A History Lesson from Maurice Barksdale

From the AIMM TEAM: The above photo is of Maurice Barksdale (see story below) when he first saw the USS Razorback come around the bend while he was awaiting her arrival in New Orleans in June of 2004. Maurice was at the original meeting in North Little Rock (along with other sub vets) with Mayor Hays seeking a place for his old boat to "rest her oars". And, as he says at the end of his short history--"the rest is history."

I was ordered to the U.S.S. Razorback, (SS-394) in December 1960 at the completion of submarine school training in Groton, Connecticut.

I reported to the Razorback on January 5, 1961 in San Diego, California. I was a CS3. We left for “WestPac” (Western Pacific) in late March or early April 1961. We stopped at Pearl Harbor, Guam, Chichi Jima and arrived at our Japanese home port of Yokuska. We operated out of Japan for quite a while. This included “Special Ops” which included some of the “Blind Man’s Bluff” actions. ( I still do not talk about it.) We headed back to the states in late August.

I qualified on September 29, 1961. We spent time in the yards at Hunters Point, San Francisco. We had the famous “deep dive” on our first dive out of the yards. I was standing in the After Battery hatch listening to the Diving Officer call out the depth and I started to pray after hearing him say “passing 700 feet.”

The Old Girl came through and we had a wonderful excursion to the HemisFair in Seattle. We returned to San Diego and participated in the nuclear test off Christmas Island. We were very close to the explosion and the Old Girl took quite a roll. I was advanced to CS2 in November 1962 and was transferred to the U.S.S. Pomfret (SS-391) in January 1963 because the Razorback was heading back to WestPac. I was discharged in March 1963.

I returned to Texas and enrolled at U.T. Arlington. I received my undergraduate degree at U.T. Arlington and my Masters at Texas Christian University. I lost all contact with my Razorback shipmates until I “found” Bassett and Opple on the internet.

THE REST IS HISTORY!!!