Changing the submarine's name to USS-some name

[mookiemookie]

Originally Posted by Stealhead

its almost like it was Squalus was going to take the men that should have died inside her in 1939..

I never thought of it that way. That makes me shiver.

[Highbury]

I think Squalus is a different sort of thing altogether. When USS Squalus sunk, she was decommissioned. All ships are when lost and struck from the Naval Register. When she was raised she was re-named USS Sailfish, then re-commissioned. The name was not changed while under commission.

As an ex-sailor who believes that Jonahs and curses do exist, I would have felt better about that ship being re-commissioned under a new name, as opposed to the old one, if I were going to serve on her.

Torpedoing a ship that had countrymen aboard was a misfortune that affected many boats that only sailed under one name, for Sailfish it was just bad luck IMO.

[Stealhead]

Of course the thing you must ask is was it the Squalus that was un-lucky or was it the very steel she was made of?Kind of like a battle feild from ancient times the name even of the land and country may have changed but the battle was still fought there. You could see the bad luck more than one way I do suppose.Or say luck is rubbish. At any rate if it was the very steel or just the Squalus at the very least that bad luck did not care for what nation the sailors she claimed where a part of she was after every sailor I guess. One thing though didnt they keep the same ship number?

Well one thing the cause of the sinking of Squalus was found and all subs after had a saftey feature added to prevent the very same thing from occuring again.I guess it just depends I dont belive something will happen to me if a black cat crosses my path but at the same time a few months back a buddy and I where working on my car and at one point he clamped this clothes pin on the shift neck for no reason and I have not taken it off but my wife went to remove it the other day and I told her not to. "She asked why and i told her "I dont know I just think it should stay." She told me I should throw salt over my shoulder each time before I get into the car.