From Andy Anderson.
THE BULLHORN FIASCO- I don't know how many of the crew remember Captain Maire's prize bullhorn. To set the stage, during the summer of 1964, I was given the assignment to go down to a local marine supply store on Shelter Island to pick up a bullhorn that had been ordered on behalf of Captain Maire. I told the store manager why I was there and he went in the back and got the new bullhorn. He proceeded to tell me that this was not just any bullhorn but was top of the line, a Cadillac of bullhorns. When I got back to the boat I was instructed to stow the bullhorn in a secure place where it would be available to the Captain at a moments notice and it needed to be kept in tip top shape. I think we stowed it behind the metal panel next to the conning tower ladder leading up to the bridge. To fast forward the story, on August 11, 1964 we departed San Diego on our WESTPAC trip just 4 days after the Tonkin Gulf Resolution was signed by Congress; planned or coincidence I don't know. As it relates to the Bull Horn Fiasco, I will move forward to the patrol in the Tonkin Gulf Vietnam in December 1964 thru January 1965. Segundo was in transit from Okinawa through the South China Sea preparing to take our assigned operating position in the Tonkin Gulf. As we proceeded into the gulf on the surface the crew was preparing the boat to dive and proceed with the mission. As QM on watch my duties were to record events in the ships log, man the conning tower radio and keep a head count on who was on the bridge. At some point prior to diving the boat the Captain went up to the bridge to confer with the OD and I guess his bullhorn went up also but I don't know why. Shortly after the Captain came down we received some radio traffic and the order to dive the boat was given. I took up my position in the conn next to the ladder and counted heads coming off the bridge. Once all hands were off the bridge and the OD pulled the hatch shut, I dogged it down and went on with my duties. This was going to be a long submerged patrol. Prok commented on the "big T" and over thirty days of trash accumulation. I got a great chuckle out of that since, I had forgotten that part of the patrol. It brought back memories to me of climbing over trash bags to get into my bunk. In any event, my recollection was that we were on submerged patrol for approximately six weeks. The weeks passed by and in January 1965, we were preparing to conclude the patrol and were proceeding out of the Gulf of Tonkin still submerged heading for the South China Sea. Once clear of the Gulf the crew was preparing the boat to surface and since I was on watch at that time my job was to crack the conning tower hatch and proceed to the bridge to scan for visual contacts. When the boat broke the surface and the order was given, I opened the hatch and hustled to the bridge at which time I tripped over an object that was on the bridge in front of the hatch. Once the OD and the lookouts were up on the bridge I went back to see what I had tripped over. The object was about the size of a beach ball and was one big ball of green moss. At first I thought maybe it was a large fish or sea creature that got caught up in the bridges superstructure and died. The OD and I scrapped away a couple of layers of moss and then reality set in. My god, it was the Captain's prized Bullhorn, and it was not in good working order having been submerged for several weeks. Since I was on watch when we dived weeks earlier all I could think was "I'm in deep shit". Chief Moore better known as "Ally Opps" gave me a hard time and I got some needling from the crew in the crews mess. I think it was in good spirits however since I don't think there was a great deal of compassion for the Captain's bullhorn. We gave the thrashed bullhorn to one of the electronics guys, I think it was Bob Price but I'm not certain. After a couple of days he got it working again. Several days went by on our transit back to Japan and the Captain never mentioned the damaged bullhorn to me directly. I think I dodged a bullet and the electrician that fixed the bullhorn saved my bacon.

As we were exiting the Gulf of Tonkin one morning on the surface I was on the bridge with the OD and the lookouts. It was good to feel that sunshine and breathe that fresh sea air. As we were talking two American fighter jets spotted us and came up from behind us. Because they were behind us we couldn't hear them and didn't know they were there. All of a sudden they were on us port and starboard flying no more than a hundred feet above the water and the jet noise was deafening. They immediately pulled straight up like a rocket did a figure eight maneuver and came back down for a second pass crossing in front of our bow to check us out. They probably didn't know that we were a friendly submarine since our hull numbers were painted out and we were not flying a flag. We weren';t sure what their next move would be so I dropped down into the conn and grabbed our American flag. As they made another pass at us I waved the flag and I thought I could see a thumbs up from one of the pilots as they passed by. They then disappeared into the clouds and we continued to head north in the South China Sea.