Messages

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USS Cobia (SS-245) / Is there anything that can be done

« on: January 08, 2012, 01:24:43 AM »

This old site for the Cobia has guest books compromised that redirect to a porn site rather than the guest books.  I know geocities is kaput but there surely has to be someway to remove those links .  Just really disrespectful and I'm sure a lot of old geocities sites were hijacked when they closed shop. 

http://copperas.com/ss245/

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Submarine Related Chatter / Video Tributes to all the Manitowoc Boats

« on: July 04, 2011, 08:50:40 PM »

I would like to contribute something to this site that others might enjoy and one of the things I love is the beautiful artwork of all the Boats personal Patch or Crest.  There are so many different patches of every unit and outfit that ever served our country but the sub patches are some of the very best.  Most people out there have never viewed them simply because they don't know they exist, so I'm starting my entries with the 265 Boat and a little video and music to hopefully give it a little kick.  As I finish each one from the 28 Manitowoc builds I'll move over to the others and just add them to my post.  I use viddler so a link is all that you can see here, places like face book have a viddler widget but we'll just go with what we got.  Hope everyone enjoys them, also on that video page all of my comic parodies and a few other things reside so your more than welcome to view them if you like.  

http://www.viddler.com/explore/sn00ze/videos/59/

http://www.viddler.com/explore/sn00ze/videos/60/

http://www.viddler.com/explore/sn00ze/videos/61/

http://www.viddler.com/explore/sn00ze/videos/62/

http://www.viddler.com/explore/sn00ze/videos/63/

http://www.viddler.com/explore/sn00ze/videos/73/

http://www.viddler.com/explore/sn00ze/videos/74/

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New Member Introductions / Re: Hello to everyone Fact finding for a GATO class submarine

« on: March 05, 2011, 10:46:43 AM »

Speaking for myself I think it is post war, I will say this!  I have no idea what the exact date this photo was given to my Grandmother, it was early 50's, I cannot say the photo was given at the time my Father last visited which was in or around 53 or 54, this photo may have been in my Mother's possession prior to that.  All I can say is that it is very old and was stored in a trunk as was most old pictures of that day.  The boat does have mooring damage on the bow so it wasn't a spanky brand new boat when this photo was taken. 

I should also take a moment to tell this, my Grandmother like a lot of other women did her part in world war 2 by working as a welder building Tanks and later actually welded Liberty ships in Galveston Texas.  I remember her telling me about the inspector at Galveston and how fat he was!  she said he was so big he could not crawl into the tight small hole areas to inspect the welds.....   Glad he didn't work for the sub builders

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New Member Introductions / Re: Hello to everyone Fact finding for a GATO class submarine

« on: March 04, 2011, 01:28:47 PM »

Thanks Path for the good information , I have to say I was leaning with another Boat Class myself after I could never find a match from the GATO.  I'll look more closely at this class you think is correct. 

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New Member Introductions / Re: Hello to everyone Fact finding for a GATO class submarine

« on: March 04, 2011, 01:01:21 AM »

I agree with you I think there was a lot of boat to boat, and I looked at the Barb very closely and the one photo of her refitting at Mare in 45 they purposely circled that rectangular vert hole amidships in their official photo.  I spoke of this in one of the earlier post I made, I have not seen that on any of the GATOs except the one above.  That would explain that mystery, also I see in the same photo that they have installed a gun mount on the forward smoking deck.
That photo may be right there in Frisco Bay or near without the gun mounts.  If it does turn out to be the boat I guess I'll have to try and give the photo to the proper organization so the photo list can be added to.  I certainly hope the service records shed some light on the other photos taken on the Cobia.  I couldn't see the large dent on the starboard side hull Bow area on the black and whites of the Barb , they were taken too far away.

Got to go to bed, thanks for all the help. 

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New Member Introductions / Re: Hello to everyone Fact finding for a GATO class submarine

« on: March 03, 2011, 11:59:57 PM »

Interesting, I'm going for a look see now, thanks I'll get back with ya, prolly come morning, gotta work and I'm old.

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New Member Introductions / Re: Hello to everyone Fact finding for a GATO class submarine

« on: March 03, 2011, 11:17:01 PM »

All and any help is appreciated thank you.  Strange we don't see more of those cruise type photos floating around, I know just about every ship was making one after the war, this one however appears to be taken in the war years.
The photography paper was extremely thick and now it is getting very brittle.  I'm glad I have digital copies.

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New Member Introductions / Re: Hello to everyone Fact finding for a GATO class submarine

« on: March 03, 2011, 07:06:32 PM »

Karen, I have no idea but I think just about everyone his age was playing baseball when they were able to do it, no internet back then  .  Unlike WWII we vietnam vets had Beer and USO shows two or three times a week, actually we had a complete club with anything to drink, only problem was the cokes were very hard to come by and if you didn't mind a whiskey and root beer then you were hard core.  This weekend I'm going to try and find that other photo of him that was taken in San Diego, I think it was San Diego?

I'm sure there were one or two years between those deck photos and his portrait photo, I don't mind being wrong about the two pictures but if someone told me to find my Father I am still leaning toward those two.  If that is in fact him there is some lost information and history that would be nice to share.  We'll all know for sure if I can get those service records which I see no reason I can't unless they were also destroyed in that fire in the early 70's.  Most of those records that perished were Army records.  When I find out what Boat that is in the cruise I plan on finding the closest historical site for the boat and donate the original photo so that it may always be available to family members and new generations of family of the men that served on it.  I'm pushing 63 now and worked hard all day so tonight I plan on looking at more photos but not stay up late like I usually do, some of those GATOs I have not seen their photos,  for some reason they aren't available or just don't exist.  It would be very nice if that photo should turn out to be one that has no photo for it's website information base.


Off topic, here are my unit websites for any that care to visit,  we have a lot of good photos and great history so stop in and say hello.  Also note the HAL(3) url, I flew beside a lot of these guys and sort of a un Navy member, you might find their history interesting and maybe don't even know the Navy had it's own Helicopter gunship squadron, a bunch of great guys, stop in and say hello to them also.

http://www.oldsite.336ahc.com/336_ahc_site_map.htm

http://www.121avn.org/

http://www.seawolf.org/index.asp

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New Member Introductions / Re: Hello to everyone Fact finding for a GATO class submarine

« on: March 03, 2011, 09:21:02 AM »

I know what you mean, I've come up empty on crew list also.   Really not surprised that list aren't complete although I think the Navy was much better in documentation and organization than the other branches.  Being ex Army I can say because of the vast number of people assigned to different units, Div,Bn etc there is not much closeness with members who happened to serve the same units.  You can go to re unions and not even know anyone there.  Luckily I am still in touch with members I flew with in the war but prior to that I have no contact with any of those guys.  One funny thing is I was a Nike Hercules Missile crewman prior to going overseas and my little unknown base out in the prairies of Dallas Fort Worth has a long list of guys that were there with me.  The base was dismantled over 40 years ago but the launch area is still intact and they also rebuilt the living and radar section using the original slabs that our buildings were on.  Can't get an answer from the locals of what they now use it for, they are using the original guard shack at the main gate!  It must be a Government agency to have a guard shack and what do they need a guard shack for out in the cotton fields of Texas 

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New Member Introductions / Re: What do you/did you do for a living?

« on: March 03, 2011, 09:06:52 AM »

Here is a large size photo,  myself I was using that rectangular looking hole directly amidships on the hull, and also if you look at the front of the bridge there seems to be some sort of half round protrusion on the near side of the smoking deck.  I have not seen that in other GATOs.     

http://www.submarinemuseums.org/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=925.0;attach=2226;image

Thank you for all the help

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New Member Introductions / Re: Hello to everyone Fact finding for a GATO class submarine

« on: March 03, 2011, 01:20:08 AM »

Thanks to everyone for the help, Lance I too saw that ribbon and looked at the awards for Navy but they were of course in color so it was hard to really distinguish which was which.

This anchor information gives me some good advice it will certainly help narrow the search.  There are several GATOs that had no pictures so on goes the search.  I'm hoping this historian that helps NavyLog will have some luck, he may have a much more complete source and photos.

The only thing that is intriguing are the two photos that actually show my Father aboard the Cobia, there just is no doubt that those pictures are not him.   I'm sure crew did serve on different Boats time to time and we'll know when I get the records.   If I failed to mention it that is my Father standing on deck with the headset so once again I know that Boat what ever the name was his Boat also.  He was still on active duty when the Korean War was going on so I'm sure he has a rich history and probably was at Point Loma, when he and my Mother were married they lived in San Diego and my Mom never left until a few years ago and even now she is still living in California around Hemet.  She remarried two times more and I have two half sisters, and my Brother is also a Materene.  All three were born at Bal Boa Naval hospital.

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New Member Introductions / Re: What do you/did you do for a living?

« on: March 02, 2011, 10:24:46 PM »

Thank you and the same to you Darrin, are you referring to the cruise photo? 

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New Member Introductions / Re: Hello to everyone Fact finding for a GATO class submarine

« on: March 02, 2011, 10:21:47 PM »

Thanks for the input Darrin, it is very puzzling that Boat photo, it was given to my Grandmother with the other personal photos one posted here, and it was around 52 or 53 no later.  The photo was always taken care of and now it is beginning to show a little wear.  Since I have no children there will be no one to pass it on to so it would be so nice to actually find the boat name and possibly some historical home for it where the picture could be preserved for history.
One thing that has been hard to find is actual crew list for these boats, the GATOs were large in numbers but with 20 so lost it narrowed it down somewhat and I've been looking at sail configurations, only problem with that is I don't know for sure that it is a GATO, it might well be the later class after the GATO.  Amazing so many different designs, can you identify that radar on the deck and mast, the rectangular ones.  I saw a whip radio antena on one of the boats that came after the GATOs and it was identical so I get confused more and more each time I look at these boats.

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New Member Introductions / Re: Hello to everyone Fact finding for a GATO class submarine

« on: March 02, 2011, 03:54:42 PM »

Thank you, I know he was not on the commissioning roster or original roster, I don't think those rosters that are shown are official rosters but rather what crew posted and from memory through the years.  I believe he may have been assigned after the Boat arrived in the Pacific, so he may well have been on another sub before then.  I'll have to wait for records to know, and those pictures in black and white are my Father taken on the deck of the Cobia.
I don't see an RM rating on that crew list so that also leads me to believe the list is not complete.  Soon as I see the records I'll update and the ID of the Boat above.  As of now I have not looked for any record of him being in the Korea theater but I think I should do that since the time line of his service was within that.  Thanks again

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New Member Introductions / Re: Hello to everyone Fact finding for a GATO class submarine

« on: March 02, 2011, 12:44:03 PM »

That is correct, I will receive the request forms in the next few days.  The last time I actually saw my Father was around 52 or 53 so I don't know what his assignment may have been then, he was still in uniform.  The only way to learn any information is the records.  I am just about sure that the Cobia was the Boat in the picture, a volunteer historian with NavyLog has the photo and will try and identify it for certain.  Since my Father's name was not on the crew list that is being given it makes it even harder to determine.  I know this list is not full and many were not added, it may also be that he did not join the Boat until after it reached the Pacific base.  Those two black and whites with the x on them are what really stands out, I have one other photo of him in winter dress with the black cap and I only have to find it.  I was raised by my Grandmother and her husband so after my Fathers death I had a complete family and never knew the how where or why's.  My Grandmother's husband Walter Anderson served in the 36th Texas Division and served as an infantryman with his unit attached to Pattons armored forces, he landed in France in aug and went all the way to Germany until the end of the war. 

One thing that stands out in this large photo of the boat is the fact there are no deck or anti aircraft guns forward, I do not see a deck gun turned to port as they usually were for crew pictures.  The radar mast is not blacked out although the sail number is, very strange!.  This possibly may have been made prior or after refitting after the war.   Out of 71 GATO Class Boats only a handful had a sail and conning tower configuration like the one shown, that helps somewhat but a number sure would have been great