North Korea Buying Russian Submarines

That was the headline in KTB #104 last month, when we wrote that the New York TIMES reported that North Korea was buying 40 old Russian attack submarines, mostly FOXTROT Class and we wondered what the North Koreans would do with them. We requested that one of our Members in the Russian Navy let us know the answer, but the answer did not come from them but instead from ADMIRAL FRANK KELSO (2919-1993), former CNO of the US NAVY, now retired. ADMIRAL KELSO writes:

"Dear Harry,

Thanks for your note regarding the New York Times article which reported that North Korea was buying 40 Russian 'mostly FOXTROT' attack submarines.

As a matter of record, there are only 16 FOXTROTs in the Russian Pacific Fleet Naval Order of Battle. Our information indicated the North Koreans and the Russians have signed a contract for the scrapping of a total of 12 submarines which will be stripped of equipment and weapons prior to being towed from Russia. The first, a GOLF II SSB, arrived in North Korea under tow in January of this year in extremely poor material condition.

The bottom line is that it is highly unlikely the Russians would knowingly transfer an operational FOXTROT to North Korea. Hope this answers the mail."

Many thanks for the update, ADMIRAL KELSO.

Ride a Russian Boat?

I guess SHARKHUNTERS got something started with our historic first ever trip of outsiders into the Russian republic and the visit of the various Naval bases. We recently received a newspaper clipping that, for only a paltry $6,000 (American dollars of course) one can ride a Russian sub from the Baltic Sea Headquarters in Kaliningrad/Baltysk to the Fortress Kronstadt near St. Petersburg. Most of the voyage is submerged. This seems like a good place to end up as St. Petersburg is a beautiful city jammed full of museums and culture of every sort.

Women Aboard

When the new CNO took over last month, he was quoted in the papers as saying that women are serving on only 9 of the more than 400 ships in the US NAVY but it was his plan to make certain that women would serve on all ships and submarines in the fleet.

As you might imagine, this has caused a flurry of comments so let's do our own non-scientific SHARKHUNTERS poll. Do you think women should serve on board all US NAVY ships? On submarines too? Or on no ships at all?

Drop a card if you think it important enough and we will tally up the response. We will not use names, only totals in each category. Please let us know your feeling on this matter. Thanks in advance.

Pearl Harbor Map - For Sale!

The AP reports that a map made by Commander Mitsuo Fuchida a few days after he led the raid on Pearl Harbor, is for sale to be auctioned by Soethby's famous auction house. The estimated price - $150,000 or more. severe beating at the hands of TASK GROUP 22.3, the USS GUADALCANAL task force, but instead of going down with the U-Boat, (then) Captain Dan Gallery captured rather than sank, U-505 and rescued her entire crew, except for one killed during the attack.

USS Guadacanal Bell?

It is a sad fact of history that the 'jeep' carrier USS GUADALCANAL has long since gone to a Japanese junkyard to be cut into scrap metal that probably came back to the USA as Toyotas or Hondas. But the bell from that famous ship is saved, so says an article in the OREGONIAN.

It states that the 150 pound ship's bell from the GUADALCANAL will find a permanent home in the Clark County Historical Museum. We are a little confused why the bell from that ship would be placed in a museum so far from the U-Boat she helped capture. It would seem to us that it would be better placed in the MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY along with U-505, the boat for which USS GUADALCANAL is so famous. But there are plans to build a museum planned by the Escort Carrier Sailors & Airmen Association, so perhaps it is understandable.

But the bell is saved and will be on display for all to see, and that is a damn sight better than going to the smelter.

Russian Submarine secrets - for Sale?

According to recent information, we learn that, for more than a decade, Sweden has sought proof of whether submarines from the Soviet (now Russian) Navy are prowling in Swedish coastal waters and why.

Swedish radio reported recently that Russian Intelligence officers are finally providing the answers - for cash!

The radio quoted naval sources as saying the agents sold info. about a secret submarine spying unit based at Primorsk near the Russian Naval base of Kaliningrad. The agents said the Primorsk unit uses the Swedish archipelago for training exercises. The Swedish military is taking the information seriously, but Government spokesmen had no comment.

USS Slater (DE 766)

As you know, we were invited to participate in this historical event, the recommissioning of this ship at the USS INTREPID Museum in New York a month or so ago. It was quite a ceremony with hundreds upon hundreds of old DE veterans on hand, all telling their stories over & over again to anyone who would listen - this was pure history.

DETLEV ZIMMERMANN (247-LIFE-1987) served aboard U-315 and was an honored guest at this gathering that was put together by the guys at DESA, DR. MARTIN DAVIS (230-1986); DESA President SAM SAYLOR (1145-1989) and DESA Director DON GLASER (1150-1989). MARY PAT KELLY (2661-1992) videotaped the event.

One of the DE veterans asked which U-Boat his ship had sunk and when I told him, he walked away with a solemn face. I just got a letter from him in which he wrote: ".....it still troubles me when I think of all those young men who went down with that U-Boat."