USS Snapper, USS Sea Fox,USS Sennet, USS Quillback, USS Sea Leopard and HS-7

 Melvin T. Smith served in WWII, Korea and Viet Nam

HEROES BENEATH THE WAVES: TRUE SUBMARINE STORIES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY by Mary Nida Smith.  PRE-ORDER MY BOOK AT

Walmart, Amazon, bokus.com, Total Library Solutions, NewSouth Books, Barnes & Noble, BAM, Powell's Books, book stores and the publisher http://skyhorsepublishing.com - Pre-orders only. Release date November 2015. Skyhorse Publishing – Jeanie Loiacono, Agent

The unbelievable stories of the heroic men who sailed under the sea.

In Heroes Beneath the Waves, many brave men who rode submarines to great depths and across the oceans into unknown territory share their experiences, fears, and thoughts. They allow us to travel back in time through their memories. Trained for years to keep silent—for “loose lips sink ships”—many still believe what they know to be classified and refuse to disclose even the minutest of recollections. Others, however, want to leave a legacy of reminiscences for people to learn and live by—to know that freedom is not free.

Some stories will never be told. Held within the secret confines of their souls, these deep sea veterans block them out for self-perseverance. Yet, there are others who will never escape their own minds; they relive their underwater experiences over and over with eyes open or shut.

Heroes Beneath the Waves is about teenage boys who left farms, small towns, and inner cities to defend the United States and democracy worldwide. Signing up for United States Navy submarine duty was an adventure of a lifetime during the early 1940s. Dreams of torpedoing Japanese and German ships and subs consumed their thoughts. Those who returned home as young men were older and wiser. Heroes Beneath the Waves was written to honor these men—gallant heroes—who served and are serving today on submarines.

U.S. Navy Considering Adding Anti-Ship Missiles Back To Submarine Force

Sam LaGrone, U.S. Naval Institute News, Oct 21

The Navy is investigating adding an anti-ship missile to its submarine force – bringing it in line with the majority of the world naval submarines, the director of Naval Reactors said on Wednesday.

In response to a question from the audience at the 2015 Naval Submarine League Symposium, Adm. Frank Caldwell said the Navy was exploring adding the capability to the fleet.

“For this audience, I’ll tell you we are considering that and we are taking some steps to delivering that kind of capability to our submarine force and I can’t really say any more than that,” he said.

The U.S. submarine fleet did use the UGM-84A Harpoon anti-ship missile but that Harpoon variant was retired in 1997. The current primary attack submarines is the anti-ship weapon is Mk 48 heavy torpedo and is limited in its range relative to anti-ship missiles developed and deployed with foreign navies.

In particular, Russian and Chinese submarines field a variety of anti-ship missiles with ranges that far exceed the Mk-48s.

For example, the emerging Chinese YJ-18 supersonic anti-ship cruise missile, capable of launching from a People Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) attack boat has an estimated range in excess of 300 miles. Likewise, Russia’s newer Oscar-class attack boats field the supersonic P-700 Granit – known by NATO as the SS-N-19 Shipwreck – with a more than 300-mile range.

For the U.S. submarine fleet it makes sense to return anti-ship missiles to boats to provide a greater standoff range for the force, Eric Wertheim – naval analyst and author of U.S. Naval Institute’s Combat Fleets of the World – told USNI News on Wednesday.

“When you look at potential combat operations and you can see how an anti-submarine missile from a sub could prove useful,” Wertheim said. “I do think it would add options to today’s submarine fleet to operate farther from high threat environments. Standoff capability adds a lot of options for military commanders.”

If the U.S. elects to include anti-ship missiles in its submarines there are several options to choose from beyond the legacy Harpoons.

The Norwegian company Kongsberg – that recently partnered with Raytheon – unveiled a subsurface launched version of its Naval Strike Missile in 2014. Lockheed Martin’s Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) being developed for DARPA is currently air launched, but Lockheed has examined firing the missile from a surface ship and it could likely be adapted for submarine use.

Additionally, U.S. attack submarines all field Raytheon Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAM). Earlier this year, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) tested a Block IV TLAM as an anti-ship missile.

“If you have Tomahawks already onboard then it could be dual purpose [land attack or anti-ship],” Wertheim said.

Studying a sub-launched ASM conforms to an overall trend in the Navy in the last few years to empathize high-end warfare after years of supporting the low intensity conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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 Mary Nida Smith, is sorry she hasn't been updating her post. Her husband who served in submarine for 16 years and anti-submarine helicopters for 5 and served in WWII, Viet Nam and the Korea War has been in and out of  the hospital. He will be 90 January 2, 2016. He has two stories in her book and his interesting career is the inspiration for writing and publishing her two books - Submarine  Stories of World War II and Heroes beneath The Waves: True Submarine Stories of the Twentieth Century. Release day for the last book is November 17th and can be ordered at several locations on the internet. Thank you for your patience.