Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
Winnie and I recently returned from a week’s vacation in Seattle, Washington. It was a great week. We had a chance to visit with one of our nephews, explore Seattle and the lovely surrounding parks, and attend another Navy reunion. The reunion was the primary reason for making this trip.
Warming Up
Winnie and I landed in Seattle a week prior to the reunion, found our hotel, and got settled in. We picked out a hotel in the town of Tukwila, south of Seattle proper but close enough to commute in for exploring. We spent the week visiting with one of our nephews, Tony, and exploring Seattle and surrounding areas. I was last in Seattle June 2014, on a business trip, and really wanted the chance to show Winnie this part of the United States.
And then we had the Deep Submergence reunion.
The Deep Submergence Group
During my Navy career, my second submarine was the USS Dolphin (AGSS 555) , a deep-diving research submarine. During my service Dolphin was the world’s deepest-diving submarine, with diving depth limits only exceeded by a very few 1 – 3 person submersibles then in operation. Within the Navy operational organization Dolphin was part of Navy Deep Submergence Program which included all West Coast deep submersible assets the Navy then owned.
At the time I served on Dolphin the Navy operated two Deep Submersible Vehicles (DSV) designed similar to the famous submersible Alvin (Turtle and Seacliff ). The Navy also operated two Deep Submersible Rescue Vehicles (DSRV) which were designed to recover surviving crew members from a sunken submarine of any Navy (Mystic and Avalon). In addition, the Deep Submergence Program included the nuclear research vessel NR-1.
A ship’s reunion normally includes only the crewmembers of a given Navy ship. With a nominal crew of several hundred people, and a service life of twenty-five years or longer, a ship’s reunion can easily be a party of hundreds of people. But, our community is different.
Each deep submergence unit had only a small support crew of several dozen people. So, to create a reunion that actually had enough people to make up a decent party, the Deep Submergence Group runs a reunion for the entire community. The reunions are open to everyone who ever served on any deep submergence unit.
This was my first Deep Submergence Group reunion. So, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.
The Reunion
The reunion was held at a nice hotel in Keyport, Washington, on the Kitsap Peninsula. Friday morning Winnie and I caught the car ferry from Seattle to Bremerton, and had a pleasant drive up to Keyport. We checked in and right away met up with other people attending the reunion. One person I recognized right away. Stan and I had served together at Submarine Training Facility, San Diego, as navy instructors back in the mid-1980s after my tour on Dolphin. We chatted a few minutes, then Winnie and I went up to our room to relax and settle in.
There was a light dinner that evening as a warm-up event. Saturday was the big events day. Winnie and I had a great hotel breakfast then met up for the morning event – a memorial service and tour at the U.S. Naval Undersea Museum.
Naval Undersea Museum
The museum is located just outside the grounds of the Keyport U.S. Navy Base. Our group sort of met up in the museum parking lot, took some photos of the outside exhibits, then made our way in to the museum conference room. The Deep Submergence Group chairperson, Mark Van Der Voot, started with a few words then opened a memorial service remembering the life of Don Walsh.
On January 23, 1960, then-U.S. Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh, along with oceanographer Jacques Piccard, was the first crew to descend to the 35800 foot Challenger Deep, on the Trieste . Don went on to lead the Navy’s Deep Submergence community, then after Navy retirement taught ocean engineering. He continued to promote deep sea exploration throughout his life. He passed only last year, November 12, 2023, at age 92.
Back Room Tour
After the memorial service, the museum hosted a special tour for our group. The museum has at least as many artifacts in the warehouse area as they do on public display. These warehouse items are awaiting funding for proper curation and display. As special guests we got to see all the cool stuff still in the warehouse. Our tour groups were divided up by the submersibles we served on. So, I got to meet fellow Dolphin sailors.
It turned out I was the “oldest” Dolphin sailor at the reunion. All other Dolphin sailors served in the 1990s, a full decade after my service. But, it was fun swapping sea stories while touring the warehouse area. I also met another person I had served with on the sub tender USS Dixon (AS 37) in the late 1980s.
After we finished in the warehouse we were turned loose to explore the public areas of the museum. Then Winnie and I took off to have a light lunch and hiking in a couple of the local parks we spotted driving up to the museum.
Evening Dinner
The big event was that evening’s dinner with a very special guest speaker. I have to confess, prior to this presentation I’d never heard of Victor Vescovo even though I like to keep up on deep ocean exploration. But he was our guest speaker, and his presentation on his “The Five Deeps Expedition” was riveting. Listening to him discussing his accomplishments without any hint of bravado, was humbling. Just having a chance to meet him, and attend his presentation, was worth being part of this reunion.
After the presentation we did our usual reunion routine of drawing raffle tickets. I surprised myself by actually winning one of the custom cribbage boards offered up as prizes. Meaning, I’ll now have to make a point of learning cribbage. Someday.
The dinner finished up with a quick planning discussion on the next biannual reunion, and that was it.
Going Home
Sunday morning Winnie and I had another pleasant hotel breakfast, then packed up for home. We had a red-eye flight out of Seatac that evening, giving us the day to explore the Kitsap Peninsula. We planned on driving down and around across the Tacoma narrows, which offered a lot of area to explore.
After exploring the town of Poulsbo, just north of Keyport, we headed south and spent the afternoon hanging out at Tacoma Narrows Park. We ended up arriving at Seatac several hours prior to our flight, which was fine. It took well over an hour just to return our rental car and get through the gauntlet of ticketing and TSA security goons.
It was a pleasant week hanging out in a part of the United States I really love.
