Featuring

Silent Hunter III Captain’s Log
The Legend of Odin
Just Another Cargo Ship
Rising Tide
Civilian Submariner
Chief Mac and the Contact
Cavalla Makes its Mark in Naval History
The Flanders U Boat Flotilla 1915 – 1918
Blood & Honor
The Dreadnought Era
Erich Topp (U-552)
The History of Subsims
Life aboard a U.S. Nuclear Submarine
Submarines as Time Machines
The Lost Patrols of U-49
Origin of the Laconia Order
and much more....

For raw courage and grit, for long separations from family, for extremely rough living conditions in crowded and claustrophobic spaces deep under the waves, no other branch of military service compares with submarine service. Weeks of repetitive, uneventful watchstanding can change without warning, in a moment, into a frenzy of well-coordinated thought and action where the lives of every soul aboard, and sometimes the fate of humanity, are instantly at stake. For instance, if an emergency action message comes through to a boomer, if a fast-attack suddenly detects a hostile contact approaching, if Tomahawk launch mission orders arrive unexpectedly on a guided-missile sub—a submarine must be ever-vigilant for conflict. Even in peacetime any one of a myriad potentially deadly mechanical casualties may occur. A sub is always at war with its natural elements: the sea.

For ten years, Subsim has been a hub for sub fanatics to learn about new games coming out, speculate on features, and share tips and tactics. We’ve held good-natured mock trials for fellow players who spread game rumors, expressed viewpoints, and debated an endless number of topics, both trivial and serious. Subsim members have raised money for cancer victims, venerated the Red Triangle, developed mods for games, and held numerous meetings, including three that drew members from around the world. We’ve talked about buying a surplus Russian Kilo sub and outfitting it as a cruiseship/clubhouse for vacationing sub enthusiasts but that’s still in the planning stage.

I made a trip to San Francisco in November 2002 for some meetings about SH3. The meetings were not exactly what I expected. I soon realized that our excitement about the project  was really not matched by the guys from the Ubi SF office. But, were we talking about a pure simulation? Not at that meeting. What was discussed was mainly how to develop an action simulation game with submarines. Well, "Gran Turismo on the sea" was the closest match. Their idea was to attract as many gamers as possible from outside the traditional sim fans pool because the conclusion was that "they (sim fans) will buy it anyway".

One night, someone announced that we, the crew of the Requin, had to be the spiritual descendents of the Vikings. In that instant, we all became Vikings. Everyone spoke in Scandinavian-Minnesotan-Inger Stevens dialect. "Ja Sven, you see da cheef? He’s da beeg fella wit da beeg moudt!" Everybody got into it. The skipper became Ragnar. The exec, Einar. We turned our foul weather jackets inside-out so the brown, hairy looking fake fur stuff was on the outside. We made cardboard horns and stapled them to both sides of our watch caps. When we passed each other going fore and aft, we banged our chests and yelled,
"O-O-O-DIN!"

The submerged speed and endurance made possible by nuclear power revolutionized submarine warfare. In exercise after exercise Nautilus demonstrated her ability to attack heavily defended surface forces with impunity. On one occasion she chased down a 20-knot carrier group by running at flank speed (21.5-knots) for more than ten hours to reach attack position. Sixteen hours later, she attacked a destroyer 240 nautical miles away.

It seems like a hundred years have gone by since I’ve held you in my arms. Since this is my first real "war patrol", I don’t know what to expect. It’s been rather boring up to this point. Joining the Navy was not as exciting as I thought it would be. We get up, go on watch, eat a meal, work on equipment, and try to keep each other entertained in what little free time we have. Then it starts all over again. Even though I’ve been at sea for almost a month, don’t worry about me. I have good comrades and a good Captain. We all look out for each other.

As the air strikes were being launched, the submarine USS Albacore made contact with the Mobile fleet. It was moving rapidly as it launched planes of the second wave. Just as Albacore was ready to fire from 2,000 yards, the torpedo data computer failed. Capt. Blanchard had to react quickly. A wide spread of six torpedoes was launched with last-second bearings cranked in by hand. One torpedo hit the Taiho, the flagship of Admiral Ozawa. Taiho continued on with the fleet. Albacore's crew felt a huge disappointment; a single hit was unlikely to sink a carrier. But fortune favored the Americans. Taiho's damage-control teams mishandled the crisis. An officer ordered fans to carry the gasoline fumes out of a hold. The vapors spread throughout the ship and inevitably, a spark caused a massive explosion that sank the carrier.

00:10; I will be going topside for an pipe of tobacco. Jurgen is on watch and I will have him regale me with his tales of Paris. He is the only one on das boot who has been there. He has some rather saucy stories of Französische Frauen und Nächte verbracht mit zwei Damen für den preis von einem! I make the recommendation that if U-49 is ever stationed or weighs anchor at a French port that Jurgen and I be allowed to travel to Paris. He has informed me that in his past travels to Paris he was able to make the acquaintance of several French citizens. It is my belief that these women and dancehall girls hold many secrets that need to be investigated.

Vigilance required continuous training, sometimes alone, sometimes in conjunction with other U.S. naval units, and sometimes with naval units of other nations. This training really kept us sharp, and honed the skills of our junior crewmembers as well as our "old salts." Much of this training involved ASW, or Anti-Submarine Warfare, and we were frequently the "OPFOR" (opposing force) submarine that had to be found and prosecuted by the "good guys" in surface ships, ASW aircraft such as P-3 Orions and S-3 Vikings, and other submarines. I fondly remember being asked by multiple ASW platforms if we could broach our sail out of the water a bit so that their lookouts or radar operators could actually detect us!