Spooky only if you are referring to the appearance. I was posting for the genius of a person. For sailors, the technology of accuracy in machinery and time changed the world. Okay, I'll take my lighten up pill (a single Malt) and get back to checking my fishing tackle for the season
A few weeks ago I was aboard the Torsk, a WWII submarine in Baltimore. As I looked at all the dials and levers and valves I was awestruck thinking how a person could figure it all out and put it all together to make it work. I'm awestruck by the sailors, most with less than a grade school education, who could not only learn how to make it run, but fix almost anything that might go wrong with any part of it. This "little boy" is a prime example. How does a mind, without the aid of computers or modern manufacturing methods, figure out what 6,000 parts would be needed to make this "boy" function, manufacture them to the exact specifications needed, and figure out how to put them together in exactly the right configuration. One wrong piece, or one piece a fraction of a mm out of place and it's a pile of junk. It all leaves me feeling a bit inept. Genius is an amazing thing. The human brain is an amazing thing. Thanks for posting that. I now get to start my weekend feeling completely inadequate.
There were a few who didn't have a high school diploma but that is because they left school to enlist. Submarines were manned by volunteers and only about 10 percent of those who volunteered met the mental and physical standards to walk onboard their first "boat." Those men were among the best and brightest the nation could offer. They represented less than 2 percent of Navy personnel but suffered the highest casualty rate of all the armed services during the war, around 23 percent. No one should be surprised at the technical and operational capabilities of those men. They met a standard few others could. DBF
Yep, but no sheepskin to prove their worth, and in the 1930's kids went to work instead of school as often as not. Different world. That didn't stop genius or smarts though.
That's really interesting. No wonder the Germans considered them in the same light as Air Aces, plus I believe all submariners were given more leeway as far as appearance and discipline (while ashore). Here is one "myth" told to me by an ex submarine officer I used to work with in my computer days: Most of the long serving crews' wives ended up having DAUGHTERS.
