OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE NEW MEXICO COUNCIL NAUTICAL NEWS NAVY LEAGUE OF THE UNITED STATES NM MARCH 1, 2018 www.nmnavyleague.com Spring 2018 Issue First Ever Underwater Ball-Handling Routine Page 1 By Mark Schaefer; Photo courtesy of Instagram Karen Thier - USS Santa Fe (SSN-763) and What do the Harlem Globetrotters, the USS Santa Fe (SSN-763) and ESPN have in the Harlem Globetrotters common? They all teamed up in a “Hoops for the Troops” game in celebration of Page 2 th the Globetrotters’ 75 anniversary of entertaining United States servicemen and - President’s Message: women. As part of the festivities, the USS Santa Fe hosted the first ever 2018 Goals & Priorities underwater ball-handling routine. This photo shows Navy Petty Officer Blake Thier Pages 3-5 on the submarine pier, as posted to Instagram by his mom. - Namesake Ships 75 Years of USS Santa Fe As part of the game, USS New Mexico Change of the entire audience Command was composed of U.S. Page 6 military personnel - Local New Mexico News and their families. BB-40 Ship’s Bell Update The event was hosted Teddy Roosevelt and the in conjunction with Navy League Navy Entertainment, Page 7 who partners with - Nautical Items of Interest the Globetrotters to Page 8 bring joy to military - Upcoming Events bases overseas each fall. Did you know that you can get the latest issues of Sea Power The Globetrotters conducted the underwater ball-handling routine (known as the magazine in an App? Go to your “Magic Circle”) aboard the USS Santa Fe submarine, and they also played a mobile device App Store and shooting game of N-A-V-Y with sailors aboard the deck of the USS Missouri search on “Navy League”. battleship. Challenge to Readers: For those of you with a keen eye, there are a couple of submarine masts and antennae visible somewhere in the photo. Pick them out and share with a friend! Thank You! When you keep your dues up to date with the Navy League national office, our New Mexico council receives a stipend for each active member. This makes a big difference in our ability to support our namesake ships, our youth, our Sea Cadets, and the local active and reserve. Joint or renew at https://www.navyleague.org/membership 2017 COUNCIL OFFICERS Corps Junior ROTC instructors and their cadets. We provided support to local Chuck Vaughan U. S. Navy personnel in December 2017 President when the Council gave eight $75 gift John Jones cards (to Smith's grocery stores) to Vice President President’s Message eight junior enlisted personnel Julie Wright stationed at the Navy Operational Treasurer Support Center on Kirtland Air Force Tom Gutierrez Base just before Christmas. Last year Secretary the Council supported Navy and Marine Corps Junior ROTC instructors COMMITTEE CHAIRS and their cadets by awarding 22 Theodore Roosevelt Leadership awards Damon Runyan to students in New Mexico and the El USS New Mexico SSN-779 Paso, TX area during the Spring 2017 Ron Olexsak Chuck Vaughan awards ceremonies. USS Santa Fe SSN-763 President, New Mexico Council Greg Trapp (Photo courtesy of Rick Carver) My other top priorities are to support BB-40 Memorial Bell the men and their families assigned to Greetings Navy League members and Jim Nesmith friends! the USS New Mexico and the USS Santa USS Los Alamos Commissioning Fe, and to support the initiative of the Rebecca Vigil I recently took the helm of the New USS Los Alamos Commissioning Mexico Council as President of the Public Affairs committee to build and commission a Council again. At the January 2018 Dave Adair U. S. Navy nuclear submarine named Sea Cadet Liaison meeting of the Council's Board of the USS Los Alamos (a USS Los Alamos Directors, I passed along to the board has never existed before). We support Ed Nava members my goals for 2018. These Website Editor the men and their families assigned to goals include filling two key vacant the submarines by sending them gift NAVY LEAGUE positions on the Council, awarding at packages, pinon coffee, umbrellas to NEW MEXICO COUNCIL least two scholarships this year, use at homecoming and other gifts. P.O. Box 91554 recruiting two corporate sponsors and We also support them by showing Albuquerque, NM 87199 finishing 2018 with at least 120 them our great state and having a Mark Schaefer members of the New Mexico Council. great time with them when some of Along with my goals I will direct the Newsletter Editor the submarine crew members are able Council to continue to provide support to come to New Mexico for a short to our Sea Cadet (Triton) battalion, visit. continue to support active-duty and reserve Sea Service personnel and their Thank you for belonging to the Navy NM Nautical Quiz! League and supporting the efforts of Q1: Do submarines have families, continue to support Navy Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) the New Mexico Council. If you have head lights? any suggestions for how the New midshipmen and Navy and Marine Corps Q2: Why do they call junior ROTC cadets, and provide support Mexico Council can improve our bathrooms on ships to our three standing committees: the support, please let myself or the “heads”? USS New Mexico committee, the USS newsletter editor know; we would love Santa Fe committee, and the USS Los to hear from you! (see page 7 for answers) Alamos Commissioning committee. Contact me any time at [email protected] To contact the editor, One of my top priorities is to provide or by mail at the Council's P.O. box. write to Mark Schaefer support for local U. S. Navy personnel and their families and to continue to at [email protected]. provide support to the Navy and Marine www.nmnavyleague.com Page 2 NM Nautical News SPRING 2018 www.nmnavyleague.com 75 Years Apart – News of Two USS Santa Fe Ships and their Great Contributions by Ron Olexsak, USS Santa Fe Committee Chair Q1 1943 and USS Santa Fe (CL-60) – Q1 2018 and USS Santa Fe (SSN-763) – Getting Ready to Deploy Getting into the War – Light Cruising The USS Santa Fe recently completed the Total Ship’s Readiness Dateline March 23, 1943. Pearl Harbor, HI. Assessment in January and identified a number of items to work Captain Russell S Berkey looks out from the on. At the same time, they welcomed new sailors aboard and said bridge of his light cruiser USS Santa Fe to see goodbye to others rotating to new duties and duty stations. The patrol boats guarding the entrance to Pearl Skipper, CDR Foret, said that every deployment cycle the ship Harbor. Launched in June of 1942, the “loses” about one-third of the sailors aboard. This means that new Cleveland-class cruiser bristled with guns and a qualifications are always happening, and the current at-sea crew ready to take the war to the Imperial exercises will be used to get new crewmembers up to speed on Japanese Navy. Spurred on by the outbreak of the USS Santa Fe way war, USS Santa Fe was delivered six months of fighting a ahead of schedule and crewed by new to the submarine and to Navy sailors alongside veterans of the Battles of complete important Midway and Coral Sea. She boldly steamed inspections. through the Panama Canal and arrived in the Sometimes it means Pacific Theater with three new Destroyers ready reenlistments for for action. these brave young men and the skipper The Ship would eventually win 13 Battle Stars takes great pride in and battle was just over the horizon. Bearing swearing them into a anti-aircraft guns and with a deck plan boasting new enlistment term. watertight compartments, 120 days of supplies, Petty Officer Powell re-ups for another tour and enough oil on board to steam ten thousand miles at thirty knots, the Camden, NJ-built Santa Next up is the deployment certificate and much work is on deck Fe was a gun wagon itching to get into the for the busy crew. No boring days at sea, and although homeport action. Her skipper, the eventual Four-star weather in Hawaii is always nice, the Pacific Ocean can mean foul Admiral Berkey, was a steady hand who had weather and safety harnesses! seen action in World War I aboard the Battleship The crew is also New York and later served aboard the gunboat preparing to USS Panay in the Yangtze River in inter-war welcome a new China. Promoted to Captain, he took command skipper aboard since of the newly commissioned Santa Fe and got her CDR Jake Foret is due ready for action. to be relieved in a NEXT QUARTER: The USS Santa Fe fires her guns Change of Command in the Aleutian Islands. Ceremony in Pearl Harbor, HI on Friday, Light Cruising is a historical retrospective on the April 13, 2018. Cleveland-class light cruiser USS Santa Fe, CL-60. These articles are meant to commemorate the quarterly events of seventy-five years ago when the “Lucky Lady” fought in World War II. Newly Qualified Submariner and some Cold weather gear to boot Page 3 NM Nautical News SPRING 2018 www.nmnavyleague.com USS New Mexico (SSN-779) Change of Command by Damon Runyan, USS New Mexico Committee Chair On 1 March, two members of the New Mexico Council of the Navy League (CAPT Chuck Vaughan and LCDR Damon Runyan) will travel to Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, ME to attend the Change of Command of the USS NEW MEXICO (SSN-779).