Final Run

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This story is about 1956, a year of transition for the U.S. Navy. It was a year when the Soviet Union was pursuing the age-old dream of an oceangoing Navy capable of operating across the globe. It was a year when World War II veterans of the United States still existed on active duty, patrolling the sea lanes against the Soviet dream, and reliving the combat missions of the war in the thin fabric of peacetime between the Soviet Union and the Western nations.

America had launched the first nuclear-powered submarine, Nautilus, on January 17, 1955. Nautilus, SSN 571, can be seen at the Submarine Force Museum, on the Thames River in Groton, Connecticut.

With the exception of the Nautilus, diesel submarines made up the world’s Navies in 1956. Junior officers of World War II were now commanders and captains. Commanders and captains of that Great Patriotic War — as the Soviets called it — wore the broad gold stripes of admirals.

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