The Emerald Rose

As any of my readers know, I was in the US Navy for four years plus 2 in reserves in the 1964-1970 period. I started in weather observation/forecasting, and was then sent to a “C” school with orders to an Admirals Staff position upon completion, as an ASW (Anti submarine warfare environmental technician) technician. So what you ask? I still love the Navy, and would have loved to have spent my career in the Service, BUT,…..being married and two children under three years old and an Aircraft Carrier Billet,…meant long separations, and it was my choice to go home after my enlistment and try and be a father to my children and a real husband to my wife,

That said I still love the Navy and joined, The U.S. Naval Institute, to keep abreast of what was happening as I grew older and when your memories are far better than the original conditions, (which make for a better long range, or BIG PICTURE, view of life, and your role in it over the years, AND into the FUTURE!.

In a most recent issue of their magazine, there was an article that caught my attention, in the August 2017 issue of  “Proceedings” written by a retired Commander in the ASW realm, named Dan Dolan. It was excellent, and spot on as to history. I was in the Navy during the period in question , and have direct info and input, which I am posting and will try and find a way to send to Commander Dolan.

Despite being accosted by Submarines in WWI, and then again in WW2, and even with all the time and water that went under the Keel, since those two wars, in which the German Submarine, and it’s tactics were better than ever each time they came out “to play”, we were woefully behind them. We built a lot of our WWII submarines in Portsmouth, NH at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

Years (20ish) ago I found a book, and was fortunate enough to live about three miles away from the yard. The title of that book was “32 in 42” (???????) that chronicalled the building of 32 brand new US Submarines in ONE calendar year! Consider today it takes multiple YEARS to build a SINGLE new Submarine!

Technology has greatly improved, (as has the cost of building a ship), but the one thing we learned from the Germans was that we MUST advance or be following their growth again, as in the fifty years that had passed by the beginning of the Vietnam Nam era.

A submarines strength lies in it’s ability to hit, run, and then hide itself UNDERWATER, to surface again and do it again, or lie quietly and wait for targets to come by, much like a shooting gallery at a carnival. And in many cases it’s presence isn’t even known until a torpedo has done it’s work, and it’s too late!

For surface ships we have developed radar, larger and more accurate guns, diversionary tactics,  as well as many , many things we don’t have a clue about, since they are highly classified! But until the advent of improved sonar we were blind as to there even being a submarine in the immediate area. And the hundreds of other new advancements in both submarine technology as well as “deflecting” coverings which can, to a degree render a submarine some “invisibility” to a searcher.

We have also developed numerous weaponry to both “evade”, or “blind” a submarine’s radar. But this is all a “tit for tat” relationship as well, and is the current mod of research, and development in the world for all country’s possessing submarines.

The one thing “anti submarine warfare” (ASW) has been plodding along is the varying nature of that which covers our planet,……oceans, seas and water basically accounts for 4/5ths of our earths coverage, while continents and land covers only 1/5th!!. The Centuries of “Armys”, and the history of “War” was relatively restricted to the land areas until a scant 600 years ago, and look how far we’ve come in army’s, and even conquering the biggest environmental obstacle of our world, the sky and air. We’ve even begun inroads  to “outer space”, which offers a virtually infinite place for weapon placement, delivery, and “hiding” in plain sight!! It has caused a reduction in Naval and Land defenses, as the immense potential of access to power, control, and the political control, resides more fully in that “wet”realm we call the ocean.

But I urge the world to re-look the naval capabilities, as they offer the same possibilities as space,,….yes more problems, but far more potential in my opinion. We have really become to “large” as a planet, to live upon. And with the mindsets of “conquest” and “military dominance” all we’ve really done is render the earth a “sum total zero” game. The weaponry we have,the total devastational capability of all that weaponry, and the increasing liberal “Kumbya” of let everyone live and be happy. We can ALL learn to adapt to that point!

That being the case “conquest”, and “military dominance” is really no longer an option, so much as defense and deflection is the mantra for the next several hundred years! We all know that MANY nation states today have the ability, and capability of a “multi overkill capacity”, but it will leave desolation and devastation so large that the “conquest” will bankrupt the “winner” who must “rebuild a conquered area” to be of value or will lose their standing due to both the costs, and the technology needed versus the devastation reeked on the “loser”

It would, it seems, be a circular rotation of countries into “control and power”, while yielding nothing to an ever shrinking “society” which is deteriorating from within, necessitating another “conflict” to reassert dominance.

Regardless of all the options, it all is boiling down to a political future, and only dictators, and idiots can hope to survive,…….a sad commentary on the growth of mankind!

Suffice it to say , “what we don’t know,…..we won’t know!” And just trust the right team wins, and we will all get to live a few more decades.

As depressing as that thought is, that’s where we are going,…and too quickly for my liking!

Can this be averted? Actually I think it can. Not by “cow towing”, or bribing the proverbial “bad actors”, but by bringing them to the precipice and letting them learn it simply will result in annialation, and the development of uninhabitable areas of the 20% of this planet that is made up of land. Plus consider that at the rate we are depleting the earth, contaminating the waters, and Mother nature’s own “catastrophic” workings, i.e. earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, over hunting, over fishing, and all those other little “things”,…..well why cut existence even shorter.

But that’s just my take on it! How about you?

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December 2, 2017