Apr-June 2008
From the Desk of the President
David M. Goebel
RADM, USN (Ret)
President
There is much going on at the museum as the summer season fast approaches. Most of the activity at the museum this summer will focus on Historic Ship NAUTILUS and the 50th anniversary of her history making first trip to the North Pole. The main article for this issue of The KLAXON is a review of ICE DIARIES, a new book by CAPT William R. Anderson & Don Keith which chronicles Nautilus’ historic voyage. The publication date for the book is 29 July, 2008 and it will be available for sale in the museum store.
On June 27 we will open a new temporary exhibit: Historic Ship NAUTILUS, 50th Anniversary Pole Transit. The exhibit will highlight several historic Submarine Force firsts in the arctic. Additionally there will be a number of activities including book signings, lectures and a formal ceremony in August marking NAUTILUS’ North Pole crossing. Events commemorating 50 years under the ice are described in detail in a separate article in this issue. Please try to attend as many of these events as you can.
We welcome two new members to the Submarine Force Library & Museum Association Executive Board; CAPT John Porter and RMCM (SS) John Carcioppolo both joined the board in April. We appreciate their enthusiastic support of the museum and we look forward to working with them in bringing improvements to the association.
The association held its 35th annual meeting on May 9. Nearly 60 members and guests attended including a number of our Docents. Following the business meeting all members and guests present enjoyed a gala reception in the museum main exhibit hallway.
Speaking of docents, we continue to seek new volunteers to serve as docents at the museum. We currently have 48 great docents on the roster and we could use 40 more to be able to achieve our goal of having at least one docent on duty whenever the museum is open. If you are interested, or know someone who is, please let us know. No previous experience is necessary.
We are hoping for a busy summer season, despite the high gas prices we are all experiencing. If Memorial Day Weekend was a reliable indicator (up 20% in visitor count over 2007) we should be in for a good summer. Please join the crowd and visit, see the new exhibits, and help us celebrate 50 years under the ice. It’s your museum, please come and enjoy it, tell us what you like, tell us what you don’t like and help us make it the best it can be.