SUBSIM: 20 years on the web & still no gold watch!

[Skipbo]

I haven't been here for a long time, but my old friend Lane Goodman (post 59) sent me a note to tell me about your 20th anniversary - congratulations! Neal has provided a great website and a huge amount of valuable information to the simulation world.

I was 48 years old and still working as an engineering manager for the US Navy in 1997, primarily on the TRIDENT Fleet Ballistic Missile System, have since retired. Not sure when I first found SUBSIM, but checked some old emails and Excel spreadsheets and was using SH1 on Windows 95 and working with Jim Atkins (who had an earlier SH website) on several accuracy improvement spreadsheets - torpedo spread settings, etc. IIRC, Jim pointed me to SUBSIM. Found some emails I ttraded with Jim dated February 1997 in which I reported that I'd just met Lane. Used a lot of SH4 information/mods from SUBSIM in later years, but wasn't an active contributor - thanks to those who were and are!

Thanks for all of the hard work establishing and maintaining SUBSIM and thanks for the memories I dredged up in order to make this post.

...................Jim Wolford, Indiana, USA

[USS Lionfish]

Welp, in '97 I wasn't even born yet, I was 6 years from being born (yikes I'm young!), 12 years from finding SH3, and 13 years from finding SubSim, which I made an account to download mods and then forgot the password. Well congradulations on 20 years SubSim, I'll just talk about what it was like for me 10 years ago.

- I was still in preschool

- I lived in a small town in New York

- George W. Bush was President

- I was first starting to find video games, something my little cousin started at 1 with iPads and other things that don't require knowledge of a mouse and keyboard to use

- I was 2 years from finding SH3, and 3 from finding Subsim

[DaveMM2SS]

The year 1997: I had been out of Submarine service for 30 years, Working at my second civilian Nuclear Plant (Reactors 4 and 5), Living near the shores of Lake Michigan where I had first gone to watch the submarine races nearly 40 years prior. Both of my children received their degrees in 1997. My computer held a massive 40Megabyte hard drive and was connected to a 28.8K modem (yes, it was slightly faster than my I-5 laptop with 80Mb modem is today)

[rdop]

Early 97' found me aboard the training ship at my Maritime Academy, on my way to becoming an engineer aboard ships. Still sailing today, just on tugs now.

Subsim is one of the best gaming forums around! Lots of info and helpful members. My thanks to those who keep it going.

[escalaris]

En el 1997 yo tenia 39 años, casado y con dos hijos, doce horas de trabajo para mantener a la familia. Lo normal en cualquier padre de familia.... Pero visitando un centro comercial encontré un simulador de Submarinos, para mi el mejor de todos, "Silent Hunter: Commander's Edition" era un submarino de la Armada de los Estados Unidos y se desarrollaba en la guerra del pacifico, evidentemente en esa época los ordenadores eran MS-DOS y los gráficos no daban para más, pero por ahora el mejor simulador de submarinos y con un tutorial super completo...

[MatijaGeic]

In 1997 i was studying archaeology in Berlin and did an excavation in Loryma, Turkey. An extraordenary place with an ancient harbour and a castle dated 500 B.C.

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by AKBBY

Having a baby brother serving as helmsman on the USS Oklahoma City, USS San Bernadino, and USS Little Rock; and doing strange things in strange ports from Bangkok to Scapa Flow...these kids have mothers who worry; so I took matters in hand to prevent further 'damage to government 'property';

Originally Posted by redbranchwarrior

In 1997 I was just a pup, on my second Westpac as a second class FC on board USS Russell DDG-59. Chased skirts in Phuket, Adelaide, and Fiji. . Remember we sailors don't get older, just ornery and saltier!

Rebranchwarrior!(makes my point entirely) ALSO Welcome warmly first-time posters: Tac-Addict!; calvinmah!; Kristensen!; Moc of Oz!!;Tuilcaron!!; Dy88jr!; Digital_Pariah!; connor3213!; Riddler1506!; USS Lionfish!; DaveMM2SS!; Rdop!; escalarlis! (bienvenidos!) MatijaGeic! Skreezilla!; JeanLed! ; OddBallCHMC! ; Colonel Klink!; Julimrs!; traner2! Alstack!: slujac!; zorilya!; audiopathic!; & Slammer597! regicide76! ALowSimmer! winslynm! liljoentx!; HarHedZ; catbloc; Angry Viking! & SashBro2!

[Skreezilla]

97? Worst year of my life. I was 11,
Start of the year i broke my neck and back in a BMX crash after some ass left oil on the road. How ever, i managed to walk home and did not know i had fractured my lower back and neck for 6 months. I amazingly was not paralyzed or dead!

Mid year, my step dad passed away.

End of the year, i passes my first Kidney stone on Christmas eve.

Christmas day: i got a ps1 and f1 97 and i was ridiculously happy and in awe at the graphics!

All in all 97 had many bad times, but it made me stronger! It was also the firat time i ever saw a real sub in Portsmouth, i also got to drive a APC at bovvie tank museum because i spent pretty much all my childhood there. They were doing somthing recognized me and gave me a ride then one of the soldiers sat me in the driver seat and let me have a small go!

So as much as it has bad memories it has some a.amazing onea too.

[OddBallCHMC]

In 1997

My daughter started school
got hooked on 688 I Hunter Killer
Watched the Hollywood Shooting on TV
Tiger Woods won the the Masters
Listened to Howard Stern for the first time


Congrats on 20th guys hope for 20 more

[Colonel Klink]

In 1997, I was not yet born, so I'll begin when I was in 2000. 6 Years prior my grandfather passed away from cancer, he was a Korean war vet, 3 years prior my family restored a home near Pittsburgh, built in 1927. My Great uncle owned it and was the driving force behind it, so it was in good shape. After I was born, everything in my family became hectic. We took plenty of vacations even though money was tight. It was then, around 2005 or so, that I walked on my first submarine. It was the U.S.S. Requin, a Tench class boat permanently moored outside the Carnegie science Center. I was astounded at how tight and cramped everything was, and then my dad rented Das Boot on the way home. I remember thinking to myself,
"Wow, that's so small compared to the Requin. And why do they have circular hatches? They're so small and tiny..."
After we finished watching the movie, my dad told me, "You know your great Uncle George worked on submarines during the cold war."
I never knew this and I was so excited to ask him the next time I saw him. That is when he told me that he not only worked ON submarines, HE DESIGNED THEM. He was a chief chemist during the Manhattan Project, and after the war he was a chief design manager of the S2W nuclear reactor that would be placed into the world's first nuclear boat, the Nautilus. He worked at Bettis Atomic Power laboratories under Westinghouse from 1956 to 1989. 11 years later, he passed away last month 5 days after Christmas at the age of 93. I have been interested in planes, submarines, the navy, U boats, tactics, tanks, weapons, and everything world war 2 ever since. I have a minor collection now, even consisting of a sparkplug from a B17, a letter addressed to someone aboard the USS Lexington (later sunk at the battle of the Coral Sea), and a Kriegsmarine document detailing a pension of a world war 1 German navy veteran, bearing the official naval eagle ink stamp.
I hope to continue my collection and continue my interests to this day through games thanks to you subsim. Congrats for the 20 years of service, and here's to another 20 more

[Commander Wallace]

Originally Posted by Aktungbby

Rebranchwarrior!(makes my point entirely) ALSO Welcome warmly first-time posters: Tac-Addict!; calvinmah!; Kristensen!; Moc of Oz!!;Tuilcaron!!; Dy88jr!; Digital_Pariah!; connor3213!; Riddler1506!; USS Lionfish!; DaveMM2SS!; Rdop!; escalarlis! (bienvenidos!) MatijaGeic! & Skreezilla!!

Welcome to subsim all of the above new to Subsim and all the newcomers to Subsim not listed above including Colonel Klink

[julimrs]

Hello everyone. I in 1997, still played with the SILENT SERVICE II for AMIGA. Excellent simulator.
Many congratulations to you during these 20 years.
A greeting.

[G97_BoKeRoN]

In 1997 I was in High school. Still 16 years old. Playing a lot of Silent Hunter with my dad.

Man, thanks to your posts here, I feel younger

[traner2]

1997 I study archaeology at University of Ljubljana. I spent 14 days with friends on island Hvar, we were doing archaeology survey. I had PC something with Windows 1995 and was playing Civilization 2, Dune 2, Battlehawks 1942.

Congratulations to SUBSIM crew and forum. May it last for next 20 years! Cheers

[Alstack]

Very interesting. I was retired for 5 years from a combination of 6 years serving in the US Navy and 14 years serving in the USCG, in 1997. All active duty. I was out of the service from 1976 to 1978, went back in. Now that is an entire other long story.

Happy to be here and play nautical themed games.