The Bay of Pigs Invasion

The Bay of Pigs invasion took place in mid April of 1961, anyone can Google search it and read anything about it that you care to know. 

However there are a few things none of these articles will tell you. A short time prior to the actual invasion my husband was a submarine sailor and he took part in filming a portion of the reconnaissance for the invasion.

At the time he was stationed aboard the USS Marlin SST-2. He was the COB (Chief of the Boat), and often jokingly teased by the men aboard and called Chief of the whole Boat; because he was the only Chief aboard. 

The T-2 was a training Boat and she was only a 131 feet long, which was very small for a submarine, about one third the size of the larger snorkel Boats.

When the “Cold War” began heating up the CIA began working with Cuban exiles who wanted to overthrow Castro and take their homeland back from his control.  The T-2 took part in filming a section of the beach where the invasion was to begin.

Cuba and Bay of Pigs

My husband told me long after this information had been declassified; that when they arrived at the point where they could begin filming through the periscope they were in very close to the beach. 

So close he said, “I could count the buttons on the shirt of the guard that was standing watch on the beach. He said, “I could only hope that he didn't look up and spot the top of our scope sticking up out of the water.”

He said, “I sweated bullets the whole time we were in this close, had we been spotted we might never have made it out, with the engine fire-walled we could only do eight to ten knots top speed, and the Cuban gun boats would have dropped depth charges on us.

But fortunately we were not detected and we did make it out safely, we only had one torpedo tube for defense.”

The Bay of Pigs Invasion failed; and this was largely due to loose lips (GOSSIP), a very true old saying from WWII, “Loose Lips Sink Ships!” Cuba knew ahead of time about the invasion and was fully prepared for it. Information was flowing like water.

Another great thing that happened; while my husband served aboard this vessel he became a Qualified Officer of the Deck, because there were only two Officers (the Skipper and the Ex O) aboard and he had to stand deck watches when the Boat was underway. 

Having this in his record served him well for the remainder of his time at sea as well as after he retired; when he applied for his Captain's license after retirement the license he was granted was an extensive one.

I have numerous other stories about his days as a Submariner, for most of his twenty years, two months and ten days in the United States Navy Submarine Force he spent most of this time at sea. And during this time he served aboard ten different submarines.

Pride Runs Deep

The USS Marlin SST-2 was commissioned into service November 20, 1953; she was assigned to Squadron 12 Submarine Force, United States Atlantic Fleet. She served on and completed numerous missions during her time in service. 

She was de-commissioned January 31, 1973 and donated as a museum submarine August 20, 1974. Her new home is located in ‘Freedom Park’ ~ Omaha, Nebraska. (Click 'Freedom Park' to view the inside of the Boat).

When his time was up on the T-2 he was then transferred to the USS Grenadier SS 525. The Grenadier was the next to the last Boat he served aboard while on sea duty. 

He served aboard her 1962 and 63. From there he was transferred to the USS Sea Cat SS 399.