Best Moment Upon completion of overhaul, TENCH went back to it's homeport in Groton, CT and commenced normal operations. They had port visits in Bermuda and Halifax, Canada; went South on a Springboard Operation, and did some Sub School Operations. The most memorable event was a five-month MED Cruise. It was fantastic! They spent more than 85% of their time in port tied up to the main pier area in each city and had a chance to see a lot of different places. They visited Rota and Palma Mallorca, Spain; Naples (twice), La Spezia and Geneva, Italy; Athens, Greece; Cagliari, Sardinia; Palermo, Sicily; Nice, France; spent 20 days in Monaco for Christmas and New Yearâ??s; and went to Lisbon, Portugal before returning home. I Qualified in Submarines while on that trip in Spain and his shipmates said I really enjoyed "drinking my Dolphins" in that bar in Palma. For some reason I couldn't recall most of that memorable event!!
I can recall when stationed on the diesel submarine USS TENCH (SS417) back in 1961 doing operations in the MED we were playing war games with the SIXTH Fleet and pretended to be a Russian Diesel Boat trying to attack the U.S. Aircraft Carrier.
At that time, our Commanding Officer had no restrictions on depth, or any other methods he decided to utilize to evade detection to get through the fleet of ships surrounding and protecting the carrier from attack.
Our Captain (LCDR Mills) was extremely sharp and was able to get us through the pack of ships undetected.
We got so close to the Carrier that we were able shoot flares up close to him, that must have scared the heck out of anyone on the carrier deck, to show we could have hit him with several torpedoes.
In addition, the Navigator was able to take periscope photos of the Carriers' screws turning close in front of us submerged at periscope depth. Needless to say when copies of the photos were sent to the CO of the Carrier, word got back to us that he wasn't to happy seeing them.
Worst Moment Prior to departure on the MED cruise, the Yeoman noticed that I had the highest Clerical Score on my ASVAB Test of anyone in the Seaman Gang and told the XO he needed a striker. The XO called me in and told me that I will work for the Yeoman about 4 hours a day during the trip. I told him I didn't know how to type and didn't want to become a Yeoman. The XO got a typing manual from his wife (a teacher in a local school) and gave me a direct order to teach myself how to type during the MED cruise. At the end of the cruise I could barely type 30 words per minute on an electric typewriter. Also, every time we pulled into a new port on the MED Cruise there were a lot of bags of mail waiting on the pier for us and I had to help the Yeoman take care of before I went on liberty. In addition, I was still required to keep up with the Submarine Qualification Program and also stand Lookout, Helmsman, Planes, Topside Watches and perform other Deck Seaman Duties. Needless to say, this made it difficult to keep from becoming "Delinquent" in Submarine Qualifications.
Other Memories upon completion of Submarine School, I reported to the USS TENCH (SS417) undergoing an extensive overhaul in Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. As luck would have it, the Canadians in my SUBSCOL class also were reporting to their new boat in Philadelphia. What an experience! You couldn't begin to imagine how hard it was to spend six months in Philadelphia being supervised on liberty by the Canadian " Bubbleheads." What better way to start a Navy career!