On The Cover

Commander, Submarine Force, Vice Adm. Jay Donnelly looks over the frozen Arctic Ocean from the bridge of attack submarine USS Alexandria (SSN-757). Alexandria surfaced through two feet of ice during ICEX-07, a U.S. Navy and Royal Navy exercise conducted on and under a drifting ice floe about 180 nautical miles off the north coast of Alaska.

U.S. Navy photo by Chief Petty Officer Shawn Eklund

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On The Back

USS Wahoo (SS-238), a member of the Gato-class, was launched in 1942. She completed six war patrols before she was sunk in the contested waters of La Perouse (Soya) Strait—between Hokkaido, Japan and Sakhalin, Russia—where she was discovered in July 2006, by the Russian dive team “Iskra.”

Thomas Denton was born Sept. 13, 1955, and joined the U.S. Navy in 1973. Completing recruit training in Great Lakes, Ill., he went to Submarine School in Groton, Conn. followed by Polaris Electronics “A” School and Ships Inertial Navigation “C” School at Dam Neck, Va. Initially Qualified on the USS George C. Marshall (SSBN-654), he also served on the USS Holland (AS-32), USS Francis Scott Key (SSBN-657), and USS Canopus (AS-34). As a self-taught artist, he became plankowner of the St. Marys’ Submarine Museum located in St. Marys, Ga. and staff artist of the American Submariner Magazine for U.S. submarine veterans. Tom is currently employed as a systems analyst for BAE Systems and lives in Walkersville, Md. with his wife Debbie and three children, Angela, Kim, and Justin.

Lt. David Ridings, navigator of USS Columbus (SSN-762), explains the fast-attack
submarine’s daily activities to Baltimore Ravens inside linebacker Bart Scott (left) and Green Bay Packers wide receiver Donald Driver (right).

Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Elizabeth Thompson