Why Silent Service?

[Threadfin]

Who can tell me why the US submarine force was sometimes referred to as the 'Silent Service'?

First correct answer gets a thumbs up smilie.

[Drebbel]

You are kidding, right ?

[Threadfin]

No, not kidding, guess no one wants to play

A recent conversation with a gentleman at work showed me that some believe the term Silent Service was due to the fact that submarines move and attack silently beneath the sea, and attempt to avoid detection by sound.

The term silent service was used though because the men were not allowed to talk to the press, interviews were not granted as was common on surface ships, and there was a general 2 month blanket on submarine related news. They were silent in that they didn't speak to the press.


Perhaps this is universally known at Subsim however.

[Subnuts]

Everyone in the submarine force was so happy to air conditioning, ice cream machines, and enough bunks for everyone that nobody ever complained, and thus, were "silent."

Am I close? :hmm:

[Threadfin]

OK, good enough

I have never heard either of those last two explanations; I always just assumed it was because they attacked silently.

I would however love to see documentation for both, or else to me they're just good stories.

[Threadfin]

Hehe, well subnuts got the thumbs up smilie because it seemed apparent that everyone knew the answer, as Drebbel so kindly hinted, and I thought his would be the only guess, and the fact that just before his guess I had given the answer and was having a little fun .

As I know it, the Silent Service moniker was coined by the press because the sub guys didn't talk. As Blair puts it in Silent Victory, the reasons for this were many, but chief among them was the desire for security. They did not want the Japanese gaining any info on operations, areas, tactics, etc that might leak out through the press. He wasn't a sub guy, but the Congressman May incident -- where he blabbed the Japs weren't setting the DCs deep enough, and newspapers ran it. Lockwood later said he thinks that indiscretion cost the US sub force 10 boats and 800 men -- is a prime example of what they wanted to avoid.

Another reason Blair gives is that the sub force didn't want any inquiries into the sub force's failures, defense of the Philipines, of Java, of cautious skippers, or defective torpedos, etc.

[FAdmiral]

Actually the WW2 saying of: "Loose Lips Sink Ships" could be applied to
just about any information leak during that war. Transports and Freighters
carrying soldiers and equipment were at risk as much as the subs, maybe more so....


JIM

[Rick Martin]

Originally Posted by Threadfin

Who can tell me why the US submarine force was sometimes referred to as the 'Silent Service'?

First correct answer gets a thumbs up smilie.

I believe the name came about due to the very tight security around submarine operations and the fact that very little was released to the press (you see back in the day, the press kept their noses out of military operations thus avoiding the possibility of aiding the enemy) Even after the war the tradition continued up to today's boomers and fast attacks.

(No sir, I am with the government and to the best of my knowledge we have no sense of humor) Rick Martin (do I get a thumbs up?)

[Bum]

Certainly !

[Cage]

Originally Posted by Subnuts

Everyone in the submarine force was so happy to air conditioning, ice cream machines, and enough bunks for everyone that nobody ever complained, and thus, were "silent." :hmm:

Until that one fateful day when the men learnt that there were beer machines on other nations subs.

[Ducimus]

Originally Posted by Rick Martin

I believe the name came about due to the very tight security around submarine operations and the fact that very little was released to the press (you see back in the day, the press kept their noses out of military operations thus avoiding the possibility of aiding the enemy) Even after the war the tradition continued up to today's boomers and fast attacks.

(No sir, I am with the government and to the best of my knowledge we have no sense of humor) Rick Martin (do I get a thumbs up?)

Another reason i think was that they didnt like admitting that we participated in unrestricted submarine warfare. That was something the "dirty kraut's" did in their "u-boots".

But ya, generally speaking for many reasons, everything surrounding US submarine operations in WW2 is kept hushed up, or so is my understanding of it.

[bookworm_020]

Originally Posted by Cage

Until that one fateful day when the men learnt that there were beer machines on other nations subs.

The Aft tubes of the oberon class subs were used for storing beer!

Part of the reason for the "Silent" routine for subs in the media is they operate alone and usual deep inside hostile waters. This continues today, as the greatest wapon for a sub on patrol is stelth and suprise, blow either of these and your in trouble!