What a great idea! Thanks, fellas!

[N4KC]

I was thrilled to see that you had started this website and forum to help with the preservation of these wonderful boats.  I had the pleasure of writing a book about the 17 WWII museum ships called FINAL PATROL, published by Penguin Putnam and available also to Military Book Club members.  It spins a brief history of each boat and tells how it came to be where it is today.  It is written primarily for the non-submariner, and my real purpose in writing it was to call attention to the museums and to the plight of some of the boats. 
A number of the museums sell it in their gift shops and my publisher makes them available on consignment to any of them that are non-profit, priced at a special rate so they can make a decent profit on them to benefit the upkeep and restoration of the boats.  I'm not posting here to promote the book, but if anyone is interested in this one or my book about USS Batfish, visit www.donkeith.com.

For those among your members who may be ham radio operators, we will be doing a special events station operation from the USS Nautilus at the Submarine Force Museum in Groton on August 2 and 3.  That's the 50th anniversary weekend of the trip to the North Pole by Nautilus in 1958.  We'll be using the call letters N9N (for "Nautilus 90 north," the historic radio message sent after the successful transit beneath the polar ice pack) and will be active on several bands.  The purpose is to make amateur radio operators worldwide aware of the anniversary and of the contributions of submarines throughout history.

Again, thank you for the site.  I've had the pleasure of being aboard Drum, Batfish, and Razorback, and talking at length with crewmembers and volunteers from several of these submarines.  Tom Bowser at the Drum in Mobile is one of my favorite people in the world.  He is a jewel!  If we had a couple of dozen more like him, these boats would all be ready to go to sea if needed!  What a great bunch of guys...and thanks to them for what they did for this country.  Let's do all we can to preserve these invaluable boats and help mark their place in history.

Don Keith
www.donkeith.com
www.n4kc.com
 
 

[Mark Sarsfield]

Welcome aboard, Don.  I'll keep that date in mind, since I'm a ham and we have a club aboard the Batfish.

[Lance Dean]

DON KEITH!

I loved your book "Gallant Lady: A Biography of the USS Archerfish" it is a very good read!

[Tom Bowser]

Don welcome aboard and thanks for the kind words. Hope to see you at the Drum again, a lot has been done inside and we will start working outside soon.

And guys I really didn't pay him to say that LOL.

Tom Bowser

[N4KC]

Mark, I've worked WW2SUB several times and have the QSL to prove it. 

Lance, thanks for the kind words.  I had a pretty good co-author on that book who lived much of the story...and lived to tell about it!

And it's not true.  Tom Bowser DID pay me to say those nice things.  Funny thing is, I would have said them for free!

Don Keith
www.donkeith.com

[AVGWarhawk]

"Final Patrol" is a excellent book!  I loved it.  I have also read "Gallant Lady".  Also, a excellent read.  Glad you are here and being a part of all this restoration and remembering.   

[MWALLEN]

Let's don't forget Don's book "In the Course of Duty" about the Batfish.

Welcome aboard Don!

[Lance Dean]

...For those among your members who may be ham radio operators, we will be doing a special events station operation from the USS Nautilus at the Submarine Force Museum in Groton on August 2 and 3.  That's the 50th anniversary weekend of the trip to the North Pole by Nautilus in 1958.  We'll be using the call letters N9N (for "Nautilus 90 north," the historic radio message sent after the successful transit beneath the polar ice pack) and will be active on several bands.  The purpose is to make amateur radio operators worldwide aware of the anniversary and of the contributions of submarines throughout history....

Don Keith
www.donkeith.com
www.n4kc.com

Will this be when your new book The Ice Diaries is available?