The FReeper Foxhole Revisits - Navy Divers - December 13th, 2003

Various

[SAMWolf]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.


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The Foxhole Revisits ~ Navy Divers


Diving in the U.S. Navy: A Brief History



The US Navy is the forerunner in the development of modem diving and underwater operations. The general requirements of national defense and the specific requirements of underwater reconnaissance, demolition, ordnance disposal, construction, ship maintenance, search, rescue, and salvage operations repeatedly give impetus to training and development.

Early History of US Navy Diving

The early history of diving in the US Navy parallels that of the other navies of the world. Since the middle of the nineteenth century, the Navy has employed divers in salvage and repair of ships, in construction work, and in military operations.



For the most part, early Navy divers were swimmers and skin divers, with techniques and missions unchanged since the days of Alexander the Great. During the Civil War Battle of Mobile Bay, swimmers were sent in ahead of Admiral Farragut's ships to locate and disarm Confederate mines that had been planted to block the entrance to the bay.





In 1898, Navy divers were briefly involved in an international crisis when the second-class armored battleship USS Maine was sunk by a mysterious explosion while anchored in the harbor at Havana, Cuba. Navy divers were sent from Key West to study and report on the wreck. Although a Court of inquiry was convened, the reason for the sinking was not found.



The beginning of the twentieth century saw the attention of all major navies turning towards developing a weapon of immense potential - the military submarine. The highly effective use of the new weapon by the German Navy in World War I heightened this interest, and an emphasis was placed on the submarine that continues today.

The US Navy had operated submarines on a limited basis for several years prior to 1900. As American technology expanded, the US submarine fleet grew rapidly. However, throughout the period of 1912-1939, the development of the Navy's F, H, and S class boats was marred by a series of accidents, collisions, and sinkings. Several of these submarine disasters resulted in a correspondingly rapid growth in the Navy diving capability.



Until 1912, US Navy divers rarely went below 60 fsw (feet of seawater). In that year, Chief Gunner George D. Stillson set up a program to test Haldane's diving tables and methods of stage decompression. A companion goal of the program was to develop improvements in Navy diving equipment. Throughout a three-year period, first diving in tanks ashore and then in open water in Long Island Sound from the USS Walke (Destroyer No.34), the Navy divers went progressively deeper, eventually reaching 274 fsw.

The experience gained in Stillson's program was put to dramatic use six months later when the submarine USS F-4 sank near Honolulu, Hawaii. Twenty-one men lost their lives in the accident and the Navy lost its first boat in 15 years of submarine operations. Navy divers salvaged the submarine and recovered the bodies of the crew. The salvage effort incorporated many new techniques, such as the use of lifting pontoons, but what was most remarkable was that the divers completed a major salvage effort working at the extreme depth of 304 fsw, using air as a breathing mixture.



These dives remain the record for the use of standard deep-sea diving dress. Because of the depth and the necessary decompression, each diver could remain on the bottom for only ten minutes. Even for such a limited time, the men found it hard to concentrate on the job at hand. They were unknowingly affected by nitrogen narcosis.

The publication of the first US Navy Diving Manual and the establishment of a Navy Diving School at Newport, Rhode Island were the direct outgrowth of experience gained in the test pro gram and the USS F-4 salvage. When the United Stares entered World War I, the staff and graduates of the school were sent to Europe, where they conducted various salvage operations along the French coast.

The physiological problems encountered in the salvage of the USS F-4 clearly demonstrated the limitations of breathing air during deep dives. Continuing concern that submarine rescue and salvage would be required at great depth focused Navy attention on the need for a new diver breathing medium. In 1924, the Navy joined with the Bureau of Mines in the experimental use of helium-oxygen mixtures. The preliminary work was conducted at the Bureau of Mines Experimental Station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.



Experiments on animals, later verified by studies with human subjects, clearly showed that helium-oxygen mixtures offered great advantages over air for deep dives. There were no undesirable mental effects and decompression time was shortened. This early work laid the foundation for development of reliable decompression tables and specialized apparatus, which are the cornerstones of modern deep diving technology.

One year later, in September of 1925, another submarine, the USS S-51 (SS-162), was rammed by a passenger liner and sunk in 132 fsw off Block Island, Massachusetts. Public pressure to raise the submarine and recover the bodies of the crew was intense. Navy diving was put in sharp focus and the Navy realized it had only 20 divers who were qualified to go deeper than 90 fsw. Diver training programs had been cut at the end of World War I, and the school had not been reinstituted.



Salvage of the USS S-51 covered a ten month span of difficult and hazardous diving, and a special diver training course was made part of the operation. The submarine was finally raised and towed to the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York.

Interest in diving was high once again and the Naval School, Diving and Salvage, was reestablished at the Washington Navy Yard in 1927. At the same time, the Navy brought together its existing diving technology and experimental work by shifting the Experimental Diving Unit (EDU), which had been working with the Bureau of Mines in Pennsylvania to the Navy Yard as well.

In the following years, EDU developed the US Navy Air Decompression Tables, which have become the accepted world standard, and continued developmental work in helium-oxygen breathing mixtures for deeper diving.



The loss of the USS F-4 and USS S-51 provided the impetus for expanding the Navy's diving ability. However, the Navy's inability to rescue men trapped in a disabled submarine was not confronted until another major submarine disaster occurred.

In 1927, the Navy lost the submarine USS S-4 (SS-109) in a Collision with the Coast Guard cutter USS Paulding. The first divers to reach the submarine in 102 fsw, 22 hours after the sinking, exchanged signals with the men trapped inside. The submarine had a hull fitting designed to take an air hose from the surface, but what had looked feasible in theory proved too difficult in reality. With stormy seas causing repeated delays, the divers could not make the hose connection until it was too late. All of the men aboard the USS S-4 had died. Even had the hose connection been made in time, rescuing the crew would have posed a significant problem.


The USS S-4 was salvaged after a major effort, and the fate of the crew spurred several efforts toward preventing a similar disaster. Lieutenant C. B. Momsen, a submarine officer, developed the escape lung which bears his name. It was given its first operational test in 1929 when 26 officers and men successfully surfaced from an intentionally bottomed submarine.



USS Squalus (SS-192)

The Navy pushed for development of a rescue chamber that was essentially a diving bell with special fittings for connection to a submarine deck hatch. The apparatus, called the McCann-Erickson Rescue Chamber, was proven in 1939 when a submarine sank in 243 fsw.



The USS Squalus (SS-192) carried a crew of 50 [56 and 3 civilians]. The rescue chamber made four trips and safely brought 33 men to the surface. The rest of the crew, trapped in the flooded after-section of the submarine, had perished in the sinking. The USS Squalus was raised by salvage divers using air and helium-oxygen mixtures. Following renovation, the submarine, renamed USS Sailfish (SS-192), compiled a proud record in World War II.

The FReeper Foxhole Remembers the Sinking and Rescue of the USS SQUALUS (SS-192) - Sept. 12th, 2003

World War II

Navy divers were plunged into the war with the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor. The raid began at 0755, 7 December 1941; by 0915 that same morning, the first salvage teams were cutting through the hull of the overturned battleship USS Oklahoma (BB-37) to rescue trapped sailors. Teams of divers were put to work recovering ammunition from the magazines of sunken ships, to be ready in the event of a second attack.



The immense salvage effort that followed at Pearl Harbor was highly successful. There were 101 ships in the harbor at the time of the attack and most sustained damage. The hardest hit were the battleships, being one of the primary targets of the raid. Six battleships were sunk and one was heavily damaged. Four of these were salvaged and returned to the fleet for combat duty; the USS Oklahoma was righted and refloated but sank en route to a shipyard in the United States. Only the USS Arizona (BB-39) and the former battleship USS Utah (AG-16) could not be salvaged.



Battleships were not the only subjects of the salvage effort. Throughout 1942 and part of 1943, Navy divers worked on destroyers, supply ships, and other badly needed vessels, often using makeshift shallow water apparatus inside water and gas-filled compartments. In the course of the Pearl Harbor effort, Navy divers spent 16,000 hours underwater during 4,000 dives. Contract civilian divers contributed another 4,000 diving hours.

While divers in the Pacific were hard at work at Pearl Harbor, a major challenge was presented to the divers on the East Coast. The interned French passenger liner Normandie, rechristened as the USS Lafayette (AP-53), caught fire alongside New York City's Pier 88. Losing stability from the tons of water poured on the fire, the ship capsized at her berth.



To clear the vitally needed pier, the ship had to be salvaged. The Navy took advantage of this unique opportunity for training by using the New York site for a new diving and salvage school. The Naval Training School (Salvage) was established there in September 1942, and was transferred to Bayonne, N J in 1946.



Salvage operations were not, of course, the only missions assigned to Navy divers during the war. Many dives were made to inspect sunken enemy ships and to recover materials such as code books or other intelligence items. One Japanese cruiser yielded not only $500,000 in yen, but also provided valuable information concerning plans for the defense of Japan against the anticipated Allied invasion.

Combat Swimmers

The combat diving mission was the same in World War II as it had been in previous wars: to remove obstacles from enemy waters and to gather intelligence. The Navy's Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT) were created when bomb disposal experts and SeaBees (combat engineers) teamed together in 1943 to devise methods for removing obstacles that the Germans were placing off the beaches of France.



The first UDT combat mission, however, was in the Pacific. It was a daylight reconnaissance and demolition project off the beaches of Saipan in June 1944. In March of the next year, preparing for the invasion of Okinawa, one underwater demolition team achieved the exceptional record of removing 1,200 underwater obstacles in two days, under heavy fire, without a single casualty.



Diving apparatus was not extensively used by the UDT during the war. No suitable equipment was readily available. UDT experimented with a modified Momsen lung and other types of breathing apparatus, but not until 1947 did the Navy's acquisition of Aqua-Lung equipment give impetus to the diving aspect of UDT operations.

The trail of bubbles from the open-circuit apparatus limited the type of mission in which it could be employed, but a special SCUBA (self- contained underwater breathing apparatus) platoon of UDT members was formed to test the equipment and determine appropriate uses for it.

Through the years since, the mission and importance of the UDT has grown. In the Korean Conflict, during the period of strategic withdrawal, the UDT destroyed an entire port complex to keep it from the enemy.


UDT in Korea

Today Navy combat swimmers are organized into two separate groups, each with specialized training and missions. The Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team has the mission of handling, defining, and disposing of munitions and other explosives.

The Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) special warfare teams make up the second group of Navy combat swimmers. SEAL team members are trained to operate in all of these environments. They qualify as parachutists, learn to handle a range of weapons, receive intensive training in hand-to-hand combat, and are expert in SCUBA and other swimming and diving techniques.



In Vietnam, SEALS were deployed in special counterinsurgency and guerrilla warfare operations. The SEALs, also participated in the space program by securing flotation collars to returned space capsules and assisting astronauts during the helicopter pickup

Fleet Diving Since World War II.

Navy diving has not been limited to tactical combat operations, wartime salvage, and submarine sinkings. Fleet diving has become increasingly important and diversified since World War II. A major part of the diving mission is the inspection and repair of naval vessels to minimize downtime and the need for day-docking. Other aspects of fleet diving include the recovery of practice and research torpedoes, installation and repair of underwater electronic arrays, underwater construction, and location and recovery of downed aircraft. Ship sinkings and beachings caused by storm damage and human error continue to demand the fleet's salvage and harbor clearance capabilities in peacetime as well as in times of hostilities.

Loss of the USS Thresher (SSN-593)

Just as the loss of the USS F-4, USS S-51, USS S-4 and the sinking of the USS Squalus caused an increased concern in Navy diving in the 1920s and 1930s, a submarine disaster of major proportions had a profound effect on the development of new diving equipment and techniques in the postwar period. This was the loss of the nuclear attack submarine USS Thresher (SSN-593) and all her crew in April, 1963. The submarine sank in 8,400 fsw, a depth beyond the survival limit of the hull and far beyond the capability of any existing rescue apparatus.



An extensive search was initiated to locate the submarine, and if possible, determine the cause of the sinking. The first signs of the USS Thresher were located and photographed a month after the disaster Collection of debris and photographic coverage of the wreck continued for about a year.

Two special study groups were formed as a result of the sinking. The first was a Court of Inquiry, which attributed probable cause to a piping system failure. The second, the Deep Submergence Review Group (DSRG), was formed to assess the Navy's undersea capabilities. Four general areas were examined: search, rescue, recovery of small and large objects, and the Man-In-The-Sea concept. The basic recommendations of the DSRG called for a vast effort to improve the Navy's capabilities in these four areas.



Man-In-The-Sea

Deep Submergence Systems Project

Direct action on the recommendations of the DSRG came with the formation of the Deep Submergence Systems Project (DSSP) in 1964, and an expanded interest regarding diving and undersea activity throughout the naval service.

Submarine rescue capabilities have been substantially improved with the development of the Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV) which became operational in 1972. This deep diving craft is air-transportable, highly instrumented, and capable of rescue to a depth of 5000 fsw.



Three additional significant areas of achievement for the Deep Submergence Systems Project have been that of Saturation Diving, the development of Deep Diving Systems, and progress in advanced diving equipment design.

US Navy Saturation Diving



The US Navy has developed and proved saturation diving techniques in its Sealab series as well as in ongoing programs of research and development at the Navy Experimental Diving Unit (NEDU), Naval Medical Research institute (NMRI), and the Navy Submarine Medical Research Laboratory (NSMRL) as well as many institutional and commercial hyperbaric facilities. In addition, saturation diving using Deep Diving Systems (DDS) is now a proven capability.



The Navy developed two types of DDS. The DDS MK I supported two 2-man teams of divers through a 14 day mission profile. The DDS MX I system used in trial dives to 1,148 fsw is no longer in service. The DDS MX 2 MOD 1, designed for saturation diving, supports two 4-man teams for an extended mission time. DDS MK 2 is installed as part of the basic equipment of the ASR 21 class of submarine rescue ships



Open-Sea Deep Diving Records

Diving records have been set and broken with increasing regularity in the past 70 years. In 1915 the 300-fsw mark was exceeded when three U.S. Navy divers, F. Crilley, W. E. Loughman, and E. C. Nielson, reached 304 fsw using the MX V dress. In 1972 the MX 2 Mod 0 DDS set the in-water record of' 1,010 fsw which was subsequently broken in 1975 when divers using the MX 1 Deep Dive System descended to 1,148 fsw. A French dive team subsequently broke the open-sea record in 1977 with a depth of 1,643 fsw.



Summary

Throughout the evolution of diving, from the earliest breath holding sponge diver to the modem saturation diver, the basic reasons for diving have not changed. The needs of national defense, commerce, and science continue to provide the underlying basis for the development of diving What has changed, and continues to change radically, is diving technology.





Note: fsw = feet of seawater

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FReeper Foxhole Armed Services Links

[SAMWolf]

Diving Types, Helmets and SCUBA Equipment



The U.S. Navy Deep Sea Diving program consists of several classifications of divers. These are: Second Class Diver, First Class Diver, Saturation Diver, and Master Diver. There are other SPECWAR communities that dive also, such as, Explosive Ordnance Disposal, and UDT/SEAL. Not to forget our "Amphibious Recon Corpsman" aka "Recon DMT".

Navy Diving is comprised of several types of diving such as, Underwater Ship's Husbandry, Underwater Construction, Salvage, Demolition Diving, Saturation, Research, Hyperbaric Medicine, and Diver Training.


MK-5
The MK-5 Diving Helmet and associated Deep Sea Diving equipment are no longer utilized by U.S. Navy Divers for diving. The MK-5 served many arduous years as the Navy's primary diving helmet and is now utilized for decoration and as a symbol of Hard Hat Deep Sea Diving throughout the world. Most of today's Navy Divers have never had the opportunity to dive the MK-5 Diving Helmet. The MK-5 was replaced in the fleet by the MK-12 which was then replaced by the MK-21 as the Navy's Hard Hat for Deep Sea Diving.



MK-21
The MK-21 diving helmet is currently the U.S. Navy's primary diving helmet for salvage and deep water diving. It is also utilized for underwater ship's husbandry on surface ships and submarines. The design was taken from the popular Superlite 17.

The helmet weighs approximately 27 pounds dry and is neutrally buoyant in the water. The shell is made of fiberglass with brass weights. The regulator is similar to a SCUBA second stage and is fitted to an oral nasal mask on the inside of the helmet to prevent CO2 buildup. The helmet is supplied with air through the diving umbilical which also allows for two way communication with the supervisor on the surface.



MK-20
The MK-20 diving rig is utilized in the U.S. Navy primarily for underwater ship's husbandry and enclosed space diving. The MK-20 design derived from the AGA. The MK-20 can be utilized with the diving umbilical for surface supplied diving operations or with SCUBA. If used with SCUBA, the diving mask is attached to the intermediate hose in place of the second stage regulator. The MK-20 is made of rubber and plastic and is extremely lightweight.



EXO BR MS
The Kirby Morgan Dive Systems EXO BR MS Full Face Mask is now certified for use with surface-supplied diving systems in temperatures down to 28°F and to depths of 190 fsw (air), 140 fsw (NITROX), and 300 fsw (HeO 2 ). The EXO features a balanced, fully adjustable demand regulator, an oral nasal mask, and an exo-thermic exhaust system. The EXO is an alternate band mask that can be used in ship husbandry, enclosed space diving, and light salvage work.




Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus

SCUBA consists of the following equipment:

Cylinder (Bottle) - Aluminum, Charged with air to approximately 3000 psig.
Regulator with cylinder pressure gage - Reduces the air pressure and delivers it to the diver.
Mask - Protects the eyes from the water and assists with underwater vision.
Fins - Propulsion.
Buoyancy Compensator/Life Vest - Emergency Floatation and maintains neutral buoyancy.
Knife - To free yourself if you get caught in line underwater, not to attack Great Whites with.
Depth Gage - To ensure that you do NOT exceed the "No Decompression" Limits.
Weight Belt (Optional) - Offsets any positive buoyancy.
Dive Partner - Never dive alone.
Basic understanding of Diving Medicine - Specifically Arterial Gas Embolism and DCS.
An Emergency Plan - Plan to follow in case of a casualty.



A NEW FEATURE ~ The Foxhole Revisits...

The Foxhole will be updating some of our earlier threads with new graphics and some new content for our Saturday threads in this, our second year of the Foxhole. We lost many of our graphic links and this is our way of restoring them along with revising the thread content where needed with new and additional information not available in the original threads.

A Link to the Original Thread;

The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Navy Divers - Jan. 24th, 2003

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Today's Educational Sources and suggestions for further reading:
Naval Sea Systems Command. U.S. Navy Diving Manual Volume 1 (Air Diving). NAVSEA 0994-LP-001-9110, Revision #2. 15 December 1988.
www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq100-1.htm
www.history.navy.mil/nhc3.htm

[SAMWolf]

Veterans for Constitution Restoration is a non-profit, non-partisan educational and grassroots activist organization. The primary area of concern to all VetsCoR members is that our national and local educational systems fall short in teaching students and all American citizens the history and underlying principles on which our Constitutional republic-based system of self-government was founded. VetsCoR members are also very concerned that the Federal government long ago over-stepped its limited authority as clearly specified in the United States Constitution, as well as the Founding Fathers' supporting letters, essays, and other public documents.

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Tribute to a Generation - The memorial will be dedicated on Saturday, May 29, 2004.

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Actively seeking volunteers to provide this valuable service to Veterans and their families.

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[SAMWolf]

FALL IN to the FReeper Foxhole!



Good Saturday Morning Everyone

If you would like added to our ping list let us know.

[Aeronaut]

Good morning Sam and all.

[quietolong]

Some more good work there!
I was thinking of going UDT but getting up early to run on the beach! But back in those days I could swim 4 laps Underwater and hold my breath for more than 5 min. swimming.
I miss diving in the Kelp forests off of CA. haven’t had my tanks out for a few years now. Maybe this summer.
This link works for this thread too.

Submarine Fleet-Diesel and Nuclear Submarine Home
http://www.rontini.com/fleet.html

NavSource Submrine Photo What's New
http://www.navsource.org/archives/subidx.htm

[SAMWolf]

Morning Aeronaut.

[SAMWolf]

Morning quiettolong.

I swim like a rock. but I love to watch the documentaries they do on diving.

[E.G.C.]

Good morning, Sam and everyone at the Foxhole. Got a little bit of rain yesterday. We're forecast to clear out and have nice weather but it'll still be a little cold.

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning everyone in The FOXHOLE!

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on December 13:
1521 Sixtus V [Felice Peretti/"Montalto"] bishop of Fermo/Pope (1585-90)
1533 Erik XIV Wasa king of Sweden (1560-69)
1553 Henry IV, 1st Bourbon king of Navarre/France (1572/89-1610)
1816 E Werner von Siemens, German artillery officer/inventor
1818 Mary Todd Lincoln (First Lady: wife of 16th U.S. President Abraham Lincoln)
1903 Carlos Montoya (guitarist)
1910 Van (Emmet) Heflin (Academy Award-winning actor: Johnny Eager [1942])
1918 Bill Vukovich (race car driver: Indianapolis 500 winner [1953, 1954])
1920 George Shultz (Secretary of State under U.S. President Ronald Reagan [1982-1988])
1922 Rex Allen Wilcox AZ, cowboy actor
1923 Larry Doby (baseball: Cleveland: 1954 RBI leader)
1925 Dick Van Dyke (Emmy Award-winning actor/comedian:
1925 Wayne Walker (country music composer)
1926 Carl Erskine (baseball)
1929 Christopher Plummer (Orme) (Emmy Award-winning actor)
1930 Robert Prosky Philadelphia PA, actor (Christine, Sergeant Jablonski-Hill St Blues)
1934 Richard Darryl Zanuck (producer: Jaws, The Sting)
1935 Karim Aga Khan, prince/billionaire/husband of Rita Hayworth
1941 John Davidson (actor, singer; TV game show host: Hollywood Squares)
1943 Ferguson Jenkins (baseball: Chicago Cubs: pitcher: Cy Young Award winner [1971])
1944 Mike Mosley (auto racer)
1947 Lemar Parrish (football)
1948 Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter (musician: guitarist: groups: Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers)
1949 Ted Nugent (musician: original group: Amboy Dukes; guitarist, singer: Cat Scratch Fever)
1950 Brad Dusek (football)
1967 Jamie Foxx comedian
1972 GiGi Gordon Butler PA, Miss America-Pennsylvania (1997)

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Deaths which occurred on December 13:
0838 Pippijn I King of Aquitania, dies
1048 Al-Biruni, Arabic royal astrologer, dies at 74
1124 Callistus II [Guido di Borgogna] Italian Pope (1119-24), dies
1204 Maimonides (Moses ben Maimon), 69, medieval Jewish scholar and author. dies
1250 Frederick II, German Emperor (1212-1250), dies at 55
1404 Albrecht duke of Bavaria, dies at 74
1557 Niccoló Tartaglia Italian mathematician, dies
1672 Jan II Kazimierz king of Poland (1648-68), dies at 63
1738 Gotthard Wagner composer, dies at 59
1862 Conrad Feger Jackson US Union Brigadier-General, dies in battle at 49
1862 Maxcy Gregg US Confederate Brigadier-General, dies in battle at 48
1862 Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb Confederate Brigadier-General, dies in battle at 39
1958 Ahmed Mukhtar Baban, premier of Iraq, executed
1958 Barhanuddin Bashajan, Iraqi minister of Foreign affairs, executed
1958 Rafiq Aref, Iraqi chief-staff Arabs Statenbond, executed
1961 Grandma [Anna M] Moses, US painter, dies at 101
1969 Raymond A Spruance, US Admiral (Battle of Midway), dies at 83
1974 Rufe Davis actor (Floyd Smoot-Petticoat Junction), dies at 66
1993 Myrna Loy, actress (Thin Man, Vanity Fair), dies at 88

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1966 WATERS SAMUEL EDWIN JR.---MOCKSVILLE NC.
[03/18/77 SRV RETURNED REMAINS TO PCOM]
1967 BENNETT ROBERT E. III---SPRINGFIELD NJ.
[PARA IN RIVER SANK]
1968 ALBRIGHT JOHN S. II---HUNTINGTON WV.
["MID AIR COLLISION, PARA OBS"]
1968 CLARKE FRED L.---TROUTMAN NC.
["MID AIR COLLISION, PARA OBS"]
1968 DAILEY DOUGLAS V.---WATERFORD MI.
["MID AIR COLLISION, PARA OBS"]
1968 DONAHUE MORGAN J.---ALEXNADRIA VA.
["MID AIR COLLISION, PARA OBS"]
1968 DUGAN THOMAS W.---READING PA.
1968 FANNING JOSEPH P.---LONG ISLAND CITY NY.
"MID AIR COLLISION, PARA OBS"]
1968 MC GOULDRICK FRANCIS J. JR.---NEW HAVEN CT.
1968 WALKER SAMUEL F.---PHILADELPHIA PA.
["MID AIR COLLISION, PARA OBS"]

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

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On this day...
0863 Boudouin with the Iron Arm weds Charles de Kales' daughter Judith
1294 Pope Coelestinus V ends term
1545 Pope Paul III opens Council of Trente (19th ecumenical council)
1570 Sweden/Denmark signs Peace of Stettin
1572 Spanish army beats Geuzen fleet under Admiral Lumey
1577 Sir Francis Drake sets sail from England to go around the world
1621 Emperor Ferdinand II delegates 1st anti-Reformation decree
1642 New Zealand discovered by Dutch navigator Abel Tasman
1759 1st music store in America opens (Philadelphia)
1769 Dartmouth College in New Hampshire received its charter
1774 1st incident of the Revolution-400 attack Fort William & Mary, New Hampshire
1816 Patent for a dry dock issued to John Adamson, Boston
1843 "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens published, 6,000 copies sold
1861 Battle of Alleghany Summit WV
1862 Battle of Fredericksburg VA (Marye's Heights
1864 Battle of Fort McAllister GA
1879 1st federal fish hatching steamer launched (Wilmington DE)
1889 Belgium rules on women/child labor law
1895 1st complete execution of Gustav Mahlers 2nd Symphony
1900 Battle at Nooitgedacht: Generals The la Rey/Smuts beat Britten
1903 Italo Marcioni patents the ice cream cone (New Jersey)
1906 German chancellor Bernhard von Bülow disbands the Parliament
1907 George Gunn scores 119 on Test debut vs Australia SCG
1907 German emperor Wilhelm II visits Amsterdam
1913 Mona Lisa stolen in Aug 1911 returned to Louvre
1916 Avalanche kills 10,000 Austrian & Italian troops in 24 hours in Tyrol
1916 Esme Stuart Lennox Robinsons premieres in Dublin
1916 French chief of staff Joffre replaced by Nivelle
1918 US army of occupation crosses the Rhine, enters Germany
1918 Woodrow Wilson, becomes 1st to make a foreign visit as President (France)
1919 Ross & Smith land in Australia from a flight from London
1920 F Pease's interferometer measures 1st stellar diameter (Betelgeuse)
1920 League of nations establishes International Court of Justice in The Hague
1920 Netherlands breaks contact with kingdoms of Serbia, Croatia & Slavia
1922 Charles Ebbets proposes putting numbers on players' sleeves or caps
1924 KOA-AM in Denver CO begins radio transmissions
1928 George Gershwin's "An American In Paris" premieres (New York NY)
1928 Clip-on tie designed
1930 Theodore Steeg forms French government
1936 Final Boston Redskin NFL game, lose to Packers 21-6, move to Washington DC
1936 Green Bay Packers win NFL championship
1938 Los Angeles freezes at 28ºF
1939 Battle at La Plata - 3 British cruisers vs German Graf Spee
1941 German occupiers forbid National Front & Netherlands Union
1941 Lawine battlers destroy Haaraz, Peru; about 3,000 die
1941 U-81 torpedoes British aircraft carrier Ark Royal
1942 Seyss-Inquart allows Dutch Nazi Anton Mussert to call himself Leader
1942 Washington Redskins defeat Chicago Bears 14-6, to win NFL title
1943 150 US Marauders bomb Schiphol
1944 Japanese kamikaze crashes into US cruiser Nashville, kills 138
1946 Léon Blum elected French premier
1947 Maine Turnpike opens to traffic
1947 "Caribbean Carnival" closes at International NYC after 11 performances
1949 American League votes down proposal to revive the spitball
1949 Knesset votes to transfer Israel's capitol to Jerusalem
1950 James Dean begins his career with an appearance in a Pepsi commercial
1951 Future British PM Margaret Roberts Thatcher marries Denis Thatcher
1953 KOAM TV channel 7 in Pittsburg-Joplin KS (CBS) begins broadcasting
1956 Dodgers trade Jackie Robinson to Giants for pitcher Dick Littlefield & $35,000 Robinson retires
1959 Archbishop Makarios elected 1st President of Cyprus
1960 Italy beats US in Davis cup (1st time in 24 years US not in finals)
1960 Laos General Fumi Nosavang occupies Vientiane
1961 Beatles sign a formal agreement to be managed by Brian Epstein
1961 Gideon Hausner in Jerusalem demands death penalty for Adolf Eichmann
1961 Jimmy Dean's Big Bad John album is country music's 1st million $ seller
1962 Relay 1 communication satellite launched
1963 Capitol records signs right of 1st refusal agreement with the Beatles
1964 In El Paso TX, LBJ & Mexican President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz set off an explosion diverting Rio Grande, to reshape US-México border
1964 Shirley Englehorn & Sam Snead win Haig & Haig Mixed Foursome Golf
1965 Algerian President Boumédienne visits Moscow
1966 1st US bombing of Hanoi
1966 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1967 United Soccer Association & National Pro Soccer League merge into NASL
1967 Unsuccessful coup against Greek King Constantine II
1968 President Da Costa e Silva of Brazil disbands parliament/grabs power
1969 Billy Martin fired as Twins' manager
1969 Arlo Guthrie releases "Alice's Restaurant"
1971 John Sinclair (sentenced to 10 years for selling 2 marijuana joints) is freed
1973 World Football League grants 1st franchise (Detroit)
1973 MPLA/FNLA accord about combat against Portuguese Libya
1974 Malta becomes a republic
1974 Jim "Catfish" Hunter wins free agent claim against A's owner Finley
1975 1st time Saturday Night Live uses a time delay (Richard Pryor hosts)
1975 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk USSR
1976 Longest non-stop passenger airflight (Sydney to San Francisco 13 hours 14 minutes)
1977 Entire University of Evansville basketball team (14 players) die in plane crash
1978 Susan B Anthony dollar, 1st US coin to honor a woman, issued
1979 Strikes against price increases in Gdansk Poland
1981 Polish government declares martial law, arrests Solidarity activists
1981 70th Davis Cup: USA beats Argentina in Cincinnati (3-1)
1982 Earthquake hits Northern Yemen; 2,000 die
1983 Islander's Butch Goring scorings 4 goals against Oilers
1983 Martha Layne Collins inaugurated as Kentucky's 1st female governor
1983 British Airways incorporates
1984 Artificial heart recipient William Schroeder suffers 1st stroke
1987 Belgium Christian Democrats (CVP) loses parliamentary election
1987 Browns set club record for most points scored in a quarter, 28
1988 Yasser Arafat addresses UN in Geneva
1989 Forced repatriation of Vietnamese in Hong Kong
1989 Walter Davis (Denver) ends NBA free throw streak of 53 games
1990 President De Klerk of South Africa meets with Nelson Mandela to talk of end of apartheid
1991 Both Koreas sign an accord calling for reconciliation
1991 New York assembly speaker Mel Miller is convicted of federal mail fraud
1993 Deadline for Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza, they don't
1993 Dow Jones hits record 3764.43
1993 Fire in textile factory in Fuzjou China, 60 killed
1993 Space shuttle STS-61 (Endeavour 5) lands
1994 American Eagle commuter plane crashes in North Carolina, killing 15

2000 Republican George W. Bush claimed the presidency five weeks after Election Day and a day after the U.S. Supreme Court shut down further recounts of disputed ballots in Florida. Democrat Al Gore conceded, delivering a call for national unity.

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Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Malta : Republic Day
Upper Volta : National Day
International Calendar Awareness Month

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Religious Observances
Moslem : New Year
Roman Catholic : Memorial of St Lucy, virgin & martyr (St Lucia Day in Sweden)
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Odilia, abbess, patroness of the blind

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Religious History
1204 Death of Maimonides (Moses ben Maimon), 69, medieval Jewish scholar and author. His greatest writing, "Guide of the Perplexed" (1190) attempted to harmonize Aristotelian philosophy with rabbinic Judaism.
1823 Birth of William W. How, Anglican clergyman. Shunning the glory of higher ecclesiastical positions, How was known for his work among the poor in East London. He also wrote 50 hymns, of which "We Give Thee But Thine Own" and "For All the Saints" remain two of his most popular.
1835 Birth of Phillips Brooks, American Episcopal clergyman. Though he produced ten volumes of sermons, he is better remembered today as author of the Christmas carol, "O Little Town of Bethlehem," written in 1868 for the children of his Sunday School.
1851 Birth of E.O. Excell, American sacred chorister. Excell published 50 gospel songbooks and wrote and composed 2,000 hymns, including "Since I Have Been Redeemed, "Count Your Blessings" and "I'll Be a Sunbeam for Jesus."
1950 American missionary martyr Jim Elliot wrote in his journal: 'I think God is to be glorified by asking the impossible of Him.'

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

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Thought for the day :
"When all else fails, read the directions."
(note: All REAL men disregard the above)

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Question of the day...
Which came first the chicken, the egg,...or the rooster?

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Murphys Law of the day...(Lotto Laws)
You finally hit it big, then you find out all the friends you never had.

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Incredibly Amazing Fact #62...
The maximum weight for a golf ball is 1.62 oz.

[The Mayor]

Neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. —1 Corinthians 3:7

We can plant the seed, but only God can give the harvest.

[Diver Dave]

Mornin' SAM. Been there - Done that.

Thanks for the re-visit.

circa 1966 - Subic Bay, PI
US Navy Ship's Repair Facility Second Class Diving School

[SAMWolf]

Morning E.G.C.

It's been a steady rains since I got up. Snippy and I managed to bring home a waterlogged Christmas tree. :-)

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning Feather.

[SAMWolf]

HMS Ark Royal (Aircraft Carrier, 1938-1941) HMS Ark Royal, a 22,000-ton aircraft carrier built at Birkenhead, England, was completed in November 1938. After working-up during the months prior to the September 1939 outbreak of hostilities, she played an important role in the first two years of the Second World War. In December 1939 she was sent to the South Atlantic to help in the search for the German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee. The spring of 1940 saw her participating in the Norwegian campaign, and in July she was one of the ships that attacked the French Navy's base at Mers-el-Kebir, Algeria. The following September, Ark Royal took part in a second assault on the French Navy, this time at Dakar. While covering a Mediterranean convoy in late November, her planes attacked Italian battleships, though without making any hits. In return, she was bombed, and missed, by enemy aircraft.

During March 1941, Ark Royal pursued the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau during the last phase of their Atlantic sortie. On 26 May of that year, her torpedo planes hit the Bismarck, making the enemy battleship virtually unmaneuverable and allowing other British warships to close and sink her.

Ark Royal was also very active in the Mediterranean during 1941. She struck the port of Genoa in early February, during a bold British Naval raid deep into Italian-controlled waters. On several occasions, she ferried planes to the beleaguered base at Malta and covered Malta-bound convoys. While returning to Gibraltar from one such mission, Ark Royal was torpedoed by the German submarine U-81. After a difficult struggle against progressive flooding, the carrier capsized and sank on 14 November 1941.

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning, Mayor.

[SAMWolf]

Thank you for being there and doing that. ;-)

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning feather. I'm listening to your Irish music you posted at the Lair. Nice, but I'm Irish so I'm partial to anything Irish like you are Finnish. :)

[snippy_about_it]

It's Saturday. Good morning Valin. :)

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning Mayor.