A Visit to the USS OHIO.

It was early morning when we pulled into San Diego Harbor to pick up Rear Admiral Konetzni, the Pacific Fleet Submarine Force Commander, and the 25 guests that we would be taking to sea for a day cruise. It’s a pain in the ass to position a nearly 600 foot, 18,000 ton submarine next to the pier, so we just pulled into the harbor and small boat came along side to transfer personnel. The admiral was the first to board and he raced to bridge to speak with me.

“Hey, Joe, Larry is extremely nervous about coming aboard. He almost backed out. I had to coerce him into coming by getting his wife and friends tell him that if he wasn’t going, then they wouldn’t go either. Don’t say anything the might frighten him.”

A few minutes later, a visibly shaken and nervous Larry King climbed to bridge accompanied by his wife. He didn’t say much and was in hurry to go below, which was unfortunate because dolphins frequently like to the surf the ship's bow wave.

This not the Ohio, but the opening is a fantastic shot of 

dolphins surfing a submarine bow wave.

I wouldn't have the opportunity to speak with Larry again until lunch. I would be busy getting the ship out to sea and submerged, but we had a series of tours and activities planned to acquaint Larry and his friends with life aboard a nuclear powered submarine.

By the time we sat down in the wardroom for lunch, Larry was completely at ease, and he was not the least bit shy about discussing his initial apprehension or how his wife and friends all conspired to get him aboard. 

Lunch in the Wardroom with Larry King and Friends

We presented Larry and his wife with hats that they proudly wore to lunch, a huge breech of wardroom etiquette, but we let is pass to avoid embarrassing anyone. Of course, everyone else wanted hat, but they would have to purchase theirs. We opened the ship's store, which, on a submarine, is little more than a locker with ball caps, coffee mugs, and other trinkets bearing the ship's name and logo. I don't remember the name of the first gentleman in line, he owned a hotel on the Las Vegas strip, but he dropped a $100 bill for a $12 dollar hat. When the young sailor handling the transaction explained that he couldn't make change, the hotel mogul said, "Then just give me $100 worth of stuff." The other guests were equally as generous. They emptied our store, increasing the crew's morale and recreation fund by $2200. 

After lunch, we entertained our guests, and ourselves, by making high speed turns and doing angles and dangles, a series of maneuvers where we rapidly change depth by taking steep angles to move through the water column. 

The day passed quickly and we surfaced to head back into port to drop off our guests. Larry sat on the conn so that he could watch and listen to the ship control party as they  maneuvered the USS OHIO back towards San Diego.

A more relaxed Larry King after an enjoyable day at sea.

This was my first extended encounter with anyone of celebrity of status. I'm not sure what I expected, but I assumed that Larry and his friends would be a bit snobbish. I could not have been more wrong. Everyone was incredibly polite, friendly, and genuine. In the weeks following the visit, Larry wrote two glowing articles about the ship in USA Today.

A few months ago, I tried to contact Larry so that I could share the above picture and maybe get him to sign a copy, but I got no response to my tweets or email. I'm sure my messages were lost in the deluge of solicitations that celebrities receive. Maybe this post will find its way to him?