This true story is dedicated to those many thousands of men and women who made these twice-yearly strategic patrols in the defense our nation.

 

SUBMARINE LEAGUE REVIEW

From Amazon’s description:

“When you first meet Captain Charles R. MacVean, you are invariably greeted with a gentle smile and words of welcome.
There’s no swagger, hint of arrogance or slightest indication that he’s who he is – one of the most decorated leaders in the history of the American submarine force.
You’ve met an American Hero.
Even now, long after he led the USS Seawolf into told and untold undersea exploits that shaped the outcome of the Cold War, the man everyone calls “Charlie” has a commanding presence.
He doesn’t act like a commander. Instead, he conveys an aura of calm reassurance, an undersea version of Mr. Rogers, except that his neighborhood of the mid-1970s was within the deep waters of the vast Atlantic and Pacific oceans.”

From the Newsletter of the San Diego Chapter of the Marine Technology Society:

MTS San Diego Submariner’s life story: A Good Read

“Down Deep” chronicles the life and milestones of one the most notable submarine captains since WWII, Capt. Charles “Charlie” MacVean.  Charlie is an active member of the MTS-San Diego Section.  In stories told to two biographers, the skipper of the famed USS SEAWOLF (SSN-575) recounts engaging pivotal moments from his youth, his undergraduate days at Dartmouth, his graduate program at Cornell, and how he came to join Rickover’s Nuclear Submarine Force.  His personal tales of heroism and leadership, his interactions with Rickover, and how life events forged his approach to command, will leave a lasting impression on the reader.  His life after his retirement from the US Navy is one of ongoing accomplishment to this day.

TO ORDER

The book, edited by John Freeman and C. Gresham Bayne, (ISBN 978-1-7334224-2-0) is available on-line through Amazon or Barnes & Noble for $50. It’s a limited print run, which bumps the cost up a little.  While Charlie does not receive any royalty from the book sales, he has offered to sign a copy and mail it to you for $35 plus the cost of postage.  Altogether, delivery might take up to several weeks.  You can contact Charlie directly at <crmacvean@msn.com>, or 619-508-4401.

This true story is dedicated to those many thousands of men and women who made these twice-yearly strategic patrols in the defense our nation.

Submarine League Review

Preface

I didn’t start out to write a book. I was just writing a little history of my time in the Navy for the Puget Soundings newsletter put out by the Bremer­ton, Washington submarine veterans. After writing my Navy history, I re­alized I had too many words for the bi-monthly newsletter. After fooling around trying to shorten it, I e-mailed it to my friend, Jerry Drum, in Hawaii and asked him to edit it for me. Jerry wrote back and said “Don’t shorten it, add more stories.” 1 sent it on to the editor of the Puget Soundings and he just left part of it out so it would fit in the allowed space of the newsletter. I did add more stories to it and passed it on to some family members and close friends.

Our long time friends and former neighbors in Kittery, Maine, Carolyn and Everett Williams, encouraged me to publish my story as a book. After help from some friends and a lot of help from Mary Ann and Gordon Gal­loway we got the book together. (I sort of feel sorry for people that can only think of one way to spell a word.) The book was meant to be an autobiogra­phy with a little history mixed in.

As my old hunting partner and friend Dick Ham once told me, “Charlie you just can’t hold a job, twenty years in the Navy and you quit.” I have been lucky in that I was never at a bad command in the Navy and never had a job I didn’t like. The only civilian job I ever had was with Frontier Flying Service, an air taxi service in Fairbanks, Alaska. I had great bosses in John Hydukovitch and Jim Dotson and enjoyed the job immensely. I learned a lot about Alaska and airplanes. I also learned a lot about employees and labor laws. I remember when I was in the Navy I would get unhappy with one of my guys and I would think, if we were civilians I would fire that guy. Well working in the civilian world was not as easy as I had imagined. I found out how much control I really had in the Navy.

I learned a little bit about business, labor relations, customer service, and advertising. This was all important to me as I entered the business world.

Charlie Deer

I will send it out signed, at $15.00 including S/H  Charlie Deer  322 Fairbanks St.  Fairbanks, AK.   99709