...young submariners captured in a photograph; looking into a lens extending into an unknown future --- captured in that forgotten moment.
I was struck by this statement pulled from another submarine related page called; Sweet Bird Of Youth

These sailors were the boys down the street, around the corner, out on the farms, the high school football heroes and, yes, even the geeks of their time, but they became one of the elite, one of that 1% that made the cut and became a United States Submariner. The best of the best of the United States Navy.

It is important to remember that the submarines were just steel and machinery. It was the men who brought them to life and made them live. It is the men that gave them the romance, the mystery and the mystique.

I have included a number of first person accounts on a some of the pages for a number of the boats of what life was like aboard an "S" or "R" or even a "K" boat. Also what it was like being bombed on Sealion at Cavite harbor in December 1941. All this is most valuable since the men who sailed these boats are rapidly making their own "eternal patrols". Preservation of these verbal images is important.

"There is something about the submarine service. It tends to create a bond between those who have served that is born of trust. Every submariner who ever put to sea and submerged has placed in the hands of another, their very lives. The bond is not one of close friendship, even though those do grow out of the time spent aboard a boat. It is one of mutual respect - blind to color, ethnicity, religion, nationality and gender. The bond is one of personal responsibility. Not everyone has it. Some don't even know what personal responsibility is. Submariners know what it is. It is their way of life. The trust and respect and sense of personal responsibility is.... "The Submarine Tradition...""

Jim Christley

I would like to especially thank Mr Roland Goodbody, Manuscripts Curator, Milne Special Collections & Archives at the University of New Hampshire Library and his staff and the University of New Hampshire for all their cooperation and kindness in helping me in this endeavor.

All photos that are from the Milne Special Collections, University of New Hampshire Library, Durham, N.H. are their property and may not be reproduced without their permission.

I would also like to thank Wendy Gulley, Curator of The US Navy Submarine Force Museum Library in Groton, Ct. for her kind indulgences in letting me use their archive.

Photos credited to the people who submitted them are their property and may not be copied or reproduced without their permission unless the original photos come from the public domain such as The National Archives or the United States Navy.