USSJamesMadison627.com

One of my most fondest memories is when Capt. Akers gave me my Dolphins in the control room while on patrol. Smooth sailing Captain.

It saddens me to report that I have received word of the passing of James Blackwelder, Blackie, as he was known aboard the boat. He passed away yesterday in Palm Harbor, FL after suffering several strokes complicated with heart problems. Blackie was part of the Gold crew sonar gang during the '70-'7...

Roy, thanks for sharing your private poetry. It is very touching, in deed, and greatly appreaciated. JT

Know what you mean about a blast from the past. I remember you from turn-over, but more than that, Joe I remember you from fleet sonar school in Key West 1969. There were several guys I think from the Clamagore in our class. You hung out with a guy named Mogador or something like that. You called hi...

Joe, the date on my Blue Nose certificate is 7 December 1972, but I was gold crew. Don't know about the blues. I believe the c.o.b. took orders for the certificate and we paid him for them.

Just back from Charleston after a 12 hour drive. For those crew members who couldn't attend, you missed a good one. Our prayers go out to Charlene Huwe who was unexpectedly rushed to intensive care with internal bleeding, for a speedy recovery. Keep Fred and Charlene in yours also. Aside from that, ...

Terry, congratulations to you and your son. You should indeed be extremely proud. It seems today, any kind of interest in the military by the young is very rare. I too, will be attending the Charleston reunion. Received an email from Jimmy Blackwelder who says he will be attending also. Here's somet...

Does anyone know the correct procedure for the number of stars on your patrol pin? I know you could ware the bare pin after 1 patrol. A gold star for 1 patrol and a silver star for 5 patrols. So, after completing 6 patrols are you authorized to ware the patrol pin with 1 silver star, 1 gold and 1 si...

The CO's from my time on the Gold crew:

Poseidon conversion to '72 Cdr Diley(can't remember first name)
1972-'74 Cdr M N Akers

Gil, I can tell you, as part of the sonar gang during your time onboard that being at periscope depth was a critical time for sonar. All gear was manned constantly and contact info, including classification, course and range was provided to the con continually along with updates. There was a contant...

Tender is the USS Canopus. Picture was taken in Rota by my older brother from the oiler USS Kaskaskia AO 27. This was before her deployment to Holy Loch

Was sorting our family "slides" , putting them on CD when I came across this one. Had two other brothers in the Navy the same time as me. One on oiler, AO 27 USS Kaskaskia, the other on DLG USS Leahy. Both were in the Med, one Mayport the other Norfolk. Can anyone identify this tender and ...

After doing a little search, I discovered that the bells of decommissioned US Naval vessels remain the property of the US Government and the Department of the Navy. They are intrusted to the curator of the Naval Historical Center (NHC) in Washington, DC. They supposedly have a collection of over 2,0...

Don't know if this has been covered before, but what happened to the Madison's bell that hung in the control room? Stolen? Gifted-to-someone? Destroyed? Stored?
Would be nice if it still existed and could be viewed. Seems there must be a whole lot of ship's bells somewhere. Just wondering! JT

Mac, I remember those little black police cars with the little blue light on top. Me and Jimmy Blackwelder, after closing down the bar at the Royal Marine Hotel, missed the last launch to the Canopus and were forced to spend the night in Dunoon. We decided to take a walk around town. The time was we...