Sea Stories
e
A shipmate's version of the GLOMAR RESPONSE aka "I can neither confirm nor deny:" So follow along with a mindful eye for fact or fiction.
Groton CT.
Welcome to See Stories. The disclaimer borrowed above not withstanding. This my "eBook" is a work in progress. Before I get into the organization of the "stories" a little background up here near the surface. The stories will be found down below, or on other pages; grouped and organized with the 8 buttons above that will allow for easier access on future visits (currently only 2 are active, the six gray are not active). As stories and sections are added the buttons will become active. Read-on:
This website will allow you access to a fairly large collection of stories about my adventures in and around various US Navy Submarines from 1969 to 1978. Over the span of those 9 years I was at sea for 3 of them on 9 different submarines, all are shown in the table below. During that time, I covered over 50,000 Leagues under the Sea. Keep in mind that the 50,000 is a conservative number as it does not include "mission" distance, and yet it is two and a half times further than Captain Nemo documented by Jules Verne - and is not science fiction.
SeeStories, YES; Science Fiction NOPE.
You will note that both the TANG and the PINTADO are highlighted above with links to their Wikipedia Pages. That is because those two boats have special meaning to me and my stories are very much inter-woven. While my "stories" span all 9 boats, and commands I served under - These two boats stand out, and serve well as an intro to the others.
The USS TANG-SS563 was as old as I was when I rode her. Which I did in 1973. There are several stories that involve the run on the TANG. I got to ride the TANG because the guy who was supposed to ride her had a family issue that developed and had to get home. So my getting on board has at least three stories to it. Three Tickets in One Day, is the story about getting to take his place, and then there is one I'm not proud of in getting to the TANG (The Lifetime Burden). And finally the one about getting on-board (I Think I see it coming around Grande Island). These three inter-related stories fall in different groups in the SeeStories organization - so these three are free to illustrate that point. My most memorable "friend" from the TANG was an Electricians Mate, Larry Strickland. We had some great conversations about his past, that were of interest to me. Here is his major story - watch the video. The only downside is there is no mention of the TANG, just the background of what bonded the two of us.
Then the USS PINTADO SSN672 (Christened by Adm. Bernard Clarey's wife) has several stories related to it. AND I rode PINTADO twice; the first run was in April, and the second run was in August. Admiral Clarey's first command in WWII was the original PINTADO (SS387), so he took special interest in the new PINTADO (SSN672), and I took special interest in him, because HE signed our orders (as my orders to the TANG (above) were). Back in the day of his CINCPACFLT command, he had a special interest in those who served in our job codes. You will note my orders to PINTADO (if you bothered to look) were not signed by him - he was gone by the time I rode PINTADO relieved of Command of CINCPACFLT in Sept. of 1973. In 1974 the special attention our shop had, started to erode. BUT and finally, I have told the story of my one on one meeting with Admiral Clarey several times. Here is a clip from one of my podcasts, that tells the story of our meeting in the spring of 1973 - the latter part of March or the beginning of April.
If you wish to watch any of my other podcasts on the John Riley Project: Click here and you will go to my JRP Playlist.
TANG and PINTADO illustrate the advantage of a website based eBook.
One of the major advantages of writing my SeeStories as a webpage based eBook / collection of short stories is the ability for you to follow selectable threads of the stories dependencies. In this case I am using my time on both the TANG and the PINTADO as an example of how you can follow one particular aspect along a thought train. This is very similar to the above where I described the importance of the USS TANG which led to three stories of how I made it on board. However, in this example, the following five links are provided. One video and four connected descriptions or stories.
It starts with a piece of music called SOLID GROUND. And yes, you can follow that link, or you can continue on possibly using the video shown below. To the right are two stories that were instrumental in my thinking and reflective mood when I created the YouTube video. The second story Special Places, goes deeper and ends with two SeeStories that will also appear in the Stand Alone grouping.
So now you can see that throughout this webpage. You can click on just one thing that interests you, or you can go down a path, or skip along the path of that story line. I will be adding free stuff and additional chapters to the "book" itself as long as I am able. Please keep in mind that this is a hosted webpage with monthly fees. So some things come at a cost to you, such that hopefully the SeeStories will last long after I'm gone.
Now then, the stories have been written over the years since about 20 years following my honorable discharge and my marriage. Over the years I was motivated on occasion to write things down. Beginning with "The Battle of Barf in the South China Sea", my first ever posting on a website. That caused me to think about a "book" about 10 years ago. But then recently I was motivated by another hobby of mine - unlisted YouTube Videos with pieces of copywritten music to sometimes copywritten video. Here are the two primary motivations - catch the mood.
Click the pic for the long version of "Submerge The Ship"
NOW FOR THE STORIES
Keeping in mind that the picture on the right here is ME taken in my early 20's on a 637 class boat out of Pearl. It's the only picture I have of me in or around the boats that I rode. This "book" if you will is a collection of stories with recollections of them from the eyes you see here, and aged a lot.
AND each of the stories can stand on their own. Individual PDF files (importable to Kindle). You can read
them in any order you wish. They are grouped into focused groups, and you will get to them on the encrypted menu above when they are activated, or just click on them here (links in white font) again, once they are activated. The first of the six groups is the one called "BASICS" and the menu button above works for that one. The others; OVERVIEW, PERSONAL, STAND ALONE, RELATED, FRIENDS and OTHERS will be explained later. You will note that they are in no particular order and some stories have repeated descriptions so that each can indeed stand on their own. You don't have to read them all. But know that some of the stories are connected, and when that happens there will be links that will bring you back to this website, so that you can get them, should you wish to follow the thread. OR you can purchase the entire collection right at the start, which is the cheapest way to go. When I am ready for the full release, the outline below will allow the full purchase.
ORGANIZATION
It's good to know that you are pretty much like me. You have decided to not buy into the whole thing right up front without knowing more. This book allows you to do that.
50,000 Leagues under the Sea
Welcome to Sea Stories
DEPTH
Fitting In
The Final Difference
Breathing
Submarine Dolphins
Sleeping
As you can see here the book is made up of a bunch of PDF files. In THE BASICS group the subjects are all FREE. You can open them for reading right now, or you can download them to read later. AND you can download them and convert them to KINDLE files.
BUT this is only one part of the "BOOK" SEE STORIES. Remember there are six other groupings and they are described on their individual pages accessible by the menu that is stuck to the top of your screen (when they are active).
The other PDF files are not free. If you noticed this website is maintained by WIX, and there are fees associated with that (and Calypso's as well).
I have set up the following scheme to cover the costs such that this site will remain hopefully well past my capability to cover the cost.
As soon as I get the logistics worked out you will be able to BUY the entire collection for $15.00. Or just one of the "Groups" for their respective prices ranging from $1.50 (FRIENDS) to as much as $4.50 (PERSONAL / RELATED) OR just $0.50 per story individually. IF you buy the Groups one at a time, ending up with all of them; you will have spent well over the $15.00 for the whole set.
As an example - you can open the stories individually with each of the 8 ICONS above. OR you can go to the BASICS page via the menu or the links in this section. Once you click on them there or here, they open, and you can either print them or Download them. Once they are downloaded they are yours. Now if you do that individually from the other GROUPs, it would cost you $0.50 for each one, or all 8 stories in the BASIC Group for $4.00 as a group.
Go ahead click the icon here on the right, all 8 segments shown above will download to your computer as one Zipped File of 1.7MBytes.
OK with that all explained, very shortly this paragraph is going to be replaced with the appropriate tools to allow you to purchase the entire collection right here. The total price for all the "stories", will be only $15.00.
In the interim I'd love to hear your thoughts on this Novel Approach (pun intended). Especially if you have a question about submarine life - chances are I experienced it, and it could be ANOTHER STORY (which you will get a copy of FREE.)
Send me an email = pneilddroid@gmail.com.