Submarine Force Loses Two, Much Too Soon
Yesterday marked the formal decommissioning of USS Miami (SSN 755), destroyed by an arsonist in 2012.
Past and present crew members, their families and other invited guests attended the event.On a more unexpected and therefore tragic note, CDR Barry R. Rodrigues, former XO of USS Connecticut (SSN 22) and recent CO of USS Wyoming (SSBN 742)(Blue), passed away last Saturday. The family has asked that, in lieu of flowers, In Memoriam donations be made to the Dolphin Scholarship Foundation.
"Admiral, the watch is secured," reported Miami's skipper Cmdr. Rolf Spelker to Submarine Group 2 commander Rear Adm. Ken Perry, marking the end of the ship's nearly 24-year journey...
...During more than a dozen deployments over the past two decades, Miami fully employed her capabilities while operating in maritime regions near North America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Miami was America's first nuclear-powered submarine to transit the Suez Canal, an honor earned during her second deployment in 1994.
In the late 1990s, Miami launched Tomahawk cruise missile strikes during Operation Desert Fox in Iraq and Operation Allied Force in Kosovo. She earned the nickname "Big Gun" after becoming the first submarine since World War II to fire ordnance during combat operations in two different theaters.
Sailor, Rest Your Oar.
posted by Bubblehead at 3:09 PM
22 Comments:
Rest in peace Brother. Stand easy we have the watch
3/29/2014 4:30 PM
RIP.
How did he die?
3/29/2014 4:40 PM
Based on other people I have seen die this young, I would speculate a massive heart attack or something like a car crash or falling off of a ladder. My grandfather lost a couple brothers to massive heart attacks in their mid 40s or early 50s.
3/29/2014 5:09 PM
Anon...who gives a damn?
3/29/2014 5:13 PM
You are an idiot. Joel your blog is the biggest f-ing joke. Don't you have anything better to do in Idaho than try and relive your glory days as a submarine. Seriously have fun being a democrat in Morrisville you dumb asks douche. Btw keep blogging and passing people off and you may get a visit to your town dip shot. Not too hard to find a Joel Kennedy in idaho.
3/30/2014 12:47 AM
Wow, anon@1247 was hard on the sauce last night I think. Anyone know what a 'town dip shot' is and how to visit one? I'm actually a little curious now. Also how one can BE a submarine? Submarineplasty?
On a scale of one to five, that is definitely the worst failure in trolling I've seen in a while...go back to DailyKos and work on it.
3/30/2014 5:44 AM
Thanks for the idea, semi-literate troll: I now wish to relive my glory days as a submarine.
3/30/2014 6:31 AM
Anon 12:47
WTF?? A mental midget at best. Spelling is atrocious, sentence structure miserable. Crawl back under your rock. Better yet, don't like this blog, don't effing read it.
3/30/2014 6:31 AM
Anon. 1247
There are many of us here who like to discuss our "glory days". People of many fraternal groups like to meet and reminisce about shared dangers and goofy happenings. The idiots and wise people we served with and under. While Joel needs no one to defend him, as a conservative in Idaho, and one who has had political discussions with Joel on other pages, I know him to be a man of reason and conviction. If you are so offended by this page why even bother to comment on it? Since you are so offended by Joel's politics one can safely assume you are a republican or at least a conservative not that it really matters. Almost all of the discussions here are apolitical, something most of us enjoy. I am not sorry that men, and soon women who share life experiences wishing to associate offends you for some reason. I am sorry that you never had any life experience that would allow you to understand why we enjoy the association. Good luck to you.
3/30/2014 9:51 AM
If anon (if that's really his name, hmmm), were a real conservative. He would glory in the good ole days. Especially the days when we were kicking soviet ass with our superior submarine technology and men (and yes, I mean MEN).
So there.
3/30/2014 1:30 PM
Okay, that was just fuckin' funny. I don't believe Joel is big enough to be considered a submarine. Well, I guess he could use his arms as bow planes and submerge every three minutes, but that would be about it.
Joel, you've got a great blog here. Don't worry about some illiterate dick who clearly doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground. Keep blogging, this is a nice place to visit.
3/30/2014 8:22 PM
Deleted a comment.
I suppose I should be pissed off if I could figure out what Anon @1247 was trying to say, but I can't, so I'm not. As far as the threat to me, just be aware that I'm a very pro-2nd Amendment "liberal" and can protect myself very nicely, thank you.
3/30/2014 10:55 PM
Speaking of shit bags, what was the final outcome of the shit bag that decomm'd the Miami? (I second the motion that Anon@1247 is a shit bag - all in favor?)
3/31/2014 5:27 AM
Glad to see Rolf had command. Knew him when he was a LT. Decoms are not happy events though.
3/31/2014 8:08 AM
I understand the double captcha as a great tool to screen out bots, but it pains me a bit that everytime we post we help google translate someones house address, probally taken from one of the street view cars. Not only do we put up with their gathering every identifiable shred of information about our personal lives, but we actively participate in it by doing volunteer work for them. It is the Orwellian version of the Oslo Syndrome. It is more than a bit ironic that the googles provides Joel a tool the prevent bots from posting on his blog and by using the tool we are helping googles bots read peoples addresses from digital images.
3/31/2014 8:13 AM
From USNI News ... "Fury was convicted of arson and is currently serving a 17 year prison sentence and required to pay the service $400 million — though prosecutors said it is unlikely he will ever make good."
So I was off by $50 mil.
3/31/2014 12:46 PM
Fair winds and Following seas,rest your oars,SIR!
3/31/2014 3:36 PM
mentaljim- try typing the jumble correctly, and turn the OCR'ed word or number into gibberish. Or type a real word. The same one, every time.
3/31/2014 7:51 PM
Anon @ 4:40 - He shot himself. The night of his change of command after being relieved as CO of Wyoming. I bring this up to get the thread back - He deserves to be remembered - but it also deserves discussion. This is the lastest in at least a handful of suicides in the Kings Bay area in the last few years. One just a month prior.
4/01/2014 10:57 AM
So he was relieved for cause. Is that what happened? One doesn't generally eat a bullet before going on to MAJCOM assuming he had a successful command tour.
4/01/2014 1:48 PM
Not relieved for cause - had a change of command with a band, and had a very successful command tour including being the 2014 Battle "E" boat.
Unfortunately, it looks like he had other, personal issues that prompted a tragic decision.
Rest your oars, shipmate. We have the watch.
4/01/2014 4:59 PM
Mentaljim:
Are you sure that is what the captchas are doing? I only ask because it isn't taking my fake responses for the OCR'ed word, hehe.
4/02/2014 6:46 AM
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