Before we departed the Portsmouth area the Soviet Union had invaded Hungary to put down a popular revolt. The U.S. went on alert and the Quillback was ordered to make preparations for additional operations in the Atlantic of indeterminate length. Our operation order had us taking station in the Denmark Strait between Greenland and Iceland and to be ready to intercept any Soviet warships or submarines transiting our area in the strait. This was the same area where the British Navy detected the German battleship Bismark in 1941 when it attempted to breakout into the broad Atlantic and create havoc. Other U.S. and U.K. submarines were positioned in similar op-areas in the other G-I-UK gaps. Until a shooting war started, our job was to report any Soviet ships detected.
We stayed in our patrol area for several weeks in some of the worst weather imaginable. Large hunks of our superstructure were ripped away by the heavy seas. We lost all of our radio antennas. Only a small length of antenna wire was left dangling from one of the whip antenna masts, which allowed us to receive the submarine broadcast (Fox), but transmitting was not possible. Diesel submarines, unlike nuclear subs, must surface or snorkel daily to recharge their batteries and ventilate, so we were at the mercy of the stormy seas.
I was the Officer of the Deck on the bridge while we were surfaced one day. Huge swells were running, but the boat was lying to, so we were riding up and down with the waves without any water coming over the bridge. Our Captain was in the conning tower (just below the bridge) and he ordered me to submerge. I ordered the bridge cleared of the lookouts who unhooked their safety lines and went below. Just as I unhooked my safety line in preparation for laying below, the ship plunged into a giant wave that temporarily submerged the boat. I was washed back into the mast shears aft of the bridge cockpit. The bridge hatch was still open because it was my job as the OOD to pull it shut behind me as I descended the ladder into the conning tower. Because solid water was coming down the 25-inch diameter hatch into the conning tower another officer, Norman "Red" Stein, grabbed the hatch lanyard and pulled the hatch shut to stop the flooding. I was still topside, struggling to get to my feet and refasten my safety line. Soon after, the hatch was opened again and I went below. What happened was that the Captain had ordered "Ahead 2/3" without my knowledge and the buildup in speed just as we were unhooking had caused the ship to plow into a big wave rather than ride over it. If that incident had happened on the Quillback when she was configured as a WW II Fleet Boat before being modified to a GUPPY with the streamlined fairwater enclosing the mast shears, I might have ended up as shark bait.
The Soviets did not deploy their Navy into the Atlantic Ocean so we did not detect any of their warships or submarines. Eventually tensions calmed down and our operational commander, CINCLANT, ordered us home. We were late transmitting our Movement Report because we had to jury-rig a transmitting antenna causing some concern about our location and condition. To the relief and joy of everyone, we arrived back in Key West a few days before Christmas 1956.
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