Lola at the Coffee House

Did you ever meet or hear of a guy named Jim Roche?

He, submarine captain, was a colleague of my father at 'bikini', and not all that long all that after signed up as a jesuit, and years later was the pastor of a then prominent church in Los Angeles, Blessed Sacrament.

I'm not Canadian, born in LA in '41. You can insult me with fervor, and since I know you already from posts, I'll probably not rail at you past aggravation.

Nothing for me. Don't want to ruin my dinner. Tom Jones is Welsh, isn't he? Ak ak ak.

David's a little fella, about 5' 5" or 6" so they did stick him into a sub for a very brief spell (they like to put small people in those crowded sardine cans). But I guess he didn't care for the duty either so he transferred out to an oceanography ship which made good sense inasmuch as that had been his undergraduate major at university. Don't know what all they did on those oceanography study ships because he still won't talk about it, except in the most general of terms. When retired he worked for NOAA for a number of years in Washington, DC before retiring completely and moving to the Cape. Now he designs and prints greeting cards in his spare time.

They shagged the research assistants Andrei. There's nothing like getting them cast off from the moorings.

But George will know more about that than I do. I'm as good a land-lubber as Henry Blake Fuller. We have to get them tiddly.

Sometimes they would drop a thermometer into the sea and note the reading. Then they would steam, as they did in your day, a few dozens of nautical miles and repeat the exercise. After a few weeks they would join up the dots, send the diagram to CBS News and an expert would explain that we were in for some insurance claims.

PHARISEER AND SACHER TORTE ! ... ... ...

You must remember, spendi, that this was at the height of the so-called Cold War, so there's no telling what, exactly, they were measuring and for what reasons.

They were surveying the Atlantic floor and measuring acoustic propagation patterns. We had the Atlantic pretty well wired for sound as early as 1965 (and in some cases knew the acoustic characteristics of individual Soviet submarines, which we could detect at very long ranges). It was a well-kept secret for a long time. It was quite an undertaking.

Yes I did. Only stories : I didn't know him directly.

Why would I wish to insult you?

That looks good !!!!! Where (in California) can I get some of that coffee ?

What did I say, re insulting me? I like you, George.


backing up, I see your point.

Stories, I'd like to know them. (sigh)

What I remember is that he was a colorful guy - one of those who many folks talk about. I didn't have much to do with submariners until late in my career when I had to go thru nuclear power training, which was dominated by submariners and, on reflection, under Adm. Hyman Rickover, a lot like Jesuit School. I think I recall Rickover making some wisecracks about Roche and the transition.

I was small then.
Of course I'd like to ferret out more.
Thanks in the meantime.

Apropos of nothing:
Think (un)Pink: A cannery stuck with unmarketable pale salmon turned this handicap around by boldly labeling their product as "Guaranteed not to turn pink in the can!" A cannery stuck with unmarketable pale salmon turned this handicap around by boldly labeling their product as "Guaranteed not to turn pink in the can!"
-Snopes

I'll have to dig out a photo of my father yawning at a pentagon meeting, not so much re him, but whoever the rest of the people were;

I think that was when he delivered the film from one of the Bakers and there was this meeting.

Not to waylay the thread. I'll use it to activate myself to find stuff.

I'd give the stuff from my father to the atomic museum here, maybe still will, but the director, whom I talked with for about an hour in 2009, didn't know anything about bikini. Not to knock him, I liked him, one can't know everything as an new administrator dealing with a new building.

Let me know, George, if you've interest. I'm not trying to make money out of my father's past - just don't want it tripping off to the dump.

I guess that sounded odd - I don't expect you'd like all my dad's stuff for your very own - but maybe you'd have an opinion re whom I could talk with.

If you could send me a list of what you have I'll try to help. PM me.