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| Rosemary in USS Growler SSG-577 - January 2018
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My career in the subject of submarines has been limited even though I have been in subs many times. I never sailed in one.
While in the Argentine Navy as a conscript, I was seconded to the US Naval Advisory Group as a translator and aide to Captain USN Onofrio Salvia. That is when I found out about submarines. My navy had purchased some old guppy class submarines and I was asked to translate manuals, etc. I boarded one many times with a US Navy officer and a corresponding one from the Argentine Navy. My translation skills failed twice in relation to the conning tower (the vertical part of a submarine) which at the time had been changed to sail. We ended up calling it la “sail”.
The US Navy had joint Atlantic Ocean operatives called Operativo Unitas that they shared with the Brazilian and Argentine Navies. It was then that Captain Salvia told me that I was going to be investigated by the FBI so I could translate a secret document. I passed with flying colours and the secret document was put in front of me. It seems that I was supposed to book two different floors of the downtown Hotel Claridge, one for white non-commissioned officers and the other for the black non-commissioned officers. I did.
A couple of years before Rosemary died we went to New York City. This is when I found out her tremendous interest in art and we spent a full day at the Metropolitan and the next at the Frick and at MOMA. When I told her that we could visit a submarine she became very excited. The blog on that event is this one:
The above is a preamble for the lovely essay and photographs by Kenny Holston for the Thursday NY Times. Here is the paywall-free link.