Over the past few years I have received many inquiries from folks looking for information about someone who served in submarines as well as questions about other submarine related topics. Often I found myself re-typing the same answers in response to each questioner.

Obviously that is doing it the hard way. 

So I decided the easiest way to address these questions was to put the whole thing into a webpage format. In that way I won't leave anything out. Also I can add new and updated information as it occurs to me and/or becomes available from other sources. Additionally, other submariners can, if they wish, use this as a single source of "hot links".

The bottom line is this.... it is nearly impossible to give a short "single-source" answer to "how do I find grandpa who served in the USS Ustafish in 1943"?

I have no special insight into these matters nor do I as a retired Submariner enjoy privileged access to special databases or storehouses of information beyond what the general public can find.

There are many sources, any one of which may lead you to the answer you seek --- and very likely you will need to be patient and pursue all of them. With persistence and a bit of luck you may find the information you are looking for.

If I had a magic way to make your task easier I would gladly share it. I don't, so I can't.

Anyway, here is my brief on why finding information is no easy task.

Unlike our brothers in the USN Special Warfare community (SEALS, UDT etc.) the US Submarine force over the past 100+ years has no single-source, reliable, consolidated database which can access those who served in our submarine force. Unlike the units of SEALs/UDT et al, who with their smaller groups, have managed to collect all the rosters of men who completed their BUDs classes, we have no such "one-stop" archive of data.

Yes, our submarine force has the Submarine School. Their records, so far as I know, have not been maintained over the years for SubSchool graduates. Any available sub school records would not show the boats that each submariner was assigned to anyway. Furthermore many submariners entered the force without attending Basic SubSchool.

The records of those who died in submarines have been fairly accurately and thoroughly documented. (Links to those sources are later in this page)

Yes --- it will require that YOU SPEND a great deal of time in your search. In fact - you might spend a year or more before you find what you want. You may even have to vist the National Archives in the Washington DC. area (physically travel there - not in cyberspace), particularly for patrol reports or crew muster rolls.

The best I can do is to offer a few suggestions for YOU TO DO YOUR OWN SEARCHES.

I can suggest some starting points and the direction you might take.... and if it isn't covered here - then I can also say I DON'T KNOW ... and wish you good luck in your quest.

2002 - Sid Harrison

1. Looking for old shipmates

2. Looking for family members who served in submarines

3. Looking for patrol reports, muster rolls and awards earned

4. Students and others who want to know how "submarines work"

5. Validation of current popular "tell all the secrets" books. ie "is it true that....?".
That includes such books as "Blind Man's Bluff" and all of Clancy's books about submarine ops.

This one is easy:

a) I don't recall ever being released from all those signed documents to "keep my mouth shut"
b) So don't ask.

For example, a quick ten minute search yielded the following list of URLs

Howstuffworks "How Submarines Work"
http://unmuseum.mus.pa.us/sub.htm
http://www.ctrivermuseum.org/content/exhibits.aspx
The Engines of Our Ingenuity - Use the term "submarine" in their SEARCH utility

Some of their sections:
No. 237: Submarine
No. 381: Civil War Submarine
No. 304: Fulton's Submarine
No. 60: Submarine
No. 1385: Bushnell's Submarine
No. 238: Momsen's Lung

Other material on the subject can be found by being innovative and creative and using other combos of words and phrases in one's search techniques.

My own online convenient collection of search tools is here   [ see The Engine Room ]

Good luck on your search for "how submarines work" and remember it's the internet. Learn to use the search tools and you can find anything you want.

I recommend:

1)   Go to "WE CAME BACK" /cameback.htm , from there you can click "The DETAILS"  and try Don Gentry's list of links to boat websites.

2)  Try these BBS'

http://www.messdeck.com/forum/default.asp

Don Gentry's Listing of Submarine Forums (aka BBS')

Ask your questions there. Someone on may provide a few leads.

and try the USSVI SUBMAINE MEMORIALS section - Click memorials here
http://www.ussvi.org

Here are the two best ways to start:

Don Gentry's http://www.submarinesailor.com/CrewSearch.asp

Ron Martini's D.O.S. (Directory of Submariners) is linked from here    http://www.rontini.com/

SubmarineSailor.com also has links to other databases
Go here   http://www.submarinesailor.com/LinkResults.asp?1=1

5)  Try the National Archives in Wash DC. They have patrol reports and muster rolls. http://www.archives.gov/index.html

Want more archives? Try LINKS TO NATIONAL ARCHIVES WORLDWIDE

Their website states the following:

Dedicated to the preservation of submarine history"

The Submarine Research Center is a small group of retired submariners who in civilian life performed various kinds of research. We now apply this knowledge and ability to collecting and disseminating information about submarines. Our research is not constrained to nationality or time. We simply try to answer questions that come to us from the public while charging nothing for the service.

Silent Victory by Clay Blair
Submarine Operations in WWII by Roscoe
U.S. Submarines Through 1945 by Norman Friedman
Submarines of World War Two by Bagnasco
Silent Chase by Steve and Yogi Kaufman
Thunder Below! by Adm Fluckey
U.S. Submarines in World War II-An Illustrated History by Kimmet and Regi