THE SENIOR MEN'S CLUB OF NEW CANAAN
Regular meeting of March 9, 2001
President Don Hunziker opened the business meeting at 10:00 in a snowstorm, with 105 hardy
members present. Current membership is 499 with 1 invitee and 28 on the waiting list.
People: Don Freud announced a memorial service for John Matthews next Monday at 2:00 at
St. Mark's. Ed Codel and Howard Gray remain at Waveny; Frank McGarey is coming home today.
Activities: Bowling and bridge continue apace. Phil Toll seeks yet another new restaurant
which might accept the 4F's. Paddle thrives, after missing two days to snow. Racquetball
is just plain missing, somewhere in the tropics.
Couth: Ron Seger still has vacancies for the Bridgeport Cabaret Theater the 16th, and
waiting lists for the U.N. in April and N. Y. Botanical garden in May. There are also
openings for Goodspeed in June. Momentum builds for a fall trip to Washington. 39 have
signed on as interested. Ron and Bert Liebelt will develop an itinerary and a price;
tentative departure is September 23rd,
returning the 25th.
Other News: Strange as it may seem, Dick Reifers seeks one or more poets; this is to
answer a teacher request directed to our Touch the Future program. Charlie Morris
announced the annual meeting luncheon, April 27th at the N.C. Country Club at noon.
And guests Rod Geist and Bob Cruikshank of the YMCA brought us up to date on the
capital fund drive now in progress. They stressed the new handicapped facilities,
especially the elevator, which SMC seeks to underwrite.
Jester: A double header! Bob Dalury revealed the intricacies of the CIA assassin
training program. Then Steve Wise discussed the legal significance of the term
"equipment", as applied to fishing and other sport.
Speaker: VP Bob Witt introduced James F. DeRose, a longtime student of submarine
warfare, who talked on "Unrestricted Warfare", also the title of his new book. He
said that submarine development in the 20's and 30's was effective and far-sighted,
motivated by the Navy's opinion that war was inevitable, The work resulted in
superior ships but with technical rather than
combat oriented officers. These were mostly replaced early in the War by young,
daring and ruthless captains from Annapolis. They waged what was arguably the
only successful submarine campaign in history. Jim recounted many of their exploits,
which eventually sank about 55% of Japanese shipping, although at fearful cost: 20%
of all submarine personnel. By contrast, however, the German U-Boat campaign in the
Atlantic, though initially effective, sank only 1% of the total wartime transatlantic
shipping and cost 75% of German submarine personnel.
We also learned about the technical and political problems of torpedoes. In 1941
torpedoes were temperamental precision instruments foisted on the fleet by Rhode
Island based staff and politicians, the so-called "Newport Gun Club". Electric
torpedoes appeared later, copied from German weapons which washed ashore. They were
simpler but had their own problems, such as a tendency toward a "circular run",
whereby a sub could (and sometimes did) sink itself. Our subs could achieve 21 knots
on the surface and 3 below it. Accordingly, they favored attacking on the surface
and hiding underwater, becoming submersible torpedo boats.
Perceptive, wide-ranging questions by SMCers concluded this informative presentation.
Peter Schurman - Assistant Secretary