User:Robert G. Douglas

Regarding your article about the sailing of the submarine R-14, the sailing facts are correct, but the article gives credit to the wrong officer. It was LT Douglas (my father), the acting commanding officer, who made the decision to sail and who conceived the sails and who received the personal letter of commendation from CDR Nimitz for his "initiative and ingenuity." The boat's log does not state whose idea it was, so anybody is free to claim responsibility, but my family and the Navy know that it was LT Douglas's work. Your article was written by somebody who wanted to glorify the name Gallemore and who made the fatal mistake of claiming that Gallemore started a battery charge (not mentioned in the log) at the same time that the first sail was erected. An engine used for a battery charge would have been used for propulsion, not for a battery charge, so there would have been no need to sail. One last thought to ponder: I received my copy of the boat's log "as a matter of interest" from James Gallemore, a son of LT Gallemore, sometime after your article was published. Your article is totally at odds with the facts, which are correctly described in the August 2004 edition of the magazine Naval History, pages 60-61.