OUR SUBMARINE HISTORY || DOLPHINS, SUBMARINES & SUBMARINERS


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ALITTLE KNOWN HISTORY OF OUR DOLPHINS

Also see Origins of the USN Submarine Insignia   Copied from ComSubPac


The following information was posted on a submarine BBS by Gil Shaddock on 17 Oct. 2000.  It had been e-mailed to him by a friend. The information was initially placed on a Submariner listserv for distribution through the submarine community.
It is certainly something most of us had previously not known.
Thanks to Gil and Captain Pat Taylor USN (Ret.) -- now we do.
Sid Harrison 18 Oct. 2000
Foreword by Pat Taylor:

While I never had a reason to study the Naval Academy's 1926 class crest before reading Eddy's letter to his classmates in the 50-Year After book ... the similarity is amazing ... the bow on sub with bow planes rigged out and flanking dolphins ... not yet straightened out as in our proud insignia.   Click here for the 1926 US Naval Academy sketch Size 34 KB

Many of you out there may well know the origin of the submariner's dolphins ... but here's a little insight you may not be aware of ... I thought it worth sharing with many old shipmates, including my Sub School Instructors, engineroom petty officers, DivComs, and Admirals.

The following comes from a personal note found in my father-in-law's Class of 1926 (USNA) Fifty Years After book ... wherein fellow classmates were invited to forward an anecdote and boast of grandchildren.

This story is told by William C. ( Bill / "Crawf" ) Eddy ... who, among other things, had been the featured cartoonist of the Log and a heavy oarsman on the crew at the Naval Academy.

Here's his story ... Just thought you'd like to know.

Pat Taylor Capt USN (Ret) Virginia Beach
 
William C. (Bill or Crawf) Eddy, cartoonist par excellence, inventor, and electronics wizard, was one of the few who qualified in submarines without attending submarine school. He achieved this distinction while serving in S-35 on the China Station where, as some people claim, "Anything can happen."

Regarding his submarine service, Crawf stated:
 
 

"As you know, I had a hearing loss at the Academy which in its early stages I was able to cover up by reading lips. This worked fine until I went to China and transferred to the S-35 where, with typical Navy logic, I was assigned as Sound Officer on a boat which had the old binaural SC tubes which required perfect hearing in both ears to locate and track the target.

As a result, the '35' hung up a dismal record in submerged attacks, but our failure gave me an idea of generating the sound into visual readings which would not require perfectly balanced hearing by the sound operator. With the idea in mind, I rotated to New London in the fall of '29 and was given space and some petty cash to develop the so-called 'Eddy Amplifier.'

With my few dollars and even fewer capabilities in the field of electronics, I bought some cheap tubes, transformers, and parts from Kresge's, and built the Mk 1 Mod 1 which unaccountably worked on our first approach. Subsequent attempts with improved models proved equally effective which in time brought the development to the attention of Red Ruble, head of electronics, BuEng. Subsequently, the experts discovered that the bargain basement parts that I had been using were effective to the point where the 'E(sub p)I(sub g)' curve was distorted sufficiently to make the unit work. Knowing this, they 'designed in' the necessary distortion, and the units went into production at the Washington Navy Yard for Fleet Distribution. I was later granted a patent through the Navy for this gadget."

While still at New London, Crawf and Simon Lake collaborated to build a 156 mc transmitter using a single modified 201A tube in a tin can atop a periscope for short-range inter-submarine communication. About this time, the medicos caught up with his deafness, which had become more acute, and he had to retire as a Lt(jg). 
(Eddy was later recalled to active duty and retired as a Captain, USN).

The following is quoted from a June 1977 letter from Crawf regarding a matter of interest to all submariners:
 
 

"Back in 1922, I was on the Class Crest Committee and, using a 'bows on' photo of the (submarine) 'O-2' and adding two dolphins rampant, I came up with a design of the '26 class crest. About two years later, George Meale of Bailey, Banks and Biddle, mentioned that the submarine service was looking for a design for "Submarine Wings" to denote qualification in Submarines. Using my original sketches of the '26 crest, and flattening out the dolphins, we came up with the present submarine insignia which was adopted by the Navy.
George gave me what purported to be the first dolphins struck from the dies, which I gave to my mother. I was very proud to reclaim this original dolphins after qualifying in the '35 boat'. The class might be interested in the tie-in between the '26 crest, the O-2, and the present Dolphins."

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