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At random: When the nuclear powered submarine USS SEADRAGON surfaced at the North Pole while charting the Northwest passage in August 1960, the crew organized a baseball game. Because of Polar time differences, when a batter clouted a home run it would land in either the next day or in 'yesterday'.

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Coyote

Posted 2023-10-06 5:13 PM (#104182)

Master and Commander

Posts: 1005

Location: NE Florida

Subject: Friday Obits USN, SANDF, and RN

Note to All: I only can post the notices of those who my search tool finds. Other places have other sources. Another place where obituaries for submariners is posted is the USSVI Eternal Patrol page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ussvi.eternalpatrol/

RADACHOWSKY ... Tuesday, October 3, 2023
John Radachowsky Jr., 97, passed on to join his wife of 64 years, Elizabeth Dargo Radachowsky on October 3, 2023, in Danbury, CT. Born March 4, 1926, in Olejinikov, a village in Slovakia, John emigrated to America at 6 years of age. Having sailed on the SS Bremen with his mother Maria and his siblings, John joined his father, John who had gone ahead to prepare a home for his family.
John was a WWII veteran who served with valor and honor in the submarine division in the Pacific theater aboard the USS Blenny, also serving on the USS Hoe and the USS Gero.
A lifetime resident of Danbury he grew up on Brookside Ave, later building a home and moving to Jeanette Road where he raised his family of 5 children. As a master carpenter of the old school, he built many homes in the Danbury area with his longtime friend, Richard Antous. Upon retirement John enjoyed a passion for vegetable gardening and was famous within the family for his tomato juice. Almost every day he could be found with his sons playing cribbage at the kitchen table. He spent many sun filled days walking about his little piece of heaven with many of his grandchildren sharing his love of Nature and the various animals he fed daily.
John was preceded in death by his wife, Elizabeth and his son, David. He will be missed by his surviving children, John E. Radachowsky and his wife Theresa, Richard Radachowsky and his wife Ruth, Bruce Radachowsky, Janina Barz Radachowsky and many loved grandchildren and great grandchildren. He is also survived by his last sibling, George Radachowsky.
A funeral prayer service will be offered on Tuesday, October 10, 2023, at 11:00 AM at Jowdy-Kane Funeral Home; 9 Granville Avenue, Danbury. Interment will US Navy funeral honors will follow in Saint Peter's Cemetery, Danbury. Family and friends will be received on Tuesday, October 10, 2023, at Jowdy-Kane Funeral Home from 10:00 AM until the time of the service.

(SANDF) HECTOR ... Funeral service for LCDR Gillian Hector, SANDF, lost at sea with two others.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGnOTuqvqU8

ELLEN .... Joseph Robert Ellen, Jr. October 27, 1925 - September 28, 2023
"On September 28, 2023, at 2:08 pm, Joe took off from Earth with the throttles pushed to the firewall, the navigational radios set on a direct course to Heaven, enough fuel on board for a one- way trip and looking forward to hearing St. Peter's voice on the radio say, "Joe, you are cleared to land". (Written by Joe Ellen, 11/12/10)
Joe Ellen passed away peacefully surrounded by his family in the home he and his wife, Ann, built in Raleigh in 1960. This home was framed with timber from the Ellen family farm in Dortches, NC. He was 29 days shy of his 98th birthday.
Joe was born in 1925 into the Great Depression and reared on the family's tobacco and cotton farm. The home lacked indoor plumbing and electricity which fostered his lifelong fascination with electricity and running water. The government eventually utilized imminent domain to seize some of the family farmland in order to build I-95.
The following historical account was dictated by Joe to his daughter, Jo Lynn, on August 2, 2009, and is included in the book they wrote, "Samurai Submarine Sailor". Joe's WWII story is also documented in the NC State Archives in a 2-hour video interview conducted by LTC (Ret.) Sion H. Harington III on August 5, 2009.
After graduating from Red Oak High School and about a month shy of his 18th birthday, Joe volunteered and was sworn into the Navy Air Force at the Raleigh post office on September 9, 1943. Because he wasn't yet 18, his parents had to sign giving him permission to enlist. He said that a Navy bunk would sleep better than a foxhole and he liked flying. Because of his aptitude, interest and high scores in all classes including electrical theory, electrical machinery, electrical communication equipment for shipboard use and advanced mathematics, he received an extraordinary education courtesy of the Navy via the University of Kentucky and the Anaconda Naval Station, Washington, DC. Because he graduated second in his class, he was sent to Camp Perry, VA, to help set up a new electrical school there where he would be an instructor in electrical engineering. However, he wanted out of the classroom and the only way out was to volunteer for submarine duty because that had a higher priority than school instructor. He was accepted as a submarine volunteer and went to New London, CT, for submarine schooling & training. He finished second in his electrical class and was therefore selected for advanced interior communication and instrument training. He completed the submarine training which included classes in diesel engines, pneumatics, hydraulics and gyrocompass.
Joe traveled by train from New London to Treasure Island, San Francisco Bay, CA, and then continued on to Pearl Harbor on a troop transport (a converted luxury liner). At times, he slept in his hammock on the deck. During this trip, he learned of the German surrender in Europe on May 8, 1945. He was one of the message delivery sailors for Admiral Nimitz. He enjoyed spending time at the submarine rest camp at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel on Waikiki Beach. He then boarded the submarine tender USS Fulton and headed to Guam where he was assigned to board the submarine tender USS Proteus which would arrive about a month later. On Guam, he learned that the atomic bomb was dropped on August 6 and that the second atomic bomb was dropped a few days later. On August 15, 1945, he heard the announcement over the intercom that Japan had verbally surrendered.
Just a few days later, he was assigned as an electrical instrument technician as a member of a special crew that would be transferred to a destroyer for passage somewhere, they weren't told where. After leaving the Guam port, they were told they were selected as a prize crew that would board a Japanese submarine that would surrender about 250 miles east of Tokyo. The I- 14 Japanese sub surfaced a few hundred yards away from them. By that time, several other US Naval warships were also present. Joe's crew of approximately 35 men went aboard the I-14 on August 27, 1945. The Americans and Japanese were scared of each other. Most of the Japanese crew and officers were kept topside all night while they sailed toward Tokyo Bay. They arrived in Tokyo Bay late in the day on August 28. The Japanese sailors cleaned up the filthy, rat infested sub as the Americans supervised. The sub docked and everyone got off so the sub could be fumigated. Many bushels of dead rats were carried off the sub by the Japanese.
Joe and another electrician's mate, Hal Cox from Tennessee, were not supervising cleanup; they were getting familiar with the electrical communication system, primarily the gyrocompass and many other electrical instruments and communication equipment that had either been sabotaged or was not in good working order. On September 2, 1945, the Japanese officially surrendered aboard the battleship Missouri, across the bay from the I-14. Joe and Hal were working on a gyrocompass direction repeater in the conning tower where the periscopes are located. Three Japanese officers, Hal and Joe were the only occupants there in the small compartment where ship commands are issued. The conning tower is the central battle station for the captain and several officers. The Japanese officers were watching the surrender through the periscope. Joe and Hal tapped them on the shoulder and pointed to themselves and the periscope and the officers stepped aside and let Joe and Hal take turns looking. They then let the Japanese officers have another turn. They all continued to take turns. Although they were some distance away, they had a clear view of the Missouri because of the high binocular power of the scope and its elevation above sea level (approx. 60 feet). They could see the large gathering on the deck but due to obstacles on the Missouri, they could not directly see the table where the signing was taking place but they knew what was happening there. They could see members of the Missouri crew standing at parade rest watching the ceremony. Joe always regretted that he couldn't see the actual signing take place but treasured the experience of being in the vicinity of history in the making. After the ceremony was over, the Japanese officers gave Joe and Hal the courtesy of bowing at their waists and Joe and Hal in turn saluted them, sailor to sailor.
Joe and the I-14 prize crew stayed in Tokyo Bay awhile longer. Their commander, Captain McCain (the late Senator John McCain's father) wanted the ship cleaned up and the hangar on the deck of the sub cleaned out. The hangar was originally used to house two scout planes meant to bomb the Panama Canal. When that plan was scrapped, it was used to hold supplies to keep the Japanese troops on the islands fed. A problem arose when the Japanese crew refused to take 200-300 items from this hangar to the trash. The Japanese sailors shook their heads, "no, no"; they weren't going to throw any of these urns away with the trash. These urns had stickers on them. Captain McCain called for an interpreter to find out why they were balking. He learned that these urns contained the remains of Japanese soldiers who were killed on the islands near the Philippines. Everyone waited until transportation was on the dock and only then did the Japanese sailors remove the urns from the I-14 under the direct supervision of a Japanese officer. When the last urn left the sub, Captain McCain and the Japanese officer saluted each other. Shortly after, Captain McCain learned that his father Admiral McCain was gravely ill. He was relieved of command of the I-14 at that time and flew back to the States.
A week or so later, they left Tokyo Bay in the I-14 and headed to Sasebo, Japan's main submarine headquarters. They observed the Japanese crew in action and continued to study the systems with the help of the Japanese who drew sketches and pointed. The American crew felt almost ready to take over and took the sub out to sea where they operated the sub with the
Japanese helping them. After this, the American captain and officers felt comfortable that the "prize crew of American sailors" could handle the I-14 so most of the 70-80 Japanese crew members were released at Sasebo. A few key Japanese instructional personnel remained onboard in case they were needed. In mid-November, just the American crew took the I-14 for a short cruise just to reassure themselves that they could handle it on their own. The crew consisted of thirty-five men; seven men, including Joe, were electrical experts. This trial cruise was so successful that the remaining Japanese crew onboard was released at Sasebo, Japan.
While in Sasebo, the American crew was instructed to load hundreds of Japanese army rifles into the hangar of the I-14 and transport them to Pearl Harbor where they would be unloaded onto a truck. They were told these would be disbursed to high ranking American officials.
In late December, 1945, the I-14, the I-400, and the I-401 Japanese subs sailed as a group to Guam where they refueled before sailing for Pearl Harbor. Between Guam and Pearl Harbor, they crossed the International Date Line and celebrated New Year's 1946. Soon after, they encountered a monsoon. It was a very rough ride because the navy would not allow the subs to submerge out of fear that the Japanese had sabotaged them to fail to surface.
In early January, 1946, the three Japanese subs arrived safely to Pearl Harbor. They were tied up at a dock alongside each other. The crews stayed on the subs and mostly relaxed except when high ranking officers arrived at which time the crews gave tours of the subs. Within about three months, Joe had accumulated enough points for discharge. He then left the I-14 and boarded a destroyer escort which left Pearl Harbor and sailed toward Charleston, SC, via the Panama Canal. Joe spent most of his time topside where he could watch the lock and towing process through the Canal. He was supposed to be a passenger only; however, the ship's company electrician found out he was an electrician. They were shorthanded and revoked his tourist privilege and put him to work. Thereafter, he pulled a 12 on and 12 off shift from Pearl Harbor back to Charleston. Before Joe helped out, two diesel generators were used, one at a time, to furnish the ship's power. Between switching from one to the other, there would be no power a minute or so. All the motors, pumps, etc. would have to be restarted which created a lot of work for many people all over the ship. Joe knew how to parallel generators to shift the load which would provide a continuous supply of electricity. When the captain learned that Joe had accomplished this on his ship, he had to stay on the ship an extra three days to teach this crew, including the officers and the captain, how to do it! Once in Charleston, SC, Joe was shipped by train to Norfolk, VA, where he was discharged as an electrician's mate 2nd class on May 20, 1946, at Camp Shelton, VA. He took the bus back home to the family farm in Dortches, NC.
Fred Snow, the cook on the I-14 Japanese sub, and Joe had discussed the possibility (which never materialized) of opening an appliance business near Fred's home in Dobson, NC. Fred would be the sales agent and Joe would be the technician. When Fred was discharged, he went to visit Joe in Dortches and Joe went back with Fred to Wilkes County, NC, to visit his family. They hitchhiked and when they were pretty close to Fred's home, the school bus picked them up. Fred's younger sister, Ann, was on the bus. Joe always said, "I met her and I liked what I saw". He told Fred that very day that he was going to marry his sister and he did. They married on February 14, 1948, in a minister's home on the banks of the Yadkin River on a snowy morning. They celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary on February 14, 2023.
Joe remained immensely grateful for the extensive electrical education he received in the Navy which allowed him many excellent employment opportunities. He eventually founded an industrial electrical contracting company, ELK Electric Company, Inc., in Raleigh, NC. He owned and operated it for twenty-two years doing heavy industrial electrical wiring in manufacturing plants, boiler houses, power plants, textile mills and paper mills. He was
licensed as an unlimited electrical contractor in five states. Joe learned to fly airplanes and got his instrument rating under the GI bill and owned a succession of airplanes for his business and leisure travel.
Joe retired early, sold his company to his ELK employees and began his next chapter as the owner/operator and renovator of the Rocky River Power Plant in Chatham County, NC, which had been dormant for over thirty years, since the 1950's. He bought the plant from Carolina Power & Light Company. The Raleigh Times newspaper included an article about this endeavor on February 27, 1982, in which Joe is quoted, "I have always had a fascination for water wheels. I can't tell you why. It's just a characteristic of the way I function Right now it sounds like dollars going over the dam..... I'm having a ball"! Joe made his dream into a reality and did sell electricity to CP&L. He was so proud of the first check he received from CP&L dated July 7, 1982, that he didn't cash it! It's saved among his many Rocky River Power Plant treasures.
On October 26, 2011, Joe was treated to a "Veterans Honor Flight" at RDU to tour the WWII memorial in Washington, DC. He cherished those memories and the mail he received from family members at mail call on the flight home.
Joe could build and fix almost anything and did so for his neighbors, friends, family and his church, Ridge Road Baptist, where he volunteered to fix any and everything that wouldn't work properly. He did so with a joyful spirit anytime his services were needed, day or night. He loved giving away his God-given talents. Joe thoroughly enjoyed socializing with his Sunday School buddies in "the hut" at church where sausage biscuits were enjoyed every Sunday! Joe remained in awe of God's "systems" as he called them. His last lengthy conversation with his daughters, a few days before he passed, was in praise of God and His amazing "systems".
Joe's family was his dearest love. His face would light up when they appeared before them. He told them many times daily that he was so glad to see them, that he loved them, that he appreciated them and that they were "so pretty". The last words he said on this Earth were, "I love you" to his family gathered around him. Although he was confined to a hospital bed in the den of his home for the last several years, it did not dampen his joyful, happy spirit. He was always filled to the brim with gratitude for his life and for the pure love he shared with all. He always said, "I've had a great run"!
The family wishes to thank Duke University Hospital physicians in Durham who saved Joe's life after medically necessary hospital treatments were denied him elsewhere. Because of Duke's intervention, Joe enjoyed almost five additional years of life at home where he was cared for by his loving wife and daughters. Joe and his family acknowledge with love and immense gratitude the extraordinary kindness, comfort and personalized care given to him by Duke Home Care RN, Nathan Pearl, a "pearl" of great value, his predecessor, RN Austin Dinglasan and his home health aide, Nicole Campbell. The family also wishes to acknowledge and thank WalMart Pharmacist Anish Arora and technician, Yendi Cisse, who never failed to fondly remember Dad and express concern for both Joe and Anne and do all they could to fill their prescriptions expeditiously, over the course of many years. The family also wishes to thank John Paul Womble of Capital Funeral Home for extending numerous extra courtesies to the family to help make this time as easy as possible. The family also extends appreciation to Dr. Trey Davis, Pastor, Ridge Road Baptist Church, for his enjoyable visits to the home and for honoring Joe by speaking at his funeral. All of these angels on earth went way beyond their job descriptions in caring for Joe in such a kind, compassionate and loving manner. The family remains forever grateful to each one of them.
Joe is survived by his devoted wife of 75 years, Ann, whom he affectionately called, "Babydoll"; daughters Donna (Raymond) Warren and Jo Lynn Snow; grandchildren, Melinda Warren, Bradley (Kate) Snow and Stephen Warren; great granddaughter Summer Lynn Snow; his two sisters-in-law, Jo Dockery and Betty Woodruff, whom he affectionately called, "little sister" during their almost daily phone conversations; and many nieces, nephews, relatives, neighbors and friends whom he cherished and loved dearly.
A funeral service with military honors to celebrate Joe's life will be held at Ridge Road Baptist Church on Saturday, October 7, 2023, at 1:00 pm. He will lie in state there beginning at noon. The family will host a reception at Joe and Ann's home (4720 Rembert Drive, Raleigh) immediately after the service. A private mausoleum entombment will be held at Raleigh Memorial Park on Monday, October 9, 2023.
Donations may be made to Ridge Road Baptist Church, 2011 Ridge Road, Raleigh, NC 27607 or to a charity of your choosing in memory of Joe Ellen.

(RN) BRAZIER ... Lieutenant Commander Harry Brazier, characterful submariner and naval attaché in 1970s Moscow.
Lieutenant Commander Harry Brazier, who has died aged 82, was a submariner, naval attaché in Moscow and later a magistrate in Hong Kong. Brazier was assistant naval attaché in Moscow in the late 1970s in the depths of the Cold War, a difficult assignment which Brazier addressed with an irrepressible sense of fun. One night, returning with his fellow attaché, Aubone “Boney” Pike, later than expected from a party, they just missed the duty babushka going up in the rather slow lift to deliver food to the covert, resident Soviet spook who lived on the floor above them.
They took off their shoes and ran up eight floors to overhear her knock and give a password. Allowing the babushka to descend in the lift, he went to the door, knocked and repeated the password, and when it was opened asked the spook if he would like pudding?
In Leningrad, he chanced to witness the launch of a Victor III nuclear-powered attack submarine when a black Volga drew up with a blonde and a redhead (there were lots of these in Brazier’s stories) in the back. The women invited him back to their flat to show off their icons, but he quipped “Sorry, we’re British and we’re rather busy spying. Could you come back in 10 minutes?”
Another time, while on a mission, Brazier broke his leg and was taken to a Leningrad hospital, where he noticed a portrait of Lenin on the back of the door and scrawled “This year we will mend twice as many legs as last year.”
But Brazier was a highly efficient and effective attaché whose contribution was well received and valued by allies. His success was even recognised by the Soviets: normally departing attachés were either ignored or were called in by some anonymous officer who told them that they had behaved badly and were not welcome back. Brazier was seen by the general in charge of attaché liaison, who told him: “Harry, no doubt you have done a splendid job, we are very impressed with the way that you’ve gone out of the way to learn about the Soviet Union, and your sense of humour is well liked.”
Brazier married Christine Bradley in 1968: when they wanted to adopt children, various agencies objected to his occupation, but after they met Foreign Secretary David Owen, on a visit to Russia, he took an interest in their case, and they successfully adopted two boys.
Henry Lionel Brazier was born on March 22 1941 Horsham, West Sussex; he was brought up by his adopted grandfather Major Henry Bell, his mother Peggy and his stepfather, Commander John Bisgood, in Winsford, Somerset.
He regarded nine years at prep school and at Marlborough as “wasted”, and in 1959 he entered Dartmouth. He soon joined “the trade”, where the special mix of professionalism and licensed piracy appealed to his nature, and quickly made his mark as a fifth hand in the diesel-powered submarine Grampus. There, he became lifelong friends with the commanding officer, the future Admiral Sir “Sandy” Woodward, who noted Brazier’s above-average degree of competence, confidence common sense and intelligence, and reported that “his sense of humour would improve the morale of any ship”. Later, he served in the nuclear-powered Valiant in her first commission, in a talented wardroom, where Woodward was second-in-command. He passed the “perisher” course in 1970, and while commanding Aeneas (1971-72), he trialled a new weapon for shooting down bothersome helicopters on the hunt for submarines. “Slam”, or submarine-launched air missile, was mounted on top of the fin and required the boat to come shallow when the helicopter was unaware. Brazier made it work, but the concept was daft, and it was abandoned.
After the staff course at Greenwich in 1973, he worked in naval intelligence in Whitehall (1974-76). There was a commuter service along the Thames using Russian-built hydrofoils, and once, when delays were caused by fog, the company proposed to terminate the trip at Tower Hill rather than Westminster. Brazier led the passengers in a sit-in strike, persuading the stewardesses to open the bar while he negotiated with the pilot. He used the diversion to steal the hydrofoil’s Russian-language handbooks.
Brazier was recommended for promotion to commander and lured with the promise of command of a Polaris submarine, but unexpectedly he demurred; he could not bear the thought of launching missiles against targets in the Soviet Union which he knew. A vacancy at GCHQ was offered him, but while in Moscow he had studied law, rising early in the morning to do two hours’ work before setting off to the embassy.
In 1979 he chose to become a trainee shipping lawyer in London at the offices of Holman Fenwick & Willan. HFW was one of the first of the London law firms to expand internationally, and the Braziers moved to the new Hong Kong offices. Business in the 1980s was less serious, with more opportunities for fun than today. Long liquid lunches were the order of the day, and Brazier took to the lifestyle.
Brazier was a man of principles, adventure, and above all bonhomie, but despite his jovial manner and wit it was always very clear that his considerable intelligence should not be underestimated.
In 1989, after HFW failed to offer him a partnership, he joined the Hong Kong judiciary, where he learned a deep respect and admiration for Chinese culture and acknowledged the quirks which it brought, but his marriage failed. He married, secondly, an Australian businesswoman, Carolyn Hopkins, and in 1997 after the handover of Hong Kong, they attempted to settle in Italy, but the change from the bustle of the East to the rural isolation of Umbria was too much for the marriage to bear. With an Italian neighbour, Penny Redford-Young, Brazier restored the hamlet of Prato di Sotto as a holiday complex, but that marriage also ended in acrimony. He retired, penniless, to Dorset in 2007.
In 2010 Brazier married Maggie Tuff, who survives him.

Runner485

Posted 2023-10-07 5:53 AM (#104184 - in reply to #104182)

COMSUBBBS

Posts: 2672

Location: New Jersey

Subject: RE: Friday Obits USN, SANDF, and RN

Can anyone explain to me what SANDF mean....I cannot figure that one out.

Thanks

GaryKC

Posted 2023-10-07 7:46 AM (#104185 - in reply to #104182)

COMSUBBBS

Posts: 3670

Location: Kansas City Missouri

Subject: RE: Friday Obits USN, SANDF, and RN

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_National_Defence_Force

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