We All Did
It!
and we did it on every boat we served on.
- SUBMARINE QUALIFICATIONS -
This
series of web pages is dedicated to submarine qualifications.
Submarines are made up of complex systems operating under extreme
pressures and conditions where even small mistakes can be
disasterous. Their crews are small and therefore they must
rely on every man doing his job. It was imperative that every
crew member on a submarine had a thorough knowledge of all the ship's
systems, their basic operstion and emergency damage control
procedures. Quoting from the Enlisted
Requirements for Submarine Qualifications
manual: "The first duty of any
unqualified man reporting on board a submarime is to commence the
qualification program . . ." That
says it all! Pretty much the first words said to a new man
reporting on board were, "Welcome Aboard.
Now get qualified!"
It
didn't end there. Non-qualified men were rousted out of their
bunks first thing in the morning and expected to spend their every
waking minute when not on watch working on their submarine
qualifications. They were required to maintain a certain rate
of progress on their qualifications, and if they fell behind they
lost priviledges like movies and liberty. Nothing in the world
was lower that a delinquent, non-qualified sailor! And like I
said in the heading, you had to requalify on every boat you served
on.
Becoming
qualified was so important, that the United States Submarine Veterans
Inc. (USSVI) has a special society for submariners who earned their
dolphins more that fifty years ago, the
Holland Club. Contact USSVI.org
for more information about the Holland Club or you can contact me at
341.stan@gmail.com.
This
first set of pages comes from the qualification manual of EM3(SS)
Thomas L. Jackson
(1964-1967). Unfortunately, Tom departed on Eternal Patrol in
2017, but if you were a shipmate of Tom's you may find your signature
on some of qualification pages.
Remember, you can double-click on each thumbnail image to get a full-sized picture.
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If you have pictures, drawings or any other items of interest related to submarine qualifications and would like to share them with the crew on our web page, send them to me at 341.stan@gmail.com or call phone (330) 526-1963 and leave a message. I will return your call. |