nor dangerous, and classified it as shore duty. Therefore, submariners received twenty-five percent less pay than sailors going to sea in Destroyers, Cruisers and similar surface ships. Roosevelt's two-hour trip on Plunger convinced him that this discrimination was unfair. He described submarine duty as hazardous and difficult, and he found that submariners "have to be trained to the highest possible point as well as to show iron nerve in order to be of any use in their positions…" Roosevelt directed that officer service on submarines be equated with duty on surface ships. Enlisted men qualified in submarines were to receive ten dollars per month in addition to the pay of their rating. They were also to be paid a dollar for every day in which they were submerged while underway. Enlisted men assigned to submarines but not yet qualified received an additional five dollars per month. Roosevelt did not dilly-dally once he made a decision. He issued an Executive Order directing the extra pay for enlisted personnel. This was the beginning of submarine pay! Brian Palmetto Base Commander

Saturday, January 21, 2012

TWIN LAKES SUBMARINE BASE, MOUNTAIN HOME, AR MEET TUESDAY JAN 24TH AT NOON-I:OOP.M., AT THE ELKS LODGE http://www.orgsites.com/ar/twin-lakes-base They have about 24 members. Come for lunch and have a good time visiting and keeping up to date how they are creating awareness of what and who submarine veterans are and how important submarines were/are during wars and conflicts.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Received from USSVI. Sailor, Rest Your Oars. God Bless and thank you for your service. Geo. Born Nov 12, 1926, Eternal Patrol Jan 9, 2012. Charles Barclay Rutherford, CPO, USN, Ret., passed away peacefully at the home of his daughter, Lynda Rutherford Abram on Monday, January 9, 2012. Charles Barclay Rutherford was born on November 12, 1926 in Wauchula, Florida, son of the late Leona Chaudoin Purvis and Charles Barclay Rutherford. He was predeceased by his wife, Anita Geraldine Rutherford (Jerry) and a brother Gene Rutherford. Charles joined the Navy at 17 years of age and retired after 22 years service as a Chief Petty Officer. His military service included serving on the USS Seafox, USS Cabezon, USS Sea Devil, USS Cusk, USS Segundo, USS Bream, USS Bushnell, USS Batfish, USS Penguin and the USS Sennet. He was a proud Submariner and a decorated war veteran serving in WWII and the Korean Conflict. After retirement from the Navy, he went to work for Raytheon and the FAA, which he also retired as a civil servant. Charles, lovingly known as PaPa, grew up in scouting and volunteered as a scout leader for his sons and grandson. He also volunteered for the soup kitchen and Lutheran Brotherhood. He was a longtime member of the Elks Lodge and Rifle Club and spent many hours volunteering for kitchen committee's serving many delicious meals. He became a member of the Palmetto Gun Club later in life and joined the Single Action Shooting Society. He received great pleasure in the love of his family, friends, hobbies and volunteer work. Charles was a member of St. Andrews Lutheran Church, which merged with Holy Spirit Lutheran Church and served on several committees throughout the years. PaPa loved talking to anyone and everyone about gardening, cooking-his collection of cookbooks and recipes, his knife collection- and how to sharpen knives the "correct way"- and his joy of shooting and fishing. Charles (PaPa) will be remembered and greatly missed by his daughter, Lynda Rutherford Abram (Brian), and his sons, Lawrence Rutherford (Marcella), and Eddie Rutherford (Robin), as well as his grandchildren, Hank Holst (Dawn), Nancy Whittaker (Scott), Lauren Milleman (Sammy), Billy Rutherford, Michael Rutherford, and Amy Perugini (Justin), and his great grandchildren, Hannah Holst, Charles Holst, Taylor Bishop, Bailey Ann Milleman and Luke Perugini. Charles is also survived by a sister, Margie Griffin of Florida, a brother, Herman Purvis of Georgia, a sister-in-law Elizabeth Lofton, and brother and sister-in-law William Barnett (Vivian), including many nieces and nephews. He will also be missed by his loving companion, Stella Grady and her children Dixie Roberts (Jim), Harriett Thomas, Cindy Nigel (Scott) and their children and grandchildren. Interment at Holy Cross Cemetery; Ft. Johnson Road, Charleston, SC. Patrick Householder USSVI Past National Commander 2008-2010 Decklog Boats and Crews Manager Our Purpose "To perpetuate the memory of our shipmates who gave their lives in the pursuit of duties while serving their country. That their dedication, deeds and supreme sacrifice be a constant source of motivation toward greater accomplishments. Pledge loyalty and patriotism to the United States of America and it’s Constitution.”

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Hidden Bag Found On USS Cobia Submarine Herald Times, January 2 MANITOWOC - Imagine Paul Rutherford's surprise when he was working aboard the USS Cobia and came across a bag that likely hadn't been touched by human hands since World War II. Rutherford is maintenance supervisor for the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, where the submarine draws thousands of visitors each year. The Cobia yielded its surprise to Rutherford on Dec. 21. He was on his back, squeezed into a tight space installing a protective cage around a light fixture above upper sleeping bunks in the after torpedo room. "I had to take off the cover around the light fixture so I could use that to attach the cage to it," he said. "I realized I didn't bring the cages with me. I couldn't reach them and I didn't want to crawl down because it's a struggle, so I called for some help." During the five minutes or so that he waited, his imagination went to work. He put himself in the mindset of a World War II submariner and wondered if one of them might have stashed something in a nearby nook. "Wouldn't that be cool if I found something," he thought to himself. Rutherford reached his hand above an electrical utility box behind the escape hatch. And there it was. A brown leather zippered toiletry bag, flattened from being shoved into a 2- to 3-inch-high space more than 60 years ago. "So I pulled it out," he said. "There was actually a lot of dust on it and one edge was spray-painted white," likely from remodeling during the '60s or '70s before the museum acquired the submarine, he said. Rutherford waited until he finished his work and shimmied out of the tight space to see what was inside. The bag yielded up a small empty red corduroy pouch, a rubber stamp with a seaman's name, a "100 Cocktails" booklet, and two poems, "Give Us a Drink" and "Navy Wife." "That thing had definitely been up there longer than I've been alive," said Rutherford, 47. "If I wouldn't have forgotten to bring the cages with me, I would have never have found these items." Using the rubber stamp as her guide, Karen Duvalle, submarine curator, consulted crew records and identified the objects as being from Seaman First Class Hersey J. Williams, who served aboard the USS Cobia on the submarine's fourth war patrol, which departed from Perth, Australia, on Dec. 12, 1945. Chances are that one of the two bunks near the area where the bag was found belonged to him, Duvalle said. "The submarine has been here for 41 years, and to find something that has been there for 66 years . that's exciting," Duvalle said. "It was a tricky area to get to - that's why it has been up there for so long." While the bag was flattened, everything inside was in good condition, she said. "It's kind of odd," Rutherford said. "It's not stuff you would usually find in the bag. We thought maybe he left it there as some sort of Navy tradition or something. It was in a place that you wouldn't have put something like that normally. That's why it was cool finding it." It was typical for submariners to keep personal items in small personal lockers, bunk bags and small lockers in the crew's washroom of the submarine, Duvalle said. The drink booklet contains recipes for martinis and rum drinks, she said. The "Navy Wife" poem warned women not to become a sailor's wife unless they could answer yes to the questions it asked, including, "Can you sit home nights just waiting/Until the war is won?" The other poem was a little salty, peppered with what Duvalle called "sailor talk." The little red bag might have once held the seaman's razor, she said. Duvalle plans to scour the museum's archives, talk to veterans and do Internet research to find out more about the submariner who, possibly on a whim, tucked the bag into the bowels of the submarine and maybe even chuckled as he thought of the day that it might be found. Kirk Smith