James "Bob" McDaniel

Segment Synopsis: McDaniel was born in Evansville, Indiana in 1945. His father didn't see him until he was almost two years old because he had been serving as an infantryman in WWII. In 1963 he went to Indiana State University for several years before he decided he needed a change and joined the Navy. He discusses boot camp, Naval Air Cadets, and Nuclear Power School.

Keywords: 1945; Evansville (Ind.); Indiana State University; United States. Navy--Machinist's mates; United States. Navy--Submarine forces

Subjects: College; Military heritage; Naval Nuclear Power School

Segment Synopsis: Because of the need for more men on ships McDaniel is assigned to the surface fleet and the USS Arneb. He travels to Naval Station Norfolk but the Arneb is currently in the Caribbean so he is placed in the transit barracks where sailors waiting for their ships live. While there McDaniel works various jobs, including farm work with prisoners from the United States Navy Brig in Norfolk. He talks about signs at Norfolk reading: "sailors and dogs stay off the grass." He takes a plane to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba where he meets a 2nd Class Machinist Mate who works at the Navy distilling plant. He finally catches up with the USS Arneb at Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in Puerto Rico.

Keywords: Castro, Fidel, 1926-2016; Convict labor; Distillation; Guantánamo Bay Naval Base (Cuba); Naval Station Norfolk (Va.); Roosevelt Roads Naval Station (P.R.); San Juan (P.R.); United States. Navy--Prisons; Vietnam War, 1961-1975

Subjects: Guantánamo Bay Naval Base - Roosevelt Roads Naval Station; Odd jobs; Transit

Segment Synopsis: The USS Arneb was involved in amphibious training in the Caribbean with the USS Guadalcanal, tank landing craft (LST), and a dock landing ship (LSD), McDaniel talks about Navy codes, meeting a marine from Evansville, and being assigned to Dominican Civil War. He discusses being able to take liberty in Kingston, Jamaica and San Juan, Puerto Rico, where they visited the casino. He later got in trouble for sleeping on a life boat and ended up chipping paint to avoid getting trouble.

Keywords: Dock landing ship; Dominican Republic Revolution, 1965; Evansville (Ind.); Kingston (Jamaica); Landing craft; Rickover, Hyman George; Roosevelt Roads Naval Station (P.R.); Saint Croix (United States Virgin Islands); Saint Thomas (United States Virgin Islands : Island); Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic); USS Guadalcanal (LPH-7); United States. Marine Corps; United States. Navy. Amphibious Squadron

Subjects: Amphibious training; Chipping paint; Liberty; Providing relief during the Dominican Civil War

Segment Synopsis: McDaniel got married between machnist mater school and his time on the USS Arneb. He was told he needed permission to get married but he didn't let that stop him. He talks about flying standby to get home for the wedding, attending Nuclear power school at the Naval Training Center in Bainbridge, Maryland where he and his wife had to stay in condemned housing, and moving to Windsor Locks, Connecticut for more nuclear training.

Keywords: Evansville (Ind.); Great Lakes Naval Training Center (Great Lakes, Ill.); Manchester (Conn.); Marriage; United States. Naval Training Center (Bainbridge, Md.); Windsor Locks (Conn.)

Subjects: Flying standby; Getting married; Nuclear power school

Segment Synopsis: At Windsor Locks McDaniel attended the S1C Nuclear Power Training Unit where they had a staged engine room from the USS Tullibee. The training and testing were hard and McDaniel thought about rejoining the surface fleet because he didn't believe he would be sent to Vietnam. When several other sailors failed to pass their testing he found out that they have all been assigned swift boat duty in Vietnam. McDaniel talks about shift work, welding school, and passing his boards. Despite his desire to attend welding school he is assigned to ELT school to train as an Engineering Laboratory Technician responsible for testing steam generator water, reactor water, and radiological controls.

Keywords: Quonset huts; Rickover, Hyman George; Shift systems; Stainless steel--Welding; Testing; Windsor Locks (Conn.)

Subjects: Nuclear training, Shift work, Testing

Segment Synopsis: At the end of 1967 McDaniel reports to the Naval Submarine Base and begins his time on the USS Skate. He was given the first weekend off because it was last time he would have off for a year and a half. He discusses the subsafe system, blowing the reactor resin coolant in the radioactive waste dumping area, and their part in the search for the USS Scorpion (SSN-589). McDaniel describes what it was like riding on the surface in the Skate and the sound surveillance system (SOSUS) in the Atlantic.

Keywords: Azores; Naval Submarine Base (Groton, Conn.); Nuclear reactors; SOSUS; Scorpion (Submarine); Skate (Submarine); Submarine disasters

Subjects: Blowing reactor resin; The Skate; The search for the USS Scorpion

Segment Synopsis: McDaniel talks about submarine qualifications and continues talking about blowing the resin. Blowing the resin required entering the reactor compartment to hook up lines. Someone made a mistake and ended up blowing radioactive material all over then engine compartment. This turned into a long night for McDaniel and the opportunity to do his first swipe survey.

Keywords: Nuclear reactors; Radiation--Measurement; Radiation--Safety measures; Skate (Submarine); Testing

Subjects: Blowing the resin; Submarine qualifications; Swipe survey

Segment Synopsis: McDaniel and the USS Skate are deployed to the Mediterranean where their first stop is the Naval Station Rota, Spain. He gets a few days off to see some bullfights before setting out on an new mission. McDaniel talks about visiting Spain, getting shot at, Admiral Rickover's visit to the USS George Washington, and losing Russian trackers. He recalls sneaking through the Strait of Gibraltar and an emergency blow that might have put them up in the middle of the Russian Navy.

Keywords: Cádiz (Spain); George Washington (Submarine : SSBN-598); Gibraltar, Strait of; Mediterranean Region; Rickover, Hyman George; Rota (Spain); Russians; Scorpion (Submarine); Seville (Spain); Tracking and trailing

Subjects: Losing the Russians; USS George Washington; Visiting Rota

Segment Synopsis: McDaniel visited Italy in October of 1968 before heading back to the Naval Submarine Base in December. He talks about the trouble getting off the sub in Italy and how a solution proved to be a problem for the Captain. On their way home they traveled through the Azores, where the USS Scorpion had sunk, on Friday the 13th. A lot of the crew of the Skate knew sailors who had died on the Scorpion and the trip made them nervous.

Keywords: Azores; Mediterranean Region; Naples (Italy); Pompeii (Extinct city); Rome (Italy); Scorpion (Submarine)

Subjects: Friday the 13th in the Azores; Tying up in Naples

Segment Synopsis: McDaniel missed out on liberty time in the Mediterranean and wasn't going to get any on his first Arctic trip. McDaniel describes how submarines navigate under the ice, special sonar for icebergs, and the importance of having two screws (propellors). He talks about his lab watches, an incident with the under water telephone, polynya plotting, and torpedo testing for the new mark 48.
He also recall a story about a junior officer incorrectly evacuating the sanitary tank.

Keywords: Arctic regions; Deep diving; Icebergs; Oceanographers; Polynyas; Sonar; Temperature; Torpedoes; Toulon (France); Waste disposal

Subjects: Polynya; The Arctic; Traveling under the ice; Venting the sanitary

Segment Synopsis: McDaniel recalls a time a scared junior officer who was going out on the ice to get a picture of the Skate. He also talks about a Christmas Eve watch where another officer blew the sanitary tanks into the Captain's state room and coffee pots and how ship to ship trading got him home early.

Keywords: Armed Forces--officers; Icebergs; Naval Submarine Base (Groton, Conn.); Photography; Skate (Submarine); Waste disposal

Subjects: Arctic photograph; Sanitary tank accident; Trading

Segment Synopsis: On the Skate's Friday the 13th trip through the Azores McDaniel got a good scare when the ship dived to clean out the bilge tanks. He also recalls one truly dangerous moment when someone accidentally started flooding the ship through the ventilation system.

Keywords: Azores; Gibraltar, Strait of; Public address systems; Radiation--Safety measures; Skate (subamrine); Snorkels (Naval architecture); Ventilation

Subjects: Flooding

Segment Synopsis: McDaniel and the USS Skate made three trips under the Arctic ice. He talks about submarines breaking through the ice, getting photos from the ship's photographer, and a trip to Baffin Bay where they used their fathometer to take some of the first soundings of the area. He also discusses riding to Thule Air Base in a basket that wasn't properly grounded.

Keywords: Arctic regions; Baffin Bay (North Atlantic Ocean); Bermuda Islands; Echo sounding; Sea ice--Arctic regions.; Thule Air Base (Greenland)

Subjects: Breaking through the ice; Photographs, Taking soundings

Segment Synopsis: Between trips under the ice the USS Skate stayed in Bermuda. McDaniel talks about Anti-submarine warfare exercise in which they were rarely caught, hiding under thermal layers, and damaging the prop.

Keywords: Anti-submarine warfare; Bermuda Islands; Buoys; Hunting; Sargasso Sea; Sonar

Subjects: Anti-submarine warfare; Bermuda; Prop damage

Segment Synopsis: McDaniel talks about some of his adventures on shore leave including a visit to an Italian rest area. He discusses a time when he was assigned to shore patrol after a Chief Petty Officer throws a jukebox through the window of a bar. Despite the November cold they got to talk to a lot of bar staff and ended up getting many free drinks. Coming back early in the morning, hungover, McDaniel is exasperated to find that they are leaving port and he is assigned
the maneuvering Engineering Laboratory Technician duties.

Keywords: Bars (Drinking establishments); Bathrooms; Gaulle, Charles de, 1890-1970; Jukeboxes; Rome (Italy); Scotland; Toulon (France)

Subjects: Italian rest area; Shore patrol

Segment Synopsis: McDaniel explains why his job in the Navy was the best of his career. He attributes it to the knowledge of the sailors, the reliance on teamwork, the importance of his position, and being well treated. He also talks about a time when he was asked to tutor another sailor who was getting qualified to be the ship's engineer. He tells a funny story about this sailor, a five gallon can of wine, and a call to the dentist.

Keywords: Engineering; Rickover, Hyman George; Ship captains; Skate (Submarine); Toulon (France)

Subjects: Losing teeth; Navy submariner as a career; Tutoring

Segment Synopsis: McDaniel talks about visiting Faslane, Scotland and his longest maneuvering watch while traveling the Firth of Clyde. He explains how a radium gauge threw off a radiological survey, and stealing and hiding the British Navy's beer rations as radioactive waste.

Keywords: Clyde, Firth of (Scotland); Edinburgh (Scotland); Glasgow (Scotland); H.M. Naval Base Clyde (Scotland); Radium

Subjects: Hiding stuff; Traveling the Firth of Clyde; Visiting Scotland

Segment Synopsis: McDaniel was in charge of spare parts and talks about the troubles of returning and retrieving a high-pressure brine pump. He also discusses working with other ships like the USS Triton SSRN-586 (not Trident) to get parts and salvaging parts from old diesel ships.

Keywords: Distillation; Naval Submarine Base (Groton, Conn.); Ship Captains; Spare parts; Triton (Submarine)

Subjects: Spare Parts & Salvage

Segment Synopsis: McDaniel talks about why he left the Navy, which partially came down to the Connecticut climate. He also shares the story about how he knew when his second daughter was going to be born, August 14, 1970, and a tearful scene at the docks. Once McDaniel started working for the schools he was able to spend summers off with his daughters. He talks about the scheduling difference between missile firing submarines and fast attack submarines, like the USS Skate. He also talks about why they worked so hard in port and changing out pumps while out at sea.

Keywords: Engineering; Fathers and daughters; Naval Submarine Base (Groton, Conn.); New London (Conn.); Nursing; Pumps

Subjects: Changing pumps; Leaving the Navy; Working in Port

Segment Synopsis: McDaniel had an opportunity to serve on Deep Submergence Vessel NR-1 that could go to 10,000 ft. The requirement to be a scuba or hard-hat diver made him uninterested. He discussed the hardest part of civilian life was that he missed the friends and people that he had worked with on the USS Skate. McDaniel also talks about what he had been studying in college, why he didn't pursue teaching right away, and why he joined the Navy.

Keywords: Draft; Elementary schools; Friends; History teachers; NR-1 (Submarine); Scotland; Scuba diving; Thames River (Conn.)

Subjects: College; Research vessel opportunity

Segment Synopsis: McDaniel starts out his second interview session talking about nicknames on the USS Skate. He remembers a sailor they called Crazy Tom and shares about Tom's laundry and taking out the trash. He also talks about some of the other nicknames around the ship including: Red Dog, Fat Dog, Wild Horse, Wild Bill, and Mac.

Keywords: Food--Storage; Garbage disposal units; Medicine, Naval; Nicknames; Steam power plants

Subjects: Crazy Tom; Nicknames

Segment Synopsis: McDaniel worked spare parts on the USS Skate and talks about getting involved with preventative maintenance. He talks a little about "comshawing," or ship to ship trading. He discusses the snake ranch where the bachelors lived when in port and how quickly rumor traveled around the ship. He explains "Hollywood showers," and the naivety of junior officers. He also describes discipline on ship, a guy who almost missed ships movement and why you did not mess with the Guardia Civil, Civil Guard, at Naval Station Rota.

Keywords: Bachelors; Bermuda Islands; Discipline; Law enforcement; Maintenance; Oslo (Norway); Quartermasters; Rota (Spain); Rumor; Showers; Spare parts

Segment Synopsis: McDaniel talks about the USS Skate's poker game and how he broke the rules by lending money to a player.
He discusses a fight between ships, probably between the Skate and a surface ship. The sailors from the fleet called submariners "bubbleheads" and the submariners called sailors "targets." McDaniel then explains the importance of bubbles and pressure.

Keywords: Borrowing and lending; Cooks; Poker; Pressure; Showering

Subjects: Poker; Surface fleet and submariners

Segment Synopsis: McDaniel had his first bunk in the forward torpedo room and no one told him what the venting for torpedoes would do to his stuff. He discusses short bunks, the bridal suite, the importance of being qualified, and lockers.

Keywords: Bunk beds; Torpedoes

Subjects: Bunks; Lockers

Segment Synopsis: McDaniel explains the benefits of having your qualifications which included getting out of some working parties, no more "hot bunking," and no needing to cook in the mess. He describes how long it took to get qualified and how it made work easier on everyone. After the Vietnam War they stopped promoting Machinist Mates, but the only advantage for 1st class was when scrubbing the engine room decks.

Keywords: Bunk beds; Cooking; Training; Vietnam War, 1961-1975

Subjects: Advantages of qualification

Segment Synopsis: McDaniel talks about a time motley looking "riders," people traveling on the submarine who were not part of the crew, traveled with them. He found out they were "Communication Technicians" or spies. He explains how radiation surveys got him top secret clearance, periscope liberty, and to what the spies were listening.

Keywords: Adriatic Sea; Clearing of securities; Guantánamo Bay Naval Base (Cuba); Naples (Italy); Periscopes; Radiation--Safety measures; Rickover, Hyman George; Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina); Spies; Tito, Josip Broz, 1892-1980; Yugoslavia

Subjects: Spies

Segment Synopsis: McDaniel talks about some other riders that were on the USS Skate over the years. Here recounts the polynyas story from the first Session. He tells what the oceanographers said they were going to do with the arctic ice samples, how much we know about the Arctic, Baffin Bay sounding and, water testing.

Keywords: Arctic regions; Baffin Bay (North Atlantic Ocean); Oceanographers; Polynyas; Turbidity; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Subjects: Arctic ice; Riders; Water testing and purity

Segment Synopsis: McDaniel talks about the transmission "Brandywine, Brandywine this is Singing Bush" used while they were looking for the USS Scorpion. Brandywine was the Scorpion and Singing Bush may have been the USS Pargo. He also talks again about the Friday the 13th trip through the Azores.

Keywords: Azores; Call signs; Scorpion (Submarine)

Subjects: Scorpions call sign, Friday the 13th

Segment Synopsis: There was no fitness routine on the USS Skate, but McDaniel talks about one guy who got teased for doing pull ups. He describes the food on the ship, which was very good. When one of the cooks left for a family emergency the steward of the ship replaced him and the food was great.

Keywords: Cooking; Food; Medical emergencies; Sea school; Stewards

Subjects: Exercise; Food

Segment Synopsis: McDaniel discusses food storage on a submarine. The eggs were stored in torpedo tubes, but perishables only last so long. Once the bread went bad they would have fresh baked bread. While in port they would have lobster for dinner on Friday. McDaniel also talks about disappearing from the engine room and how he solved that problem.

Keywords: Breakfast; Cooking; Eggs; Omelet; Refrigeration; Tools; Wrenches

Subjects: Food Storage; Tool Storage