Submariner Captains Rewarded For Their Service for War in Iraq

Since 07-14-04

From NSL UPDATE 10-21-2003

Rewarded For Their Service
By ROBERT A. HAMILTON
Day Staff Writer Published on 10/21/2003 Used with permission.
Groton -- Rear Adm. Joseph A. Walsh told 1,000 sailors to remember the sight of five submarine captains receiving the Bronze Star to recognize their part in the war with Iraq, because one day they will probably bring their grandchildren to see a picture of the ceremony in the Submarine Force Library and Museum. “Even during World War II, I don't think we had a time when we gave five combat awards to five commanding officers all at the same time,” Walsh, who commands Submarine Group Two at the Naval Submarine Base, said Monday. “Ladies and gentlemen, we really are making history here today.”

But Walsh and the submarine commanders stressed that the awards recognize a true team effort. “It's absolutely the crew and all of their training, and the material support from back home and the training at the squadrons,” said Cmdr. Edward Takesuye, captain of the USS San Juan. “It's more than an individual award.”

The award citations credited the submarines with firing missiles that took out Iraqi air defenses, allowing Navy, Marine, Army and Air Force personnel to proceed into the country facing less of a threat. “We certainly are proud of it, but we can't wait for the ship awards to come in, to allow our guys to get some recognition as well,” said Cmdr. Mike Haumer of the USS Augusta.

Cmdr. Jonathan H. Kan, captain of the USS Providence, also said that it was a reflection of a Navy that trains so often and hard that it is ready to respond. “We just happened to be on watch when the call came,” Kan said. The Providence was singled out in Kan's citation as “the first submarine to conduct combat operations with media embarked since World War II.” A reporter and photographer from The Day were present on Providence during the war. “He (Kan) provided the public with near-real time views of submarine combat operations and the daily challenges of deployed submarine life, effectively telling the submarine story,” the citation added.

The ceremony also recognized Cmdr. Michel T. Poirier, the former captain of the USS Toledo, and Cmdr. Jeffrey Currer, former captain of the USS Pittsburgh. Retired Rear Adm. Charles H. “Chip” Griffiths was captain of the Pittsburgh in 1991 when it fired missiles in Desert Storm. The Pittsburgh and the USS Louisville were the only two submarines to launch missiles in both conflicts, 12 years apart. Though he knew Griffiths received the Bronze Star after that conflict, Currer said, “I didn't even dream it was a possibility” for Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Walsh picked the day for presenting the awards carefully to coincide with the 61st anniversary of the USS Barb departing on the first of its 12 war patrols. The Barb is perhaps most famous for its 11th war patrol, when Cmdr. Eugene P. Fluckey steered the submarine through shallow, mined waters to track a convoy of Japanese ships, and fired eight torpedoes. Every one of the torpedoes hit a ship as Fluckey turned the Barb and hightailed it for deep water. He later received the Medal of Honor for that patrol. But it was on the ship's 12th patrol that it became the first submarine to conduct a land-attack mission with rockets, attaching rudimentary 5-inch launchers to the sail, and using them against the towns of Shari, Shikuka, Kashaiko and Shiritori.

Walsh noted that the land-attack role of submarines reached a new high with Operation Iraqi Freedom, where 10 U.S. submarines crowded into the Red Sea and launched Tomahawk cruise missiles at targets in Iraq. The five Groton-based submarines taking part in the launch fired a total of 95 missiles. It was particularly noteworthy, he said, because the captains had been planning to go into combat from the eastern Mediterranean, until Turkey balked at giving the United States overflight rights. The last-minute change in operations had them scrambling to make sure they could safely and effectively employ the Tomahawks.

Without recent improvements in submarine communications, it would have been extremely difficult to have coordinated the attacks so there were no conflicts in the missile flight paths, Haumer said. “We would have been able to shoot as many missiles, but not anywhere near as effectively,” Haumer said. When he commanded the USS Hyman G. Rickover in the mid-1990s, Walsh said his job was to track other submarines in deep water, generally 600 feet or deeper, and a North Atlantic deployment might last three months. Today, he said, submarines do a much broader range of jobs, from delivering commandoes covertly to land strike missions, and they do it in water that is often not as deep as the boat is long, for weeks at a time. That puts a far greater strain on the crews, he said. Deployments today are typically six months, and some of the boats from Operation Iraqi Freedom were out as long as nine months, he said.

“That is an awful long time, for the families, the crew and the commanding officers,” Walsh said. “I would say for these commanding officers, their least stressful day is probably more stressful than my most stressful day.” Despite the tension, however, not one of the Navy ships had to be pulled off station for any reason, Walsh noted.