Super Nuke! a Memoir about Life as a Nuclear Submariner and the Contributions of a “Super Nuke” – The USS Ray (Ssn653) Toward Winning the Cold War by Charles Cranston Jett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
As a former submariner, I really enjoyed this. But I mostly enjoyed it because it was a memoir written by a plank owner of my old boat, the USS Ray. Charles Jett was on the boat as it was being built, and it was commissioned in 1966. I didn’t serve on the Ray until 1973-1975, so he was a bit before my time. But at the same time it was really enjoyable to read about some of the significant contributions the Ray made in the cause of the Cold War. And the photo on the cover is the same one that hangs in my study.
That’s a long title. I feel like I’ve read half the book already.
plank owner
I didn’t know you were on the Ray. I was on it as an ETRO (Electronics Technician Reactor Operator) from 1985-1989. I was on board during ICEX when the Ray, Hawkbill and the Archerfish surfaced on the North Pole. I will have to read the book. I wonder if it has anything on the rumored crash into a sea mountain that I was told happened at one point crushing the sonar dome and shortening the length of the sub by a couple of inches. I was raised in the BP I wonder if nuke assignment was based on being reformed:^)
Scott, I was on from 73 to 75. The ramming of the underwater mountain happened after I was gone, buit some of my friends were still there. This book deals with the boat’s first missions, before my time.