Today our social justice group visited the Intrepid, in particular Submarine Growler. Submarine Growler was a submarine in use during the Cold War. It served with the US Navy from 1958 to 1964. It was an early effort by the US to use submarines as launch platforms for Nuclear missiles And carried four regulus one missiles which were radar-guided jets that carried a Nuclear warhead. Each missile had a maximum range of 500 miles and where powerful enough to destroy NYC. Growler played a key role in the US’s efforts to deter the Soviet Union from launching a Nuclear strike. But because of this, Growler had to patrol off the Soviet Union’s Pacific coastline and would stay hidden underwater for the duration of its time on duty although the crew of the Growler had many missile launch procedures they were never given the order to fire.

On this trip, I got to see the inner part of a submarine that actually served in the US Navy and was given a first-hand tour of what life was like aboard the Growler. It was very surprising to me how little space the crew had and how claustrophobic it was for the crew aboard. but the most surprising thing to me was that basically the entire ship was the same at least the inside of it had been completely unchanged so everything was the same which really made me appreciate the things people did for our country. another surprising thing was that the crewmates of the Growler signed up voluntarily and were not drafted. this surprised me because I thought that you had to be drafted into any job in the army. overall this trip really opened my eyes to how much people gave up in that time but also how brave people were to voluntarily go hundreds of miles undereater to serve in a war that could’ve ended the world as we know it