On Dad’s uniform? I think he just got back from Submarine School about 1946, right after the war. I thought it would be cool to maybe buy a pin just to have, or make a shadow box or something.
Well maybe some squid would know if that’s where they wore them, or that’s the location where they wore them. It does look right, but I’ve no idea what size the pins are, for scale. He told me once they would remove the dolphins sometimes when going out on liberty. Something about the regular Navy wanting to fight the submariners because they got better chow, and better pay. Yeah I just found the pic, had never really seen it, thought it was pretty cool.
@Truck64 just a suggestion, you could contact the Wisconsin Maritime Museum. There were a lot of submarines built in Manitowoc, WI and the museum has a lot of the records and artifacts from the WWII sub days. Here is a link: https://www.wisconsinmaritime.org/collections/research-requests/ They even have a restored WWII sub they give tours aboard, and let groups like the scouts stay overnight on.
I took a tour of one at Pearl. Not for me, it was pretty cramped. I liked how everything folded up out of the way when not needed, even the sinks. The Capt quarters looked about like half of a small closet. DeLuxe. Dad said his bunk was stretched over a torpedo, and he’d get Cosmoline on his clothes if not careful. To tie it into automotive, the US was interested in captured U Boat technology after the war, specifically the snorkel designs. He said GM or Delco sent out Kettering to look at what they were doing and offer suggestions. The big achilles heel with the Diesel boats was they had to surface to charge the batteries. Of course the advent of nukes obviated all that. He had some great stories though. Somehow, they acquired a nickel slot machine, maybe from Atlantic City, and installed it in the control room. Great fun, and the chief of the boat used the proceeds as a sort of informal enlisted sailor’s relief fund. Well the boat was in drydock for maintenance and some contractor lost all his money in the slot machine. So then the guy’s wife contacted the base commander wanting to know why her husband didn’t have any money to buy food. LOL. So they had to get rid of it.
The Jalopy Journal
