. . MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFOBP, OREGON ( THURSDAY, APRIL ii, IMS 0 j
Most Powerful Military Force Rests Near Summer Resort Town
(Editor's not: A brief an
nouncemeni from the U.S.
Defense department on
April 1 signaled a momen
tous change in the Euro
pean defense posture of
America and its NATO al
lies. On that day the first
of three Polaris-equipped
submarines took up station
in the Mediterranean to re
place land missile bases in
Italy and Turkey that are
toon to be dismantled.
America's main defensive
Mm in Europe from now
on will be under water.
Until new ones are estab
lished, the only Polaris sub
marine base in the world
is in a peaceful little Scot
tish Loch - Holy Loch -home
of "Subron 14" or
Polaris Submarine Squad
ron 14. This is the story of
auoron 14.)
By ROBERT MUSEL
United Press International
Holy Loch, Scotland - ilirD -Somewhere
beyond the Atlan
tic mists Russian trawlers
packed with electronic gear
were fishing for herring - or
information.
Inside Holy Loch one of the
two black shapes lying low
in the water alongside the
submarine depot ship, Hun
ley, began to move slowly
toward the Firth of Clyde and
the open sea.
The Polaris submarine John
Marshall was leaving for sev
eral days of manuevers be
fore submerging for its rou
tine 60 days of undersea
patrol.
This quiet loch, fringing
the picturesque summer-resort building of an abbey, sank
town of Dunoon, harbors the there.
most nowerful mobile mill. 11 a11 looks as thollS"
tary force known to man.
It's name is "Subron 14"
(Submarine Squadron 14) and
it is as unobtrusive as it is
deadly. A floating drydock,
some small craft, the Huley
itself and never more than
two or three Polaris subma
rines hugging its side - this
is all anyone can see. and
from the distant shore it isn't
much.
View Lessened
Even what one does see is
diminished by the expanse of
water and the towering snow
capped hills of Kilmtin be
hind the loch which got its
name in medieval times when
a boatload of earth from he
Holy Land, destined for the
could be whisked away in a
matter of hours and leave the
loch to its seagulls and its
legends. And this is exactly
the case. During the Cuban
crisis, with British ban-the-bombcrs
crying out that Holy
Loch was a front line target,
the submarines switfly disap
peared to action stations pre
sumably off the coasts of
Russia.
The depot ship Proteus, re
lieved by the Hunley a few
weeks ago, also sped out to
a secret rendezvous point at
sea. Before the showdown
came there was nothing left
in the loch to draw an enemy's
fire, nor will there ever be
in any future crisis.
It may be the realization
of this that explains why has-: Washington may flex its the John Marshall, The Navy
tile demonstratio i ..gainst
the Polaris submarines by pa
cifist groups, so frequent
when the base was established
in 1981, have become insig
nificant. A widely proclaimed
"all-night-vigil" to protest the
arrival of the Hunley attract
ed a grand total of six demonstrators.
But the calm of the loch j a dozen Russian targets
muscles but this thumb-shaped j also gave me every facility to
naven, J.uuu miles away, is observe the deterrent opera
the clenched list.
Clenched Fist
Each submarine's missile
load is equal in power to all
the bombs dropped on Naga
saki and Hiroshima. Written
into its electronic entrails is
the obituary notice of half
is deceptive. The Hunley, the
first ship built from the keel
up to handle Polaris craft,
is the mother ship of nine
missile-armed, submarines on
active duty, with a tenth en
route. Six or seven subma
rines are always away on si
lent 60-day patrols, never com
municating by radio so as not
to give away their positions,
each with 16 missiles ready
to fire in a matter of minutes.
threat of instant and terrible
revenge which Polaris sub
marineers firmly believe fig
ures painfully in the strategy
of the Kremlin.
Premier Nikita Khrushchev
is said to be deeply impressed
by Polaris. On this point I
see eye to eye with the Rus
sian dictator. I have just
spent many hours examining
the Robert E. Lee from the
inside out, and been aboard
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Hon of "Subron 14" under
the command of Captain Dav
id E. Beii ot New London,
Conn.
Despite my Department of
Defense credentials they
pinned blue Bnd yellow tags
on me which said "uncleared
must be escorted." Security
aboard these engineering mar
vels is so strict that 1 was
checked in and out ot vital
areas, of the Robert E. Lee
even though I was personally
escorted by Commander
Charles iChuckl Griffiths ot
Kansas City who heads the
"gold" crew.
Takes Two Craws .
There is a futuristic irony
in the fact it takes two crews
- a gold and a blue - to get
the maximum use from a Po
laris, it is the human ma
chine rather than the nuclear
one which needs the most
maintenance so each crew
takes over the submarine tor
three months which Includes
refitting, sea trials and a 60
day submerged patrol.
Then the crew is flown
home to the U.S. tor leave
and a refresher course at the
base at New London, while
its replacement tlics in to
nearby Prcslwiek airport.
Commander Griffiths met
me on the deck of the Robert :
E. Lee as 1 climbed down
trom the Huniey, Below us
was the section ot the sub
marine known to the crew
as Sherwood forest or bird-:
land - the home of the mis-:
siles, ranged eight along each
side of the ship under trap
doors six teet across. The 30
fooi tubes extend down
through all three decks of the
submarine to the pads from
which they are launched by
jets ot compressed air.
Like all the other Poiaris
skippers i met, there is an
enormous competence about
Commander Griffiths. He was
graduated from Annapolis
with a bachelor of science de
gree (Polaris captains are as
much scientists as mariners).
went into the nuclear power
program and studied in wash
of the officers disagreed with i or working. But there -is a
the others about the interpre- tiny mess hall where are
tattoo ot a signal they would i served the best food in the
be authorized to withhold ! Navy and a new film is shown
No Firing Chase j nearly every night.
"Put it this way," said Grit- i When a man .-. (
j fith. "We are in constant com- j eight hours of duty he usually
munication with our head
quarters. We would get a
coded message, extremely
well authenticated, from the
President through steps in the
line. There arc all kinds ot
built-in safeguards. And there
is not the slightest possibility
of a missile being tired with
out an unmistakcabie and
specific order to do so."
I mentioned a report that
Russia was so worried about
Polaris U might assign some
ot its fleet of killer subma
rines to shadow each one per
manently as soon as it was
launched.
"We've got killer subma
rines, too," Griffiths chuckled
"The ocean is a mighty big
area and we are might silent
ships."
The Robert E, Lee is MS
feet long, 33 feet in the beam
and displaces about 5,800
tons. It's speed and the depths
at which it can operate are
secret but it can probably
move faster and travel deeper
than any other submarine be
fore It, The John Marshall is
bigger 410 teet long and
8,900 tons. And the LaFayette
class Poiaris submarines are
bigger still.
During Crisis
Griffiths has been on lour
80-day submerged patrols -
one of them during the Cuban
crisis when all of "Subron
14's" missiles were ready to
strike at "multiple targets"
if so ordered. He said the
worst thing about these long
submerged journeys is that
the men cannot contact their
families although they can
receive messages from them,
"But there's no real morale
lactor because the men feel
they are doing something im
portant," he said. "They are
ail volunteers
Consider the navigations!
resources ot the Robert E,
Lee. For a successful missile
launch, two positions must be
known the submarine's and
heads for his bunk and if he
warns any privacy he draws
a curtain.
It Is an elite service sad
anyone eligible to wear the
dolphins insignia of the sub
mariner is proud of it. Com
mander Griffiths introduced
me to two young officers who
he said were among She first
to go right into the nuclear
program from Annapolis - Lt.
William Ciesla of Buffalo,
NY. and Lt, Jerome Rosen
berger of New Castle, Pa.
"i got them out of school
a week early for this trip,"
he confided.
Out To Practice
We went sack on deck to
watch the John Marshall
leave under Commander Rob
ert Donovan of Mason City,
111., whs heads its gold crew.
It was going out to practice
firing torpedoes and submerg
ing and surfacing.
"We've got to practice
these," said Capt. Bell, "be
cause ihe submarines stay
down so long. Imagine a plane
pilot who only got a chance
to land hi plane once every
two months?"
The Polaris submarines ob
viously cruise within 2 ,200 or
1.500 miles oi their Russian
targets, depending on the type
of submarine and the range
of its missiles. Eventually it
is hoped to extend the range
of the missiles ss that depend
ence on foreign bases will
diminish or cease and the sub
marines will he able to oper
ate from the United States,
Wast To Marry
Aboard the 18,300-ton Hun
ley an officer was consider
ing requests from crewmen to
marry Scottish girls.
There were 130 marriages
aboard the Proteus in the two
years ol its duty here and
the Huniey carries more men.
There was one disconsolate
crewman. Stewart McLaren
left his native Edinburgh be
cause he dldR t like the clt-
Ington for a year under Ad- i the target's. So It is tmper a-1 mate, emigrated to subtropi-
miral Hyman Rickover, J five that the navigation oftt- j cat Key West, Fl got called
La Ready cer know within a few nun- up for national service and
Although his gold crew had dred yards exactly when the i was posted to, of all places,
just taken over, the Robert submarine is at ait times. 1 Holy Loch,
E. Lee was in what he de- As soon as the Robert E. He was suffering from a
scribed as "an Incredible state Lee moves along Hoiy Loch j cold.
of readiness." 1 and clamps down its hatches j Seaman Ronald Locandro
a nave to- get permission i where the Firth broadens into i ol Haw Brunswick. K.J., one
of the Hunley" crew, watch
ed the John Marshall fsde
into the mists,
"We are their slaves he
said, giving point Us the Hun-
from, Washington if 1 wanted) the sea - not in surface again
to make any repair that for two months - its inertia!
would take more than 24 j navigation computers continu
hours," he said. felly calculate its position
Griffiths said with ouieti from its movement in all di-
humor that he realised there j rectioni. In addition there is ley's role of mother ship to
were innge groups tnat tear- j a radiometric sextant to fix f the submarines.
ed a Polaris captain might go position by measuring the ra-j In the Royal Marine hotel
"berserk" and fire nuclear jdio waves emitted by the sun, j a group of Navy wives were
missiles all over the place, a special periscope to take f discussing the lick of living
The exact procedure leading j star sightings, an antenna for j accommodation in crowded
up to an actual firing is natur-1 radio-navigation, and radar Dunoon and the acute lack
ally secret but the orders and echo-soundinc eouinroent. i of central heatiBZ alone the
j vould have to come from
President Kennedy.
A minimum of three offi
cers aboard the Craft would
have to agree that a message
: to prepare to fire or to fire
meant exactlv what it said -
presumably the captain, the
missile control officer and the
executive officer. And if any
Not Comfortable
There is no pretense that
Polaris submarines are the
most comfortable places for
130 crewmen and officers: to
spend two months. Some
bunks are siung among the
torpedoes and among the mis-:
siles and every square inch!
of space is either for sleeping
Weak Argyllshire coast.
One wife said she had been
thinking of a holiday tour
which included Leningrad but
her husband's superiors had
vetoed this. The Navy would
be very unhappy if any rela
tive of a man in the Polaris
program fell into Russian
hands.
II Pol a r i s i y jy
-S C O T I ANDjjr
HARBORS POLARIS - This quiet Scottish could be whisked away from the loch in a
ioch harbors the most powerfui mobile matter of hours to strategic positions In esse
military force known to man; Poiaris mis- of sudden crisis or attack. UP1)
sile carrying Submarine Squadron 14. Force
Youth on Mission To Save Parents Object of Search
Murphy, Idaho HM A30-j
man party fanned out across;
the wild and snow-blanketed;
Owyhee mountains at dawn ;
today in search ot a 19-year-old
youth who became lost
seeking help for his stranded
parents.
The Owyhee county sher
iffs posse, bolstered by the
Idaho Search and Rescue
Team and light aircraft, re
sumed its search lor Dclford
Sharpe nf Gayway Junction,
idaho.
Car Break Dews
The boy and his parents,
Mr. snd Mrs David Sharpe,
were stranded about two
miles, from the ghost mining
town of Silver City Sunday
afternoon when their car
broke down.
They stayed with their car
until Monday morning when
Dclford set out for Silver
City.
Sheriff A! Barber's said:
the youth had oniy an orange
and pocketful of gingersnaps.
' There is no habitation within
1 20 miles of the spot and snow
I drifts range to five feet deep.
Wednesday morning the
: elder Sharpe started hiking
toward Murphy, the Owyhee
! county scat of some 50 popu
lation 21 miles away. He was
picked up by a rancher about
15 miles down the road.
When Sharp got to Mur
phy, a rescue party was or
ganized. It bucked its way
through a new snow fall to
reach Mrs. Sharpe and bring
her to Murphy. No trace was
found of Dclford.
The youth's anxious parents
waited for news of their son
after their rescue.
"He's a stranger in that
country - that rough coun
try," Sharpe said. "He's nev
er been in there before. I don't
know what's happened."
Grocers predict that wlthia
10 years 15 per cent of th
nation potato trap will g
to processor.