Favourite submarine officer
 

Who is your favourite submarine captain in the real world?Mine is the late Tubby Linton VC of the Royal Navy. :up:
http://www.submariners.co.uk/VC_Winners/linton.htm

Captain Nikolai Zatayev who commanded submarine K19 when she had her first reactor accident in 1961, he had to send his own crew into the reactor to die just to save the boat.

He is an unsung hero and deseres the Hero of the soviet union medal, but sadly Zatayev died a few years ago aged only 61, he was 33 when he took K19 to sea.

I have to go with the classic choice and say Otto Kretschmer. A good mix of guts and sensibility.

No need to give further information, as everybody here is well acquainted with his exploits.

Sam Dealey :yep:

The most decorated living American; RADM. Eugene B. Fluckey. :rock:

I'll say Dick O'Kane, if only because I once had breakfast with him. :-j

Would those of you posting please give some background info on your choice.

http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/739/zateyev9vj.jpg

This is captain 1st rank Nikolai Zatayev born in 1939 died in the 1990's cant remember the exact date.

He had commanded his first submarine iat the age of only his mid 20's on soviet diesel submarines and made command early on and was noticed as a rising star in the northern fleet, for that he had been promoted, and given command of the first soviet SSBN.

:huh: :o Holy cow...Harrison Ford actually does look kinda like him! :o :huh:

Otto Kretschmer
Sucesses:
40 ships sunk for a total of 208.869 GRT
3 auxiliary warships sunk for a total of 46.440 GRT
1 warship sunk for a total of 1.375 tons
5 ships damaged for a total of 37.965 GRT
1 ship taken as prize for a total of 2.136 GRT
2 ships a total loss for a total of 15.513 GRT

Born 1 May, 1912 Heidau, Liegnitz
Died 5 Aug, 1998 Bavaria

He left U-23 in April 1940 and in the same month commissioned U-99. After two months of training U-99 left Kiel for her first patrol in June 1940. In the course of the next patrols Otto Kretschmer became famous on his U-99 for his night-time surface attacks against convoys, and there his motto "One torpedo ... one ship" was created!

Especially notable was the sinking of three British Armed Merchant Cruisers, Laurentic (18,724 tons), Patroclus (11,314 tons) and Forfar (16,402 tons) in November 1940 for a total of more than 46,000 tons. At that time Silent Otto became the "tonnage king" among U-boat men, never to be dethroned.

On his last patrol he was also very successful and attacked 10 ships. He was captured after scuttling U-99 at 0343hrs on 17 March, 1941 (Schepke was lost in the same battle) south-east of Iceland in approximate position 61N, 12W after depth charge damage inflicted by the British destroyer HMS Walker. Kretschmer managed to surface his badly damaged boat and save 40 out of his 43-man crew (his chief engineer died) before the boat sank again for the last time.

After his capture he spent more than six and a half years in British captivity. For more than four years he was held in Canada in Camp 30 (often referred to as Camp Bowmanville), from where he maintained contact with BdU. In December 1947 he returned to Germany.

In 1955 Otto Kretschmer joined the Bundesmarine (postwar German navy), in 1957 becoming commander of the 1. Geleitgeschwader (1st Escort Squadron). In November 1958 he became commander of the Amphibische Streitkräfte (Amphibian Forces). Starting in 1962 he served in several staff positions before becoming Chief of Staff of the NATO Command COMNAVBALTAP in May 1965, a position he held for four years. He retired in September 1970 with a rank of Flotillenadmiral.

During a vacation during the summer of 1998 Otto Kretschmer died in hospital in Bavaria after an accident.

http://uboat.net/men/kretschmer.htm

well... the Captain may command the boat... and the Weapons and Missile Officers get to press the fire buttons... and the 'nukes' get to go in the back where all the secrets are...

.... but i've always felt that the cooks are the most important people aboard a submarine.

that said, i've always liked Ed Beach... Yogi Kaufman would be a close second... why... because they both wrote books that took me there...

--Mike

My favorite submariner is Don Rickles. :-j

Actually, my hat is off to Howard Gilmore (Growler). He attacked a ship on the surface at night, and in the poor visibility neither he nor anyone else on the bridge noticed the target turn into their path. At the last minute, Gilmore tried to avoid the collision, but the Japanese machine gunned the bridge, killing two and wounding Gilmore. He became famous for clearing the bridge and then yelling down the hatch, "Take her down!" Gilmore was left on the bridge when the boat dived; he was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor (first submariner to be so decorated).