By Zach Jensen,
Glenn Larson, left, and Doug Smith, both U.S. Navy submarine veterans, flank a photo of a Virginia Class submarine on display in the Decorah’s All Vets Club. (Photo by Zach Jensen)
The United States Navy is commissioning the next evolution of the USS Iowa on April 5, and VFW Post 1977 in Decorah will be hosting a free watch party for the public to view the event that morning.
“We on the Commissioning Committee are happy to support these watch parties to bring the commissioning experience to our home state,” said retired Capt. Doug MacCrea USN, chairman of the USS Iowa Commissioning Committee. “We are working with local submarine, Navy, and veterans organizations to allow all Iowans the opportunity to see this honored, ancient and fun ceremony without leaving the state. During the ceremony, the ship officially becomes the USS Iowa. It is great tradition and very moving.”
The submarine is set to be formally commissioned at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 5 at Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Connecticut. The commissioning will be held pier side in front of an estimated 2,000 attendees, including the ship’s sponsor, former Iowa first lady Christie Vilsack. The public is invited to join local veterans for coffee at 6:30 a.m. April 5, and the watch party is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. that day at the All Vets Club — 104 State St. in Decorah. Coffee and pastries will be provided.
The Iowa, SSN-797, is the Navy’s newest Virginia-class fast attack submarine. This USS Iowa will become the fourth ship to bear the name of the Hawkeye State. The most recent was the former USS Iowa, BB-61, an iconic battleship which served from 1942 to 1949 as well as from 1951 to 1958 and finally from 1984 to 1990 before she was officially decommissioned. That ship now serves as a museum in the Port of Los Angeles.
At least two local U.S. Navy veteran submariners are looking forward to next month’s watch party for the new sub’s commissioning. Glenn Larson and Doug Smith, both of Decorah, served on submarines during their naval careers, although Smith served mostly on fast attack subs, and Larson served on “boomers” — submarines designed to launch ballistic missiles for the stealthy and precise delivery of nuclear warheads. Fast attack submarines, which fall under the Virginia Class, Seawolf Class or Los Angeles Class, conduct antisubmarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence gathering and special operations. Both types of submarines are known to travel more than 800 feet below sea level.
Larson joined the Navy in 1960 and retired in 1995, while Smith signed with the Navy in 1974 and served 28 years. Unlike many other military stations, Smith said serving on submarines is strictly voluntary.
“It’s all volunteers,” Larson confirmed. “They don’t draft people into submarines.”
Larson was inspired to be a submariner by a 1950s TV series called “The Silent Service” — true stories about the importance of submarines in World War II.
“Those are the true heroes,” he said.
Smith, who entered the navy in 1974, said submarine-launched ballistic missiles are used as nuclear deterrents.
“With the Cold War and the Cuban Missile Crisis, we had to have deterrents,” Smith said. “Those were silo nuclear missiles, the bombers carrying nukes and the fleet ballistic missile submarines, which were always on patrol, and all of these were locked and loaded on the Soviet Union at all times. Those were the biggest deterrents in the Cold War — to keep the Soviets at bay.”
Larson said, if any of the boomers he served on had launched their missiles, they would have failed their mission to keep Cold War tensions from rising to the level of full-scale attacks.
“The whole idea of the SSBN’s was deterrence,” he said. “‘You mess with us, and we’ll put you back to the stone age.’ It was called ‘mutual assured destruction.’ The acronym was MAD, which was quite appropriate. Fortunately, we never had to launch our missiles.”
Both Larson and Smith recalled having battle drills at various times of the day and night to keep the submariners frosty.
“Two o’clock in the morning, the alarm would go off, and we’d simulate launching our missiles,” Larson said.
Smith said it was often clear what was happening when the call to ‘spin up all missiles’ came.
“Everyone (went) to their battle stations, and then we all went back to our racks or whatever we were doing,” he said.
Serving on a submarine wasn’t necessarily enjoyable, according to Larson, but submarining was merely part of how both he and Smith chose to serve their country.
“I certainly felt like I was serving a very important mission, because it was pretty intense,” Larson said. “We were operating out of Holy Loch, Scotland, and when we were in port, they’d assign people to do shore patrol duty. The Russians had spies there, and the Navy knew what bars the Russians would be in — trying to get information out of sailors.”
Security was also tight stateside, Smith said, recalling that when he was stationed at Groton, Connecticut, sailors were told to be careful of what they said on the telephone, and he said, if they were ever in a bar and someone started asking questions, they were to “get out of there.”
“That was in the 1970s,” Smith said, “when the Soviets had spies everywhere, and I don’t know if there was ever a period when we didn’t train on that kind of thing — ‘Watch your p’s and q’s, watch where you’re going and use the buddy plan.’ Espionage was a really big deal in the 1970s and ‘80s.”
Both Larson and Smith agree submarines are still essential to today’s military.
“They’re part of the deterrence,” Smith said. “Especially with China flexing their muscles with their navy, which has grown exponentially. Yes, you need submarines. They’re part of every battle group. You’ll have an aircraft carrier, cruisers, destroyers and then you’ll have submarines that form up around the convoy to protect it.”
For additional information on the USS Iowa, visit SSN797.com.
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I’m right across from the river frim the shipyard. Didn’t know this was going to be a launch in SSN797 so soon. I would’ve gotten tickets, maybe I’ll view it from across the river. Thanks Navy Sailors for your service.