Submarines, the Beatles, Sloops, and Apples

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

Hugs for Steve and Paul

SUBMARINES, THE BEATLES, SLOOPS AND APPLES

While in Groton, Connecticut, Monte suggested that we visit the Submarine Force Library & Museum. He was especially interested in touring the  Nautilus (SSN 571), even though he experiences claustrophobia. I still recall touring a submarine at the Portsmouth Navy Base (Kittery, Maine) when I was a child, and had no qualms about walking though another one.

We walked through the museum first.

While viewing the landscape through a glass window a man standing beside me said he had worked as a welder on the hulls of submarines under construction for seven years. Although he had worked on submarines he “would not ride in one.”

Steve Schroeber (spelling perhaps inaccurate) proudly mentioned that he “stood as close to Jackie Kennedy as he was standing by me (about 12 inches)” when she Christened a new submarine. “She was a beautiful girl.”

“They are thinking about shutting down this (Groton, Conn.) Navy base,” he told us.

Steve was an infant when his family moved to Groton. “That was 70 years ago,” he said. “There was nothing here in Groton before the   base.” However, during the cold war the Navy started building 4-5 submarines a year and the base had 18,000 people.”

He left Groton 23 years ago .He lived by the space center in Florida but had no interest in space machines, just in submarines.

After working on submarines Steve went into the housing market, and then entered the antique market. While living in Florida one of his customers (and good friends) was Les Stuart, a member of the original