The Silent Service

Thank goodness for YouTube. I am watching episode after episode on my 82" Smart TV. Great anthology of the Silent Service.

I can vividly recall watching this series on Saturday nights during my early teen years. I'd lie on the carpet in our living room and marvel at the opening of each show when you'd see a vintage WWII submarine shooting almost straight up out of the water in what appeared to be an emergency surfacing exercise. The series dramatically chronicled the actions of the United States submarine service during the second World War. The story of a different submarine and it's heroic crew was featured each week and the actors always kept my young mind stimulated with their dramatic portrayals of early submariners. I'm sure the series has been off the air for about 50 years, but I still think about it whenever I reflect on my favorite viewing in the early years of B&W T.V.

The thing that everyone remembers about the show was the opening credits with a film of the USS Pickerel, a late WWII diesel-electric boat, doing an emergency surface from 250 feet. How many of us young boys used to mimic that action at the City Park swimming pool! I wonder how many future submariners were inspired by this TV show, which was partially funded by the taxpayers (by virtue of the loaner submarine and crew provided by the Navy for some filming). I've spoken with a few veterans of the U.S. submarine service in WWII about sub movies and TV. Of all, they pick this TV series as head and shoulders above all others.

This series, plus Whirlybirds, Sea Hunt, Science Fiction Theater, and Range Rider were the prime time TV shows I couldn't miss. Add Saturday morning Mr. Wizard, Fury, and Sky King, and that is my entire recollection of TV from the 50's.

Clear the bridge. Dive, dive!

RATING: A+, Four Stars(****), Don't Miss!! EX-Cellent!!

Tuesday evenings in 1957-59 were the nights for our Boy Scout Troop meetings held at St.Theodore's Church Basement. It was the same evening as RED SKELTON, GARRY MOORE and for a couple of years, that little syndicated half-hour, THE SILENT SERVICE. It was bad enough to miss RED, but a series depicting real life occurrences from World War II, never! The Serieswas Emceed by the series Producer, Rear Admiral Thomas M. Dykers, USN (Ret.). He would be joined by a member of the real crew, be he an Officer or Enlisted Man and the 2 would have a short discussion at the conclusion of the story. Admiral Dykers also did the introduction, but did it solo.

So, Scout Troop 483's meetings were usually over by 9 P.M., sharp. (If we weren't, we were subject to the wrath of Mr. Enn, the psychotic, megalomaniac building Janitor. Mr. Enn would come in and start turning out the hall's lights at 9:00 PM, whether or not that we were still there!) Well, we were out by (9:00 PM!)and on our way home. Our house lie about 7 blocks away, hmmm, THE SILENT SERVICE came on at 9:30 over Channel 5! So there was time to make a quick stop at Jim's Grill on 63rd Street & Hermitage. Here we had a choice of hamburgers, hot dogs, hot tamales, malts, etc., all the usual stuff.

But c'mon now! this was Jim's! As often as not we would get his specialty of the house, The Juice Bun! A Juice Bun was a cutting of French Bread (Gonella Brand locally), sliced open but leaving the bread joined, like a hot dog bun. Then the inside was coated with a generous amount of the house special BBQ sauce!! Ummm-ummm! And it could be taken as a go along, carry-out to be eaten while in transit to Home and THE SILENT SERVICE, remember? So, we would be home in plenty of time for the half hour program of the day. They would take the true stories of various crews of subs and dramatize them. The individual shows were always full of interest and some excitement as our submarine members of "the Silent Service" conducted their missions vs. the Axis Powers' Navies and shipping. Most episodes were set in the Pacific and the War against Imperial Japan.

One episode was devoted to the U.S.S. Silversides a World War II Sub, by then de-commissioned. It was moored right here in Chicago being docked in the waters at the Old Naval Armory.

It was great to have here, as it not only was seen as a symbol of our Nation's Navy with its Strength & Freedom, and as a Symbol of our Freedom, but it was open for tours for gratis! Our Scout Group did the tour at least once! As the song goes, "Dragons live forever, but not so Little Boys!", and the years soon slipped away, with our having many more interests and not thinking about The Navy, The Silversides or THE SILENT SERVICE. During that stretch of years of about 2 decades in length, the Silversides was sold by Uncle Sam to a private company. What next? But it was good news, at least temporarily, as the Company purchasing the Sub turned it into a Privately Owned Museum, open to the public for tours, all for a small donation.

This was indeed good news for Chicago and Her Visitors; as we already had the captured World War II German U Boat, the U 505 on display in the Lakefront at The Museum of Science and Industry! Now, with the Silversides Museum, we had 2 Subs, one Amewrican/Allied and the other German/Axis! It was like bringing the World to our own doorsteps! It was too good to be true, and was not to last! Somewhere, along about ca. 1984-5 a decision was made in Chicago City Council to charge the small,independent non-profit Silversides Museum a mooring fee, like one that the Rich Folk paid for their Yachts. This was a hardship that would break the Sikversides people.

Then came the day when a ship sailed into the harbor around Navy Pier*, where the Silversides was moored. The ship hooked up a tow line ti Her, and promptly pulled her out to relocation quarters in Muskegeon, Michigan. Our Silversides was gone, but not totally, being right across this Inland Sea of Great Lakes, Michigan branch.** Too bad that the ^%$#*&@'s in City Hall, Mayor Harold Washington, Alderman Vrydolyak, Alderman Burke, Alderman Pucinski and Alderman Mell, etc., etc., didn't just listen to the Boys of Chicago!!

NOTE:* Navy Pier is an Exposition Centre owned and operated in the Public Interest. It hosts various events, e.g., The Flower Show, The Leatherworks Show, Hobbis Show, etc., as well as permanent attractions like the Great Amusement Park with the Super-Tall Ferrous Wheel, which has become Navy Piers Symbol. Don't confuse this with the now defunct Naval Armory, a U.S.Naval Reserve Training Facility.

NOTE:** Even though some idiot insisted on collecting the Fee from The Silversides people, no one said anything about the Free Ride that one Columbia Yacht Club has (still to this day)in docking its huge Yacht/Meeting Facility, ironically almost directly adjacent to where the Silversides had been, at The Old Naval Armory!

Each episode of the series is about the heroism of the USN, USA (Army), Australians, British, Filipinos, Indonesians, and other Allies.

When I lookup (DDG/Google/Bing) information about the submarines mentioned/detailed in the episodes, I get the same basic information that is in each pertinent episode... I consider this to be a high compliment to the facts presented in each episode. Of course, there are probably some inaccuracies.

This series doesn't attempt to instill more drama than actually existed ... which must have been significant ... it decreased the drama and let us, the viewers, decide for ourselves.

Anyone that has actually been within a WWII submarine nowadays (such as the USS Torsk, SSN-423, now in Baltimore, MD, near the National Aquarium, USS Constellation, and USCG Cutter 37) would have additional awareness of what the USN submarine crews had to deal even when not in action. The subs are quite small, not much space, except for the racks of torpedos which took a lot of room.

The series even touched on the sensitive subject of the significant issues with the Mark 14 torpedo, which had major multiple problems, all covered-up by one person in the USN.

The number of future stars in the series is phenomenal: Carl Betz, Deforest Kelley, Russell Johnson, Joe Flynn, Leonard Nimoy, Kurt Kreuger, Simon Oakland, Dennis Weaver, Richard Crenna, Chuck Connors, Mike Connors ... too many to mention. Amazing cast.

Great series.