Tom, rather than trying to remember individual stories I will attempt to write a summary of my time on board Cusk from 6 May 1960 to Sept of 1962.

My first tour of duty was on board the USS Yorktown CVA and CVS 10. I left the Navy after a Kitty Cruise on Yorktown due to not getting a guarantee of some schooling that I wanted, either AC&R or O2 N2. I had taken and passed the MM1 test before leaving Yorktown but at the time I left I did not know that I would be advanced to MM1 in December of 1959. I re-enlisted in Spokane, Washington in Sept of 1959 and was sworn in at pier 91 on 16 September and was transferred with a brand new wife to AC& R school at San Diego. While attending school a group, Power for Peace headed by LCDR Howard interviewed anyone that might be interested in going into the Nuclear Power Program. As I did not have any orders after school it seemed to be the thing to do, so I volunteered for Submarines. At the time of volunteering everyone had to talk to a Psychiatrist, the fellow ahead of me when asked why he wanted to go to Submarines replied that he could buy 46 more six packs of beer a month with the extra money. I do not think any one was denied at that time.

While in Submarine school I made very good friends with an EM1 Bill Farrin. We decided that Hawaii would be a good place to get stationed and to raise our kids. Hawaii may not be a bad place for kids but is a very dangerous place for a brand new 17-year-old wife that was very attractive. Bill was assigned to the Pickerel and I to the Cusk, my wife did not come over with me as she was due to have a baby on the 18^th of May and Cusk was scheduled to get underway for West Pac soon after I reported aboard on 6 May 1960. We still communicate via e-mail with the Farrins. They live in the Lancaster, Cal. area. Bill left the Navy during nuclear power training in Idaho. I earned my Dolphins that first cruise we returned in November 1960. I am trying to remember who my sponsor was I think he was an EM1 last name perhaps Williams but not sure. Lt. Krietsberg (sic) and his wife helped my wife get settled when she came to Hawaii shortly before the boat returned. Lynn Farrin was also a big help and lived only a block away in NHA2. As I remember the first cruise went very well. I reported aboard as a 21 year old MM1 that was relieving an EN1 Joe Zamaria (sic). Joe and George Barney, a TMC were retiring about the same time and had bought some acreage around Trail, Oregon. George did retire there. I stopped, had venison supper with him and spent the night after leaving Cusk in 1962. The last contact I had was with some of George's relation, she said he had moved to the Sailors home at Gulf Port, Mississippi. I do not know what ever happened to Joe but understand he is a member of the US Submarine World War Vets Organization.

We had a man, Geile EN2 in AUX Div when I reported aboard, he was a Beatnik. We went to one of the hang outs with him one night, no alcohol, very good apple cider though. They clapped to show their appreciation to the performers by snapping their fingers. I never really did understand what the hell was going on but every one seemed to have a good time, and no hang over. Geile returned to San Francisco to open a coffee house when his enlistment was up. I suppose he made at least a million $ during the beatniks and hippie movement.

One must keep in mind that we machinist mates and others that came to the Submarine Force from the surface fleet were in subs only to qualify to continue onto the Nuclear program, but you must also understand that many like myself after getting to have duty on the fleet boats did not want to go on to the nukes. We soon had several aboard for this reason. MMC George Barnes and MM3 Larry Ratliff also joined the Aux. Gang. We all eventually wound up on nukes. George was a hard charging very fine Chief that enjoyed as we all did the adult beverages, he got hooked up with some young honey one weekend and wound up in Hilo on the big Island having a wonderful time. He called me at home and asked me to some how cover for him at Quarters Monday the next morning because he was not going to make it back, no such luck, he wound up on a couple weeks restriction, but he said it was worth it. George had a 1958 Corvette, he came over to my house in Johnson Circle a couple doors down from Ken Chunn one Saturday morning. He had a spark plug wire cut into about a dozen pieces and stated Tucker! I think I found out why this Corvette is not running very well, there is no wire in these things going to the spark plugs. George had been exposed to the fairly new Carbon Pile wires. George had serious problems later on that caused the total loss of the car. We had a party at TM! Oxriders house in NHA2 or NHA3. This may have been a continuation of a party that started at Richardson Center or perhaps the Beach at the Northwest corner of the Island Kiena Pt. One thing that stands out in my mind is a young couple that was at the party, I would think a young TM striker and his girl friend. They were getting very amorous lying in the grass amongst the shrubbery when Oxriders wife turned the hose on them and stopped their amorous activity, I have always considered this cruelty of the highest order. At this party George took me for a ride in the Corvette that he had promised and as you can imagine we all had been drinking all-day so the ride was pretty wild. After returning to Oxriders house, George asked me if I would like to take my wife Linda for a ride. He had promised her also but realized that he was quite inebriated and would rather I take her, remember these cars were only two seaters. I agreed and was quite sober compared to George and most others at the party. Linda and I took off on Admiral Nimitz Blvd. I had run the car up to about 100 mph, it was running perfect. As I was slowing back down probably around 60, a 1957 Ford sedan with a guy and his girl friend coming towards us made a left turn directly in front of us to enter an open field. We hit his right rear quarter and made quite a mess of both cars, the nice thing about the Corvette, being fabricated out of fiberglass caused a cushioning effect. No one was hurt but we knew that the police would be coming soon, so checked the car out for any beer or booze that may be in it. I found an unopened pint of whisky in the glove compartment and tossed it out into the field as far as I could. (George came to our house the next morning probably a Sunday and asked where his pint was, we went to the field and retrieved the pint intact) TM1 Oxrider had a 1957 Chevy Impala. He came and picked us up, the police were quite tolerant of drinking as Oxrider in his bare feet was obviously about three sheets, was ignored. The Corvette was repaired for about $800, $100 deductible but approximately three months later George had another wreck that totaled the Corvette. George's favorite song" Hello Walls", favorite hangout the Rialto on Hotel street. The Rialto was a bar that had a window located conveniently. My friend Roger Lobdell from the USS Douglas A Munro would go in, then pass his ID out the window to me, this was when I was 17, he was older.

As I mentioned above we used to have beer ball games at Richardson Center not far north of Makalapa (sic) Gate. One of the first ball games that we attended was after a new Ensign, Sidney Paskowitz had reported aboard, he had taken on several beers and was feeling better than good and somewhat mischievous. EN1 Walker had a fairly new Chevrolet Impala I think, a 1958, very nice car. Sidney pulled all of the spark plug wires out just for the hell of it and caused some concern, Walker was an engineman, and diesels do not have spark plugs, but with a lot of help everything was put back together with no lasting harm done. Ensign Paskowetz also had much mustard down his front from many leaky hot dogs. Chuck Harner (Red Ryder) recently via e-mail informed me that Sidney is retired in the Washington DC area. I ran into LCDR Paskowitz in Newport News while putting USS Sam Rayburn SSBN 635 into commission in 1964. We must get him and Red Ryder (Chuck Harner) to the next reunion in Georgia 2000. Speaking of Selwin ,Sidney Paskowitz promps the following,I think if not for Sidney I would have not have received my recommendation for Chief Petty Officer. When I left Cusk it was not under the best of circumstances, our relatively new Exec. was not too pleased when I did not come to quarters the morning I was to leave. We had a big going away party the night before. Well he decided that I should not go home for a week or so, he put me on restriction until he was satisfied that I was a good boy. I think his name was LCDR Surman, he had been a Marine previously. When he came aboard Cusk he stated that either the XO or CO was always a son of a bitch and that we would never have to question between the two who it was.

I do not remember the exact time but during one of our training periods in the wee hours of the morning we were attempting to surface on the snorkel, something we had done many times with absolutely no problems. As we surfaced, before the main induction was opened, the snorkel head valve was shut due to, I expect, a spray of water or malfunction. We had a couple engines running and before we really knew what had happened they both shut down due to vacuum in the boat, so here we set on the surface wallowing. I think I had already started the low pressure blower which only made the problem worse. The blower was shut down quickly. About this time out of the Captains State Room appears in his Skivvies Captain WT Mawhiney (A very fine Skipper) asking what the hell is going on here? The Diving Officer, (I do not remember his name) and the Chief of the watch, an Indian Cherokee I think ,explained to the Captain what had happened. The Captain looked at me and said,' Tucker "BLEED AIR" ,bleed air AYE AYE Captain, so I opened the knocker valve to dump our air banks into the pump room bilge area through a muffler (that was not very effective) the noise was deafening, no verbal orders were possible. After a few moments the Indian Chief of the Watch gave me the signal of cutting his throat which I took as an order to secure the air bleed so I shut the valve, temperature in the boat increased significantly with the corresponding increase in pressure but we still had to much vacuum in the boat to open the head valve or main induction. This was very apparent to the Captain and he said ' Damn it , Tucker, Bleed Air! Aye Aye Captain. I bled air until the altimeter returned to a point where we could get the valves and conning tower hatch open. It seems that it took a long time but expect it was a very few short minutes. I feel very fortunate to have been on watch at the time. Could you imagine waking to the noise of bleeding air into the boat, you would think it was all over. Ah the wonderful memories.

Another instance I remember vividly was during local ops, we had a swim call, the only one I remember while I was aboard. We were swimming off the port bow with the planes lowered, there were several of us in the water when a fellow, I think his name was Koopman, an EN2 from the engine room gang shouted, there is a shark down there. We all thought he was probably kidding until he yelled louder and more forceful that he was "not shitting", we all hauled ass to the bow plane and out of the water. While swimming to the boat with face in the water and eyes open one could plainly see a very large fish near the hull. The water was incredibly clear.

There was another Engineman I remember but am not sure of his name, perhaps Mike Fallet Weberski or someone else that reads this can set any errors straight, I think his name was Stanford or something like that, he had a Dukatti motor cycle. This fellow was quite portly and it seems that the Doctor had put him on a Metrical diet. I remember him going to the cold room regularly to add ice cream to his diet mix and do not remember him loosing any weight at all.

Speaking of engine men there was a Chief aboard named Eugene Gaito, he rode a Vespa motor scooter and was quite a golfer. Gaito constantly tried to assign we machinists to the engine room, thanks to a long list of Division and Engineer officers this was not allowed. They understood that we were destined to continue on to nuclear training. We all had to qualify in the engine room but did not have to stand watch there after qualifying. I do remember grinding with the lathe (after it was moved from Maneuvering Room to the Pump Room) and tool post grinder 106 exhaust valves on my last cruise. When Virginia (My new wife in 1964) and I visited Hawaii in 1986 we were at the Sands Hotel on a time-share exchange. I thought of Gaito remembering that he had retired and lived in the area. I checked the phone book and sure enough there his name was, the only Gaito in the book. I gave him a call and set up a date within the next couple days to visit him. Virginia and I went to his home at Ewa Beach and talked with him for an hour or so, I took my video with me and taped the conversation. He was doing quite well still smoking cigars and golfing regularly, his wife was not at home at the time so we did not see her. Chief Gaito as a young Engineman had made 5 war patrols on Bowfin. The Submarine is at Bowfin Park near the debarkation point to go out to the USS Arizona Memorial. Senior Chief I think, was Chief of the Boat when I left Cusk. We had another Chief of the Boat for most of my tour. I think his name was Messner or something like that. We had an electrician aboard named Long, whenever he and I would enter the control room when Messner was there he would ask "How are I.P. and P.O. doing today. I.P. was I'm Pissed and P.O. was Pissed Off I don't remember which of us were which but apparently the COB thought we were always bitching about something.

My last patrol, it seems that we left Pearl Harbor in Feb. or March of 1962, went to Youkuska and then commenced a six week submerged operation, submerged in this case allows snorkeling to charge the batteries by turning our days and nights around. Breakfast at 1800, supper at 0600. We went north into areas that our ships had not been into for many years. It seems that we got pinned down by our not so friendly cold war comrades and were at Ultra quite for 36 hours. We were either in our bunks or on watch. We used lots of oxygen and Lithium Hydroxide. We had one Aux. Generator and I believe the Aux. Gyro running. Captain Mawhiney conducted evasive maneuvers. I am not sure if it was the maneuvers or our not so friendly comrades just wanting to go home that stopped the incessant dropping of the PDC's, whatever their reason it was quite a relief. We had to make one surfacing during this six week submerged operation. We had a problem with the SRD 7 mast that required me and I think a radioman going into the sail and with a drill, make a hole in part of the mechanization, which was done. I also caught my dungarees in the drill. There was phosphorus attached to and glowing on everything when we returned inside, our clothes and arms were glowing. This was the one and only time that I ever got a bottle (2-oz) of medicinal brandy, it did hit the spot. This was the trip that in the entire six weeks we could only have one shower, the vapor compression unit problems coupled with high usage of water by the engines, (The Enginemen will love this) did not leave enough for showers so we were reduced to spit bathes by collecting the AC drains. Have you ever considered just what was in the AC drains? Condensed Sweat and bilge water. I was one of the lucky ones as I had a drain in the pump room which I collected in a can, when it was nearly full I would start the Oxy Acetylene torch, stick it in the water and shortly would have warm stinky water to bathe with, ah what a life, but I would not have traded that period on Cusk for anything!

We frequently conducted operations with Marines and the Army (Mike Fallett was very involved in this activity) where we would take a group on board, take them to an op area and deploy them through the escape chambers or at decks awash. One time we had a group onboard that had finished the first part of the operation and were ready to move to a new op area. As it was quite laborious and time consuming to have to inflate completely the rafts these specialists used, the minds got together in the wardroom, (This certainly could not be enlisted minds thinking) and decided that we were only moving a short ways, why not lash the boats to the decking and move that way. They were partly deflated I think, with the idea that we would not be any deeper than periscope depth all would be well. This was not to be, as we dove very gently the most horrendous sound was heard from topside, we did an immediate surface. The decking was in terrible shape and the floor boards in the boats were grotesquely out of there original shape. The surviving boats were deflated completely and the operation continued. I would like to have been at Squadron when an explanation was being made about this operation. Mike Fallett, please help! with any info you may have on this one.

We had a Mustang, Lt Pippen I think was his name, and was doing his last dive as I was leaving also, for some reason I was on the Stern Planes, we were instructed to do everything he ordered exactly backwards, a 5 degree down bubble would be carried out as a 5 degree up bubble, this was no problem for me as the Stern Planes were not my cup of tea anyway. A right rudder order would be carried out as a left rudder. We all had a lot of fun anyway and the Boat survived.

Some of the very best times on Cusk were at Kiena Point, some how (I think Mike Fallett was involved) we would talk Ski out of a case of Steak, we would all chip in for Beer, Booze, and Chips and have a wonderful party at the beach. Fallett had a 1957 White Ford at the time. A mechanic at heart always remembers the cars.

Somewhere amongst my things I have a picture of Captain Mawhiney and some of the riders we had on a wives cruise, also a sequence of photos that were taken of a dive and surface of Cusk by the Carbonaro, they were having a wives cruise the same time we were.

LCDR Frank Murphy was the XO when I reported aboard and a fine XO he was. The last tine I saw him he was XO of Simon Lake when my first (Commissioning) CO of Sam Rayburn, William Williams the Third was CO. At the time I was on my only shore duty serving as the Senior Enlisted Advisor (prior to Master Chief of Command) and as the Shore Patrol Operations Officer in Bremerton Washington.

I am hoping my shipmates on Cusk during this period will review and correct any mistakes I may have made and to add any information they have about duty on board this very fine USS Cusk SS 348.

Sincerely your shipmate MMCM(SS)USN RET. Gary Tucker