Gertrude Check

Bremerton Base held a social brunch at the FRA 29 facility on Saturday. February 16 with about 30+ in attendance. We welcomed Chief Rob Hass and his striker, FN Keith Fenton of USS Louisiana to our meeting. After brunch Keith gave the base a thank you card and personally thanked us for our gifts to his family at Christmas. Rob presented the base a framed picture of Louisiana signed by his CO with an inscription that thanked us for our support.

This was followed by a presentation by Ed Jones of the Submarine Research Center. He lead us through some history of the English and US Navy's in the early 1800's. He was focused on the fact that the wives of officers, warrant officers and some seaman were embarked in the early sailing war ships as routine. He briefed of the hard ships and tribulations of Navy wives and submarine wives in particular through today. He interviewed three of the wives present on experiences in their life as submarine sailor wives. All told of a different experience in their testimony. Click here for slide show.

Submariner Icon Succumbs:

RAAUZYUW RUWDLBF0001 0502100-UUUU--RHMCSUU.
ZNR UUUUU
R 192100Z FEB 08 ZYB
FM NAVBASE PT LOMA SAN DIEGO CA
TO COMSUBFOR NORFOLK VA
COMSUBPAC PEARL HARBOR HI
COMSUBPAC REP WEST COAST SAN DIEGO CA
COMSUBRON ELEVEN
USS ASHEVILLE
USS HAMPTON
USS HELENA
USS JEFFERSON CITY
USS TOPEKA
COMSPAWARSYSCOM SAN DIEGO CA
SPAWARSYSCEN SAN DIEGO CA
NAVBASE PT LOMA SAN DIEGO CA
BT
UNCLAS
MSGID/GENADMIN/NAVBASE PT LOMA SAN DIEGO CA//
SUBJ/-//
GENTEXT/REMARKS/COMMANDING OFFICER, NAVAL BASE POINT LOMA REGRETS TO
INFORM OF THE PASSING OF CDR JOSEPH L. MCGRIEVY, USN (RET) ON MONDAY,
18 FEBRUARY 2008. CDR MCGRIEVY WAS BORN ON 14 JUNE 1917 AND ENLISTED
IN THE NAVY IN 1936. CDR MCGRIEVY'S FIRST ASSIGNMENT WAS ABOARD THE
SUBMARINE TENDER USS HOLLAND (as-3) AND FROM THERE SERVED ABOARD THE
USS PICKEREL (SS-177) AS A SIGNALMAN WHERE HE EARNED HIS SUBMARINE
DOLPHINS. CDR MCGRIEVY'S NEXT TOUR WAS ABOARD THE USS SEARAVEN
(SS-196) AS PART OF THE SUBMARINE'S COMMISSIONING CREW. WHILE ABOARD
SEARAVEN, HE MADE 4 WAR PATROLS AND TOOK PART IN A RESCUE OF 34
AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE PERSONNEL AND 2 U.S. ARMY PILOTS ON THE ISLAND
OF TIMOR, WHICH EARNED HIM THE NAVY AND MARINE CORPS MEDAL. AFTER
COMPLETING HIS NEXT TOUR AND 1 WAR PATROL ABOARD THE USS SKIPJACK
(SS-184), CDR MCGRIEVY WAS TRANSFERRED TO THE USS SEAHORSE (SS-304),
WHERE HE SERVED AS CHIEF OF THE BOAT AND COMPLETED 6 WAR PATROLS.
FOLLOWING SEAHORSE, CDR MCGRIEVY WAS STATIONED ABOARD THE USS CHIVO
(SS-341) AND SUBSEQUENTLY RECEIVED HIS COMMISSION. AFTER SERVING
HIS NATION HONORABLY FOR 30 YEARS CDR MCGRIEVY RETIRED FROM THE NAVY
IN 1966. CDR MCGRIEVY'S AWARDS INCLUDE THE SILVER STAR, THE NAVY AND
MARINE CORPS MEDAL, NAVY COMMENDATION MEDAL, SUBMARINE COMBAT PATROL
PIN WITH 10 STARS, BOTH SILVER AND GOLD SUBMARINE DOLPHINS, 3 AREA
COMBAT RIBBONS, PHILLIPINE DEFENSE MEDAL, PHILLIPINE LIBERATION MEDAL,
AND THE WORLD WAR TWO VICTORY MEDAL.
CDR MCGRIEVY WAS A SAN DIEGO ICON AND REMAINED VIGOROUSLY ACTIVE IN
PROMOTING THE PRESENT U.S. SUBMARINE FORCE AND REMEMBERING AND
HONORING THE WORLD WAR II SUBMARINE SERVICE. HE WAS A LIFETIME MEMBER
IN BOTH THE UNITED STATES SUBMARINE VETERANS INC (SCAMP BASE) AND THE
SUBMARINE VETERANS OF WORLD WAR II ORGANIZATIONS.
CDR JOSEPH MCGRIEVY IS SURVIVED BY HIS SON JOSEPH AND DAUGHTER SANDRA.
MEMORIAL SERVICES WILL BE ANNOUNCED SEPCOR WHEN SCHEDULED.
CDR MCGRIEVY WILL BE SORELY MISSED BY ALL OF HIS SHIPMATES AND
FRIENDS WHO WERE FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO KNOW HIM AND SHARE IN HIS
COMPANY.//
BT
#0001

USSVI Bremerton Base Life Member John Clear, a diesel boat historian, will make a presentation at Keyport's Naval Undersea Museum on Saturday, March 8th at 2 PM in the Bonnin Room. Plans are to have the Bonefish Float on site.

The Submarine Association of Canada (SAOC West) is putting on an International Gathering of Submariners in Victoria BC from 2-5 May 2008. They are celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the commissioning of the HMC submarines Okanagan and Rainbow . We are invited. Please look at this web page for details and a registration form. http://members.shaw.ca/saocwest/2008.htm.

The registration fee covers a Friday meet and greet event, the Saturday evening Banquet and Dance and the Sunday brunch plus a tour or two.

Some of our members have registered, including myself. I suggest others consider this opportunity reunite or meet with our Canadian hosts. Several supported us on our cruise convention and you will find them very delightful and friendly.

UPDATE

Ahoy All,
Arrangements are progressing nicely for our 2008 Submariners Gathering, May 2-3-4, in Victoria, BC.
Ray Hunt, commanding officer of both Rainbow & Okanagan, has confirmed as our Guest of Honour and recent registrants include Keith Nesbit & Brian Fisher ... this is shaping up to be quite the party !!! ... all look forward to visiting Victoria and catching up with their Grilse / Rainbow shipmates.
A reminder that registrations received prior to February 29th are eligible for our Early Bird Draw for refund of one person's registration fee ... on-line details & a downloadable Registration Form are available at http://members.shaw.ca/saocwest/2008.htm
Yours Aye & We look forward to seeing you this coming May.
2008 Gathering Committee,
Submariners Association of Canada West

Just found your "Gertrude Check" web site. I thought you and your readers might be interested in the attached. I am the author of Unknown Waters, A First-Hand Account of the Historic Under-Ice Survey of the Siberian Continental Shelf by USS Queenfish (SSN-651) and, of course her skipper during this voyage. The book has been published and will be shipped out to book stores this coming week (vice late March as listed by the Amazon.com web sites. Talks (see attached) and "book signings" are now being set up, with the first one scheduled for Bay Books on Orange Avenue in Coronado, California, the evening of 28 February 2008. No other Navy towns as yet, although other signings have been firned up for the Nautical Archaeological Institute at, and the University itself, at Texas A & M, The Explorers Club in New York City, the Boulder Book Store in Boulder, Colorado, and the Scott Polar Research Institute at Cambridge University in England. I would particularly like to do one in the Seattle/Bangor/Pacific Northwest area, if it can be set up, because that was our departure point for the expedition

I will be happy to sign any copies purchased, if mailed to me along with a self-addressed and adequately stamped (about $5.60 postage) envelope.

Best regards,

Alfred S. McLaren

Captain, USN (Ret.), Ph.D.

Director and Senior Pilot

Sub Aviator Systems LLC www.subaviators.com

PO Box 3120

Nederland, Colorado 80466-3120"

(PS: I responded to Capt McLaren with a contact at Keyport Museum for a presentation/book signing)

Jim Demott and I discussed start up and maintenance of the USSVI Base Web Site provided by National. As I have most of the images and other information on hand, and I can just as well update the site as relaying it through him to post. He is also a working person and I have the time. I envision this site to eventually replace the Gertrude-Check site as it is easy to update and can provide links to specialty image pages, if needed./Don

As you will note, quite a few our faces are already up on the site. Please consider submitting your face pictures to me. Two for each member. It is suggested that one be from yesteryear and a current one so all can see handsome or beautiful you are or were or both. Instructions on the site. The image should be in JPG format and reduced in SIZE (in pixels) not exceed a WIDTH of 200 pixels or a HEIGHT of 176 pixels. I will resize and crop any images you send.

Lets fill it up, especially with those "then" images.

2008 Lt William "Willie" Spoon Memorial Scholarship Program Update

In mid-January of this year the 2008 Lt. William "Willie" Spoon Memorial scholarship raffle tickets were mailed out to the Bremerton Base membership and, to date,100 members have responded with donations which represents 34% of the membership base. Other members have also responded with generous donations in lieu of raffle tickets.

There are still ~800 raffle tickets at the National Office if anyone wants to sell them to friends and neighbors. Bud Berg has personally sold 110 tickets.

V/R
Bob Webster - 2008 Scholarship Chairman

Raffle Prizes (gift certificates) are solicited from local restaurants that we visit 2 or 3 times a year each. Listed to the right are the ones that made contributions in 2007. Also individual members are encouraged to solicit prizes or cash contributions from businesses that you trade with. It is suggested that you go back to the ones you solicited last year for a donation. Here is a pdf file that appeared in last July/August's Puget Soundings that could be used to show what we did. Also this letter (word file) could be used to solicit prizes.

GO GET EM!

As many know, Base Storekeeper Tommy Robinson has really revved up of the Bremerton Base Ships Store. His sense of business has really made the store a profitable venture for the base. His enthusiasm and constant updating of products available for you to purchase is remarkable. He has even started up a webpage for the store and is taking vest orders via an order form. Please take a look here. The page is just a starter and I am sure he will have more info on it later on. His reputation has Subvets around the country ordering from him. Great job Tommy!

The Lone Sailor Statue Project Bremerton Base has forwarded a check to the Lone Sailor Statue Project for $1000 and received a thank you npte. According to Co-chairman, Tim Thomson, the base will get permanent recognition. Hopefully you will consider contributing to this project's success. See Donor list here and recently updated.

NEW SKED You can still make your submarine experience count! Trident Training Center (TTF) Command Master Chief Scott Fusco and USSVI Bremerton Base Past Commander John Gardner have a program that lets you share your submarine experience and lessons learned with young sailors graduating from the TTF ET course. Each one of the classes has been named after one of the "Forty One for Freedom". On graduation day Master Chief Fusco invites a team of two Bremerton Base members (preferably that has served on that class's name sake boat) in, to give a short talk on their experiences, etc. We have been involved in two or three of these graduations to date.

Coming up on the following dates are graduating classes with the boat names with members names that served on those boats. TEAM UP! Then/or e-mail John (jgardner@donobi.net) or call him at

360-692-8994.

                      NAVET                                                               Radioman
USS Sam Houston - 15 APR 08 @ 1100                 USS Ethan Allen - 04 MAR 08 @ 1100
USS John Marshall - 17 JUN 08 @ 1100                 USS Mario G Vallejo - 16 MAY 08 @ 1100
USS Alexander Hamilton - 19 AUG 08 @1100       USS Thomas Jefferson - 02 SEP 08 @ 1100
USS Andrew Jackson - 15 OCT 08 @ 1100            USS Lafayette - 10 DEC 08 @ 1100

Subject: USSVI POC Broadcast : #200-007 <Direct Link

Date: 2/24/2008
To: Distribution List

NEWS-01: Quick Bytes
NEWS-02: Heading 'Down Under' at the end of May?
NEWS-03: WESTERN REGION ALERT: Albuquerque SubVet Conference Cancelled
NEWS-04: Take a virtual tour of USS Albacore
NEWS-05: New Planning for replacing boomers
NEWS-06: Finding Submariner Shipmates
NEWS-07: SubVet Computer School: Protect thyself!
NEWS-08: USS James K Polk to resurface in New Mexico... with your help
NEWS-09: Boat Reunion Tracking
NEWS-10: 105 yr old Floyd 'Skipper' Matthews, Departing!
VET-01: PTSD victims no longer need to prove trauma
VET-02: The 'Posties' now offer flat-rate package discounts for APO/FPO Addresses
VET-03: Working for the Feds
VET-04: Need a copy of your DD-214?
CHARITABLE-01: CORRECTION: Scholarship deadline CORRECTION

Don "Red" Bassler

Commander

USSVI Bremerton Base

360-479-1642

down-scope@comcast.net

2008 Soup Down Sked

11:45 Start Time

1-4	Sunset Grill, 4926 Point Fosdick Dr NW, Gig Harbor
11	Keeper's Cove Restaurant,7989 Salish Lane NE, Kingston
18	Pats Restaurant, East Bremerton
25	Aztecca, Silverdale
2-1	Harbor Rock Cafe, 6565 Kimball Dr , Gig Harbor
8	Boat Shed, Bremerton, under the Manette Bridge
15	Azteca, 19045 Highway 305, Poulsbo
22	Tony's, 4908 Kitsap Way, Bremerton
29	Clear Water Casino, Suquamish
3-7	Silver City Brewery, 2799 NW Myhre Rd, Silverdale
14	JJ's Fish House, 18881 Front St NE, Poulsbo
21	Sizzler, 3558 Wheaton Way, East Bremerton
28	Cloverleaf Sports Bar and Grill, 1240 Hollis St, Bremerton
4-4	FRA #29, 521 National Ave, Bremerton
11	Brother Don's, 4200 Kitsap Way, Bremerton
18	Whiskey Creek, 1918 Washington Street, Keyport
25	Sunset Grill, 4926 Point Fosdick Dr NW, Gig Harbor
5-2	Keeper's Cove Restaurant,7989 Salish Lane NE, Kingston
9	Mandarin, 2928 Nw Bucklin Hill Rd, Silverdale, Next to Azteca
16	Ceasar's Restaurant, 3621 Wheaton Way, East Bremerton
23	Airport Diner, Bremerton Airport
30	Ponderay Café , Callow Ave Bremerton
6-6	2 Margaritas, 10600 Silverdale Way, Silverdale
13	Pats Restaurant, East Bremerton
20	Whiskey Creek, 1918 Washington Street, Keyport
27	Brother Don's, 4200 Kitsap Way, Bremerton