The Pig in Peace

Submarine stories have a long and rich tradition of harrowing escapes and the sinking of enemy ships.

When I first saw the boat I would be serving on for the next three and a half years, I wondered as to what purpose left-over submarines from World War 2 would have in the current war my country was in, the Vietnam War. After all, to my knowledge at the time, our enemy had no Navy to speak of and didn't use shipping lanes.

If you have ever wondered yourself or didn't even know those old pig boats were still in use, this book will probably answer your questions. It is the story of one young submarine sailor's viewpoints and experiences of everyday submarine life from February 1967 to July 1970.

The overall banner that flew over the country then has letters that spelled out COLD WAR. That was the mind game with the USSR that was played with nuclear weapons. But under that banner was a much smaller banner that spelled out VIETNAM WAR. There was nothing COLD about that war. It was blazing hot and not just words of diplomacy.

My experiences aboard that old diesel/electric submarine and off was high-seafaring adventure at times. There was sometimes fear. Times of sadness and others of just plain old fun. Whatever the case, it is true.

So pack your sea bag and cross the gangplank and experience the adventures for yourself as I did as we sail into the blue waters of the Pacific and lay anchor in foreign ports and spend some time in the Tonkin Gulf, the war zone for Navy ships.