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s u b m a r i n e s a i l o r . c o m |
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S25 Photos The photos below were provided by Phil Lucy whose father, Philip P. Lucy, served on S25 from 1925 to 1930. Unfortunately, most of his fathers Naval collection was lost in the 1970's. Phil is hoping to assemble a 1/350 scale plastic (resin) model of an S-Class submarine as S25, painted and marked correctly for the (his father's) time period. |
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S25 at the fuel dock |
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A sailor by S25's deck gun |
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S25 in drydock with S26
(barely seen) |
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A more close up view of S25 in
drydock |
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S25 torpedo room |
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Be sure to see the S26 photo from the Phil Lucy collection. |
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On February 15, 2003, while putting this
page together, I asked Phil Lucy for the name of his father (which had
somehow been lost during the numerous emails we exchanged). What
follows is most of Phil's response regarding his father:
"He initially was a "junior reservist" in a high school program and took his boot camp at Long Beach, California. His first sea duty was aboard BB34, USS New York, where he was a "fireman", shoveling coal, keeping the boilers going. When the ship was sent to Norfolk for modernization/rebuild/- overhaul(1925), he went to New London, to "sub school", where he also learned to be a machinist and motorman. When on the sub, Dad was one of those that kept the diesel engines running (sometimes), was also master at/of arms sometime; his duty was on west coast (including down to Panama), 'til about 1930. He was then seconded to our merchant marine as one of those to help introduce diesels to U.S. ships. He remained a qualified submariner, and kept his "Dolphins". He was "at" diesel school in Cleveland as Ensign or LTJG (recalled to active duty in 1940), maybe to assist as instructor or help in its establishment. He also did some time there as an inspector of Naval Machinery. With war he was assigned to anti-sub patrol (1942) on USS Alabaster, a converted yacht, as their Engineering Officer. There seemed to be an idea that ex-submariners would somehow have an "instinct" to find enemy submarines. He did convoy duty, then came ashore in 1943 to a "frontier" repair facility at Cape May, NJ, which was part of the Navy Yard at Philadelphia. In early 1945 he helped to see AR13, USS Amphion, completed and commissioned, and was Engineering Officer. He was relieved from active duty late in 1946 as CMDR (a 1945 "Christmas present"), but maintained reserve affiliation; was again recalled about 1948 to be a Naval Inspector, for material and 'anti-magnetic" items for minesweepers. In mid-1950 he was assigned to the Norfolk Navy Yard as one of their "Superintendents of Ships", as I remember it. He spent about eight years there, then did MDAP duty in Europe for a couple of years. His last active duty was at Green Cove Springs, FL, where he retired in the early 1960s. At that time he was known as an engine and ship repair expert. I know he was one of a group that prepared Packard diesel engines for "Albacore", but know little of the circumstances. He was very knowledgeable about the US Navy and knew several of its "notables", serving with or under them, including Hyman Rickover, when they were both assigned to BuShips, Naval Machinery. According to Dad, Rickover had the Minesweeper Desk at the time. Dad was an inspector, and signed off on an electrical cable that was not to Bureau specification, per telecon authority of Rickover. Some time later Dad was advised he'd acted improperly and could be court-martialed! By then he was on convoy duty, Rickover was with a cruiser squadron in the Pacific. Somehow, Rickover was contacted, he remembered the circumstance, and also remembered where he'd filed the note of approval which was located and excused Dad from further action! Dad told lots of stories about incidents in his life, and I sometimes wondered, but am slowly learning that what he told about did happen, and when it did he had been there." |
