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NEWS | Jan. 30, 2023

Street Smart

By MCC Ty Connors Trident Refit Facility, Bangor

Perhaps you are like me, and seldom give much thought to the name of streets on this, or any, base.

 

The first time I thought about it, I had just arrived in Japan as a petty officer second class, so excited and a little overwhelmed, to be walking the streets of Naval Base Sasebo, on my way out to explore the exotic and fascinating host nation.  I was hyper-focused on the street names on base so that I could find my way back to the Transient Personal Unit barracks from the gate.

 

I walked down California Drive, turned on to Ohio Boulevard and past South Carolina Avenue toward the US Fleet Activities Sasebo main gate, the portal into this unknown land.  Leaving behind the familiar, I eagerly turned toward the foreign.

 

I remember thinking, “It was nice of the base designers to name their streets after states, giving the Sailors stationed so far abroad a reminder of home.” I imagined that the Navy had conducted a survey and named them after the states from which the most Sailors had enlisted or something similar.

 

I was wrong. 

 

I later realized that there was a lot more to it than that.  The streets were named after ships, which were named after the states. 

 

USS California (BB 44) was one of the ships damaged at Pearl Harbor (and repaired at PSNS) and returned to the fight in 1944, and then USS California (CGN 36) was the lead-ship of the innovative Nuclear-powered Guided Missile Cruisers (USS South Carolina (CGN 37) was the second) which explored the potential of an all-nuclear strike group. USS Ohio (SSGN 726) was the first of her class of ballistic missile Nuclear submarines (SSBN) and later converted to a guided missile nuclear submarine (SSGN).

 

Each base and command varies, but broadly speaking, U.S. Navy base streets are named after ships, battles, presidents, politicians with a Navy connection, and even the Navy core values.

 

My first duty station was on Naval Support Activity Mid-South in Millington, Tennessee.  I worked on Integrity Drive, which connected Honor Drive and Courage Avenue.  I drove every day on Essex and Intrepid Streets, and Kearsarge and Kittyhawk Avenues. As a historian (in my spare time), I recognized that these were the names of U.S. aircraft carriers.  I must admit when I ran down streets named Eniwetok Street and Funafuti Street I was at the time ignorant of the service and sacrifice in battle their names honored.

 

So when I reported to the Pacific Northwest, I was not surprised By Farragut Street and Decatur Avenue. I immediately recognized the significance of Ohio Street, and I had no problem imagining why we had a Roosevelt Street.

 

However, as a surface Sailor living on Grayback Circle, I didn’t understand the significance of that name.  I was a little confused by Trigger Avenue, (I imagined it was a reference to part of a gun,) and I thought I knew why a navy base would have a Trident Boulevard.  I wondered why there was a Harder street and even looked for an Easier Street on base (I never found it).  Why name a navy street after a “barbell,” especially when it doesn’t even take you to the gym?

 

Here on Bangor, most of the streets are named in honor of submarines and people related to the submarine community.  The many fish species names come from the WW2 era policy of naming most of the subs after fish species like albacore, bonefish, dace, darter, skate and sturgeon.   I think it is our responsibility to learn these stories to know and honor their service and sacrifice.

 

I lived for four years on Grayback Circle and, curious, I researched the boats named after the small herring from the Great Lakes.  The first Grayback (SS 208) was launched 11 months before Pearl Harbor and went on to rank 20th among all WW2 submarines in total tonnage with 63,835 tons and 24th in number of ships sunk with 14, before she was lost in March of 1944.  The wreckage of the first Grayback was discovered on June 5, 2019 off Okinawa.

 

The second USS Grayback (SSG 574/APSS 574) was the first of the Navy’s guided-missile submarines to carry the Regulus II sea-to-surface missile, and carried out the first successful Regulus II launch in September, 1957.  When it went to sea it was the largest diesel-powered submarine in the world. In May, 1964, when the Regulus program ended, Grayback was decommissioned.  Grayback returned to service a few years later as an Amphibious Transport Submarine (LPSS 574) after its missile hangars were converted into space for over 60 troops and several SEAL Swimmer Delivery Vehicles and a decompression chamber. Grayback would serve on Special Forces missions until she was eventually decommissioned and sunk as a target for a training exercise in the South China Sea on 13 April, 1986.

 

Trigger Avenue is not named after part of a gun, it was in fact named in honor of service and crews of USS Trigger, a Gato-class boat (SS 237) and a Tang-class boat (SS 564).  The Triggers were named after about 40 species of “Triggerfish” which feature spines they can “trigger” to hold themselves in small crevices.  SS 237 was launched in October of 1941 and went on to operate for 12 War patrols in World War II, receiving 11 battle stars and three Presidential Unit Citations, before she was sunk in the East China Sea in March, 1944.  Among the ship’s accomplishments, which includes being credited with sinking 18 ships totaling 86,552 tons (tied for third most by tonnage) was the torpedoing of the carrier Hiyo which took this Japanese capital ship out service for about a year.

 

On my first drive down Trident Boulevard, I admit the image in my mind was a piece of Poseidon’s swagger stick, not the U.S. Navy’s Trident I C4 submarine-launched fleet ballistic missile, the longest continuously operated fleet ballistic missile and the father of our modern Trident II, the centerpiece of the nation’s seaborne nuclear deterrence.

 

After five years of searching, (and getting the list of street names from Public Works,) I can tell you there is not an Easier Street on NBK or Naval Magazine Indian Island.  Harder Street is actually named after USS Harder (SS 257) a Gato-class boat and (SS 568) a Tang-class boat.  SS 257 served with distinction on 6 war patrols, earning the nickname “Hit ‘em Harder,” before she was lost off the Philippines on 24 August, 1944.

 

While Barbel street does take you to close to the Bangor Fitness Complex, it is not actually named after a Barbell, but USS Barbel (SS 316) a Balao-class boat, which began service in 1944 and was lost off the Philippines after 3 war patrols and (SS 580) the lead ship of a new class of submarines launched in 1958.  SS 580 served honorably for over 30 years and earned 4 battle stars during the Vietnam Conflict and in 1981 rescued 87 Vietnamese refugees (30 were children) off the Philippines.

 

It is important that we know and honor the service of “those who have gone before us,” and I hope to continue to share with you the stories and sacrifices many of our street names honor.

 

For more information about the service of Navy ships and submarines or to submit nominations for naming streets on U.S. Navy bases please consult OPNAVINST 5030.12F or go to www.history.navy.mil.