During the summer of 2003 my grandfather passed on. He had lived the life we all hope for. Among his countless proud accomplishments was his service during WWII in the US Navy as a navigator on LSM-130. It was not long after Grandpas death that Josh shocked us all by announcing that he intended to join the Navy. Though some of us may have had our doubts that Josh was well suited for the military, (He's not the Forest Gump type) he made us all proud with his exemplary marks in Basic training.
Next he spent several mouths in Groton CT completing various training courses to qualify as a sonar operator on a submarine. With high marks once again, he was able to have his first choice of assignments and is now stationed in Pearl Harbor on the USS Buffalo. On August 31, 05 Josh earned his Dolphins. That means that he knows a bit about every job on board, and enough to be a useful member of the crew during an emergency on board. He is now STS2 (SS), Second Class Petty Officer.
 |
 |
The USS BUFFALO (SSN-715) is one of 51 United States Los Angeles Class fast attack submarines, 16 of which make up the Pacific Fleet. Her keel was laid January 25, 1980, the year before Josh was born. She was launched from Newport News, Virginia on 8 May 1982 while Josh was learning to crawl. She was commissioned on 5 November 1983 in Norfolk, Virginia and one year later transferred to the Pacific Fleet Submarine Force via the Panama Canal. The USS BUFFALO has been home-ported in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii ever since.
General Electric's 26 Mega Watt (Or 34,852.5 horsepower) nuclear pressure water reactor, model GE PWR S6G powers the Buffalo. She is 360 Feet long and 33 feet wide. With her crew of 115 Enlisted Men and 12 Officers she can cruise submerged at 32 Knots or about 37 MPH for us land lovers. That gives her a range of about 880 miles a day so she can get around. This deadly hunter cost us taxpayers a tidy $900 million clams.
Josh operates the Buffalo's impressive array of sonar equipment:
TB-23/29 Thin Line Passive Towed Array.
TB-16 Fat Line, Passive, Towed Array.
AN/BQQ-10 ARCI, Passive/Active, Medium Frequency, Spherical and Towed Array, Computer.
AM/BQS-15 High Frequency, Active, Forward Looking Array.
According to Josh, all that mumbo jumbo means that there are two kinds of vessels in the ocean, fast attack submarines and targets. Josh told me that last time they were deployed he and his buds in the sonar room were setting up firing solutions on everything they found bobbing on the surface from merchant ships to pleasure boaters.
That's me in the helicopter giving Josh the big thumbs up!
I couldn't be any more proud of my brother.