History Seminar

THE NAVAL SUBMARINE LEAGUE PRESENTED THE 2020 SUBMARINE HISTORY SEMINAR IN COLLABORATION WITH SMITHSONIAN ASSOCIATES:
INSIDE THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS
Nuclear Deterrence, or How a U.S. Submarine in the Mediterranean Helped Resolve the Cuban Missile Crisis!
Tuesday 10 November 2020
Thank you to our Corporate Sponsors: Newport News Shipbuilding-a Division of HII …  Northrop Grumman Corporation … Systems Planning & Analysis … USAA

Moderator – David A. Rosenberg, Ph.D. – Military historian and NSL History Seminar Chairperson.  Dr. Rosenberg will describe the role of submarines in the Cold War.
Video interview – RADM George Ellis, USN, Ret. was at Strategic Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Belgium.
Panelist – CAPT Al Perry, USN, Ret. was the Diving Officer on a deployed submarine, USS Sam Houston (SSBN 609)
Panelist – CDR John McNichols, USN, Ret. was the Operations Officer on USS Sam Houston.
Panelist – ADM Cecil Haney, USN, Ret., former Commander, U.S Strategic Command, will explain the strategy of nuclear deterrence, then and now.

In October 1962, the U.S. and the Soviet Union faced off over Russia’s decision to place nuclear missiles in Cuba to deter the U.S. from invading Cuba.  President Kennedy ordered a naval blockade around the island to prevent additional missiles from being delivered.  After several days of tense negotiations, Premier Khrushchev agreed to dismantle weapons in Cuba and return them to the Soviet Union, if the U.S. publicly declared it would not invade Cuba.  It is now well known that Kennedy also agreed to dismantle all U.S. Jupiter intermediate-range ballistic missiles deployed in Turkey.  Those missiles were capable of reaching the Soviet Union.
Very few people know the story of the additional steps taken by the U.S. to de-escalate the situation while continuing to assure European security against potential Soviet aggression.  In celebration of 120 years of U.S. submarines, the Naval Submarine League is pleased to present its 2020 Submarine History Seminar in collaboration with Smithsonian Associates.

THE NAVAL SUBMARINE LEAGUE PRESENTED THE 2019 SUBMARINE HISTORY SEMINAR:
U.S. SUBMARINES IN THE ARCTIC
UNITED STATES NAVY MEMORIAL, 701 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE NW, WASHINGTON, DC 20004
17 OCTOBER 2019
Thank you to our Corporate Sponsors: BWX Technology, General Dynamics – Electric Boat, Newport News Shipbuilding – Division of Huntington Ingalls Industries

Moderator – David A. Rosenberg, Ph.D.
Military historian and NSL History Seminar Chairperson.  Dr. Rosenberg will describe the early days of submarine exploration in the Arctic.
Panelist – CAPT Merrill Dorman, USN, Ret.
CAPT Dorman commanded USS Silversides (SSN 679) on a highly successful Arctic deployment, which was highlighted by surfacing at the North Pole on 11 October 1981. He became one of the Navy’s experts on Arctic Warfare. During deployments as Officer in Charge of remote floating ice camps, he supervised many exciting events that few people have the opportunity to witness.
Panelist – Margo Edwards, Ph.D.
Dr. Edwards is the Director of the Applied Research Laboratory at the University of Hawaii.  She was one of the first women allowed aboard a submarine when she rode on USS Hawkbill (SSN 666) to conduct research mapping the ocean floor under the ice in 1999.  Data from that research is still relevant today.  Click here to watch ICE RUN: Submarine to the Arctic, a CNN special about the expedition.
Panelist – CDR Thomas Aydt, USN, Deputy Director UWDC TAG
Commander Aydt was the commanding officer of USS Hartford (SSN 768) during ICEX 2016.

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THE NAVAL SUBMARINE LEAGUE AND THE NAVAL HISTORICAL FOUNDATION PRESENTED THE 2017 SUBMARINE HISTORY SEMINAR:
THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER – FACT AND FICTION
UNITED STATES NAVY MEMORIAL, 701 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE NW, WASHINGTON, DC 20004
31 OCTOBER 2017
Thank you to our History Seminar Sponsors: BWX Technologies, General Dynamics Electric Boat, L-3 Technologies, Newport News Shipbuilding, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and USAA

This event consisted of a panel discussion of the role of submarines in the Cold War and the movie that showed it to the world. For 27 days in 1972, USS Guardfish (SSN 612) tracked a Soviet submarine from Vladivostok to the South China Sea off the coast of Viet Nam. This mission was declassified in 1999.
In 1990, with the cooperation of the U.S. Navy, The Hunt for Red October was produced, bringing Tom Clancy’s dramatic story of the cat-and-mouse life of the Silent Service to the screen.

Moderator – David A. Rosenberg, Ph.D.
Military historian and NSL History Seminar Chairperson
Panelist – ADM Thomas D. Fargo, USN, Ret.
CDR Fargo was the commanding officer of USS Salt Lake City, which took Scott Glenn (who played the commanding officer of the U.S. submarine in the movie) to sea to watch a real submarine crew at work before filming began.
Panelist – CAPT David C. Minton, III, USN, Ret.
CDR Minton was the commanding officer of USS Guardfish during the 1972 mission trailing a Soviet Echo II missile submarine.
Panelist – RADM David R. Oliver, Jr., USN, Ret.
LCDR Oliver was on the staff of ADM Zumwalt in the Pentagon in 1972. He assisted CAPT Al Baciocco in the Naval Operations Command Center when the Guardfish alerted the President that three Russian submarines armed with nuclear cruise missiles were underway, possibly to target U.S. carriers off the coast of Vietnam.
Panelist – Mr. Mace Neufeld
Mr. Neufeld was a producer of The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, and The Sum of All Fears, based on bestselling books of Tom Clancy.  He has many other credits in film, television and entertainment.

The NSL presents an annual History Seminar, highlighting a significant event or time in submarine history. It is often a panel discussion with people who were there and people who have studied and written about the topic. This event is open to the public.