COVERING PUGET SOUND NAVAL NEWS FOR BREMERTON | BANGOR | KEYPORT
NAVY NEWS Kitsap
VOLUME 1, NO. 9 | 27 MAY 2011
www.kitsapnavynews.com
Board critical of 9/11 memorial prelim design By GREG SKINNER Kitsap Navy News
The Bremerton Parks and Recreation board of commissioners Tuesday criticized conceptual plans for the Kitsap 9/11 Memorial in Evergreen Park as grandiose, East Coast-centric and lacking any connection to Bremerton or Kitsap County. “I still believe in this, but it’s got to be Bremerton–Kitsap County,” parks commissioner Chris Warthen said. Beyond the larger message to do something about the park’s “uncomfortable” design, overall size and classic safety concerns, park com-
SEE 9/11 | PAGE 7
World War II submarine veteran John Baker lowers his head during the invocation at Thursday’s Tolling the Boats ceremony, the Naval Undersea Museum at Naval Base Kitsap Keyport’s traditional Memorial Day observance. PHOTO BY GREG SKINNER
Perpetual remembrance Sub vets organization exists to keep shipmates’ memories alive By GREG SKINNER Kitsap Navy News
When three World War II Submarine Veterans incorporated United States Submarine Veterans 47 years ago this week, Fred Borgmann was in North Idaho training under the father of the nuclear Navy on the prototype S5G reactor of the USS Narwhal (SSN-671). Decades would pass before he joined the sub vets and settled into their mission of perpetual remembrance of the 4,000 souls on “eternal patrol” with America’s silent service. Today, a retired Mustang with a sto-
ried career, Borgmann mans the national office of the 13,000-member organization who’s primary mission is to remember the lives lost since the first submarine program started 100 years ago. At Thursday’s “Tolling the Boats” Borgmann and scores of his brothers, active and retired, joined the staff of the Naval Underseas Museum and the public for the museum’s annual Memorial Day observance to remember the 52 submarines lost in World War II – only two have been lost since the close of the war. In the large gathering of sub vets was World War II submarine John Baker serving as the day’s patriarch. Baker’s first patrol was in 1944, more than a decade before the next senior sub vet in attendance. Commanding officer of the USS Louisiana Joseph Turk, speaking at the ceremony, said, that today’s submariners all benefit from the lessons learned as the submariners of World War II developed protocol and standards that became the base of today’s silent service. Turk remembered the great boats in
terms of their damage to Japanese shipping and Navy. The USS Wahoo and the USS Barb with 100,000 tons sunk. The greatest of all, the USS Tang, sank 31 ships destroying 200,000 tons of shipping. US Submarine forces in World War II represented two percent of naval forces, but sank 55 percent of all shipping, Turk said. “It came at a cost,” he said. Unlike all other military fraternal organizations in the US, perpetuating memory is the the mission of the USSV as set down my the organization’s founders. The VFW and American Legion along with a host of Navy social clubs and brotherhoods spend most of their energy and clout on improving the lives of veterans and lobbying congress to their benefit. The sub vets begin every meeting with a tolling for boats lost historically in each month. They host scholarships on local and national levels to keep their brothers’ names alive. When they can, they build
SEE SUB VETS | PAGE 7
THIS EDITION New Co for Stennis Carrier Group.....................pg. 3 Memoiral Day losing meaning –Sarah Smiley ........pg. 4 Kids & Navy design and build undersea rovers .....pg. 5 63rd Annual Armed Forces Day Parade photos pg. 10