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1923—OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE USS COLORADO ALUMNI ASSOC.—-1947

Frank Weber-Editor, Steven Leek-Assistant.

February, 2017

The long anticipated Christening of the new Virginia class submarine USS Colorado (SSN-788) took place in Groton, Connecticut on De-cember 3rd, 2016. Nine veterans from the bat-tleship USS Colorado attended the event, along with their spouses, family and guests, and all were seated in a special section in front of more than 4,000 spectators. During the cere-mony, our veterans presented pens made from the teakwood decks of the USS Colorado battle-ship to current crewmembers of the USS Colo-rado submarine, and in return received smart salutes from the grateful submariners. The pens serve as a symbolic link between the two generations of USS Colorado sailors. As the pens were exchanged, Ken Jones chal-lenged the submarine crew to live up to the name that their boat was about to be given: “We, the crew of USS Colorado BB-45 challenge the crew of SSN-788 To wear the name with dignity; To wear the name with honor: To wear the name with pride. We hope that all of your voyages will be total-ly successful. We pray that you will never have to use your weapons in anger But if you do, be ready and prepared to give 'em hell. Smooth seas and fair winds.” Later in the ceremony, no fewer than nine Members of Congress, one governor, and the Secretary of the Navy directly acknowledged our USS Colorado veterans and many of those

same dignitaries came over afterwards to per-sonally express their gratitude to the BB-45 crewmembers. In the end, the boat was Christened by ship’s sponsor Annie Mabus with a bottle of Colorado sparkling wine which was—following the tradi-tion of the Christening of BB-45—chilled in wa-ter from the mighty Colorado River. Pictures from the event can be seen on pages 4-6. Now that the new submarine has an official name, it’s time to start thinking about the com-missioning ceremony. While a Christening is used to name a vessel, a commissioning wel-comes that vessel to the active duty fleet. The Navy has invited our USS Colorado battleship veterans to attend the commissioning ceremo-ny. Just like before, Ken and Dorothy Jones will be keeping a list of those who are interested, so if you’d like to experience the commissioning of the new USS Colorado submarine, please con-tact Ken Jones at the address, phone number, or email on page two. As of now, nothing is of-ficial and things can always change, but rumor has it that the commissioning will take place sometime in Fall, 2017. Location to be an-nounced but possibly also in Groton, CT. This is a once in a lifetime experience and I highly en-courage all who can to add their names to the list. See you there!

(BB-45 and SSN-774 photos courtesy NAVSOURCE.ORG)

USS Colorado Submarine Christened. Commissioning Tentatively

Scheduled for Later this Year

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U.S.S. COLORADO

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

Address

Ken & Dorothy Jones

4101 W. Pleasant Ridge Rd.

Arlington, TX 76016-4610

817-478-6872

kjones4101@aol.com

Lookout

Steven Leek

1518 N.E. Perkins Way

Shoreline, WA 98155

206-367-2518

sleek1234@comcast.net

Website

Joyce Andresen

Joyce@usscolorado.org

www.usscolorado.org

As previously stated, we are now

officially decommissioned as an

Alumni Association but want to

remain active as long as we can

as a group of friends and ship-

mates staying in contact with

one another with news about our

group.

DONATIONS

Ruby Parsons in memory of

Bill, Div. M

Petrina Ciolino in memory of

Joseph, Div. M

Davy Jones

HOPE YOU CAN MAKE IT TO

THE COMMISSIONING!

I don't know about you but we

don't know if it is winter or su-

mer here in Texas. One day it's

80 and the next it is 20 degrees.

I guess that too shall pass.

We who were fortunate

enough to go to Groton for the

christening experienced some

of that cool brisk weather dur-

ing the ceremony. But it was a

wonderful experience for us all.

Each shipmate had the oppor-

tunity to present a pen made

from the teakwood deck to a

crewmember of the new Sub,

thanks to the efforts of Steven

Leek

Thank you Steve, for all of the

work you did coordinating with

Electric Boat to get us on the

program and recognized by so

many. Also, THANK YOU for

keeping us informed through

the LOOKOUT. You have done a

SUPERB job. We appreciate it.

Another highlight was the

time we had after the buffet to

meet with the Captain, XO, and

some crew members of the Sub.

We got to share with them our

experiences on BB-45 and an-

swer some of their questions

and well as to hear about their

work on the sub that will be

looking out for us 24-7.

We have received a lot of ad-

dress changes which you will

see listed and sorrowfully we

have lost a large number of our

members through death. We

want to express our deep sym-

pathy to all that have lost a

loved one since we last met.

ADDRESS CHANGES

Robert Faith

405 Hunts Gin Rd. NE

Calhoun GA 30701-4926

Dennis Shell

7805 Irwingrove Dr

Downey CA 90241-2232

George Freeman

1236 Appleland Dr

Wenatchee WA 98801

Forestine Wayland

7421 Maple Dr #107

Raytown MO 64133

Larry Clements

13405 SE 236th PL

Kent A 98042-3286

DEATH of SHIPMATES

William S. Carter Div CR

Waldon Kallenberger DiM

Robert Bruss Div F

James E. Pratt Div E

Frank Souza Div 5 & R

Alfred Jones Div 4 & V

Robert Shields Div V

Samuel E. Emerson Div 7

WIFE of SHIPMATE

Edie DeZonia wife of AL

Div M & A

Ken’s Page

February, 2017

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University of Colorado Opens New Veteran’s Lounge Featuring Items

from Battleship Colorado

The University of Colorado’s University Memo-rial Center (UMC) has long had a lounge on the second floor where items from the different USS Colorado ships have been displayed, but recently, the area was closed down and a new, beautiful, and unique space was created not only to display USS Colorado memorabilia, but also to memorial-ize all of the CU students who have died in Ameri-ca’s wars. On Veteran’s Day, November 11th, the new space was officially opened to the public. In addition to the ship’s wheel, the space also proudly displays two different USS Colorado’s ships’ bells (see picture above).

Speaking of ship’s bells, when our association decommissioned we set aside funds to help cre-ate a new ship’s bell as a gift for the submarine USS Colorado. A replica of the bell will be dis-played in the Veteran’s Lounge along with the others. Above is a photo of the replica bell in front of (left to right) Norris Hermsmeyer, An-drea Zelinko, and Carlos Garcia. All three have been instrumental in supporting the Veter-an’s Lounge and it’s connection to the USS Colora-do’s legacy. If you find yourself in Boulder, make your way to the University Memorial Center and check it out yourself.

Teakwood Pens

During the Christening ceremony in Groton, our veteran’s presented very special pens to the sub-mariners. What made the pens so special was that they were made from what used to be the teakwood decks of the battleship USS Colorado, but the story behind the pens is interesting as well...

If you’ve read the Lookout recently, you proba-bly know that the teakwood was purchased by Boeing when the USS Colorado was scrapped in 1959. Boeing used the wood for wall paneling in a cafeteria until 2014 when they passed it on to the USO facility at the Seattle airport, who in-stalled it back on the deck and lovingly treasure and maintain it.

Ron Radliff, a US Air Force veteran from Mt. Vernon, Washington, saw the story on TV and asked the USO for any scraps from the flooring project. He is a wood turner who makes wooden pens and sends them to service-members around the world. Our association asked him if he could produce enough pens so that we could present one to each USS Colorado veteran in our associa-tion. He worked hard for several months, but fi-nally he delivered over 100 teakwood pens, which we mailed to every USS Colorado veteran on our mailing list. We believe and hope that all of our vets got a teakwood pen.

We’ve heard from several USS Colorado vets and family members who were surprised when they received their pens, and many consider them treasures and family heirlooms. One USS Colorado veteran made a special display case for his pen, while another who passed away in June, asked to be interned with two items: his Purple Heart lapel pin, and his teakwood pen.

Mr. Radliff is running low on USS Colorado teakwood, but he thinks he can make a few more pens with the wood he has left. Hopefully, we’ll have a handful of the special pens ready to pre-sent during the submarine commissioning cere-mony later this year.

Photo: S. Leek

Photo: S. Leek

Photo: S. Leek

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USS Colorado Veterans Help

Photo courtesy Electric Boat

Photo courtesy Electric Boat

Photo courtesy Electric Boat Photo courtesy Electric Boat

Photo courtesy Electric Boat

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Christen New USS Colorado

Photo courtesy Bruce Marsden

Photo courtesy Bruce Marsden

Photo courtesy Bruce Marsden Photo courtesy Bruce Marsden

Photo courtesy Karen Goyettee

Photo courtesy Karen Goyettee

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More Pictures from Christening Event

Photo courtesy John and Sara Wegman

Photo courtesy John and Sara Wegman

Photo courtesy John and Sara Wegman

Photo courtesy John and Sara Wegman

Photo courtesy John and Sara Wegman Photo courtesy John and Sara Wegman

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The Future of the USS Colorado Lookout

Message from the (assistant) editor

For me, this Lookout task began four years ago after Mary Jo Pierce passed away, and nobody else was able to step up and take over the newsletter. That’s understandable—Mary Jo and Les Pierce put out the Lookout for many years, always man-aging to keep it interesting and fun, and they pub-lished it bi-monthly! Who could possibly match that?

With nobody to take up the reins, Leon and Tula Shook thought I might be a good person to recruit. I was hesitant because not only was I relatively new to the alumni association, but I’m only a USS Colorado sailor’s grandson, two generations re-moved from the ship’s company. After meeting Ken and Dorothy Jones at the Atlanta reunion, though, I accepted the job, but with the stipulation that it would only be until the USS Colorado sub-marine was commissioned, when we would put out the call for someone else to take over.

That time has arrived...and so far there are no takers for the Lookout job. This puts me in a quandary, because on the one hand it seems to me that the USS Colorado submarine’s launching seems a natural and appropriate time for the Lookout to close up shop. Ken and Dorothy Jones also agree that the time has come to end publica-tion of the newsletter.

On the other hand, I’ve LOVED doing the Lookout and organizing the decommissioning reunion and the teakwood pens and the submarine christening ceremony, etc. As one of the contact links on the website, I’ve also been in touch with dozens and dozens of people whose relatives were aboard ship or were looking for USS Colorado infor-mation. For me, it’s been a true privilege and la-bor of love; working with the USS Colorado Alum-ni Association has been one of the highlights of what so far has been a pretty interesting life…

Add to that the fact that several people ap-proached me at the recent submarine christening ceremony and stressed how much they love get-ting The Lookout and how much it means to them. So like I said, I’m in a quandary….

...After consulting with Ken and Dorothy, we’ve decided to publish one final “Special Edition USS Colorado Lookout,” which will come out after the upcoming submarine commissioning ceremony

and will hopefully be unlike anything we’ve put out before...but to do this we need your help:

I’m encouraging everybody to submit your USS Colorado stories and memories for the next Look-out. If you (or your husband) served on the ship, share your (or his) favorite shipboard story and photos. Funny, or serious, true or tall tale, every-thing is welcome. Or tell us what the alumni asso-ciation means to you and about the shipmates and friends you met along the way or tell us about the best reunion you attended and why. If you’re a child or grandchild (or whatever) of a Colorado sailor, share with the rest of us a memorable story and photos from your USS Colorado sailor.

(That reminds me. I have a funny story about my grandfather: in 1944, when he was aboard the Colo-rado in San Francisco, he got real mad and...actually, I’m going to save the story for the next Lookout. It’s a good one though…)

Several people at the Christening also mentioned that they’d like to be able to keep in touch in the future with other members, so if you’re comforta-ble, please include your address and phone num-ber with your submission and we’ll share them with everybody.

In review, we’re planning on putting out a Spe-cial Edition USS Colorado Lookout. Frank Weber and I are requesting everybody who receives this newsletter to consider contributing memories and/or photos relating to the USS Colorado, her crew, the alumni association, etc. The sky’s the limit as long as it’s USS Colorado related, and this might be your last chance to share your memories with the association. You can send your submis-sions either through the mail or electronically to either of the following addresses. Let’s all chip in and make the next Lookout extraordinary!

Steven Leek 1518 N.E. Perkins Way Shoreline, WA 98155 (206) 367-2518 sleek1234@comcast.net Ken Jones 4101 W. Pleasant Ridge Rd. Arlington, TX 76016-4610 (817) 478-6872 kjones4101@aol.com

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U.S.S. COLORADO ALUMNI ASSN. 4101 Pleasant Ridge Rd. Arlington, TX 76016

Photo courtesy John and Sara Wegman

America’s Newest Submarine:

The fast attack Virginia Class sub USS Colorado (SSN-788)