News From Fort Schuyler

October 19, 2009 - Volume 9, No. 38

USS NEW YORK - According to CAPT JAMES P. DRISCOLL, USN, Commanding Officer of NROTCU SUNY Maritime, there will be a contingent of 25 cadets representing SUNY Maritime College at the Commissioning of the USS NEW YORK on Saturday, November 7 at the Intrepid Museum Pier in Manhattan. (For more information about the ship and the commissioning go to www.ussnewyork.com)

REMEMBERING LEN - "I am very sad to hear of the death of LEN SUTTER '53," writes DICK BRACKEN '56. "Len was Battalion Commander in the fall of 1952, when I entered Fort Schuyler as a Mug. He was a person of exceptional leadership qualities, and my classmates and I were in awe of him. Only a few years ago I came to know him on a different level; I told him that as Mugs we considered him near equal to God, and in his presence, I felt like a little kid. Len laughed and said that he never felt anything like that. What a fine gentleman he was. He sent me a copy of his 2004 book 'The New York Years', in which almost sixty pages are devoted to his time at Fort Schuyler. This is a 'must read' for every Maritime College grad." (The Luce Library has copies. You may also be able to find his books at online book dealers like Amazon by searching his nom de plume, Luke Sutter.)

A ROMP WITH TEDDY - Associate Professor of Naval Science and long-time member of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, MAJ GREGORY A. WYNN, USMC, has recently written about discovering an important new letter written by Theodore Roosevelt two years after his presidency ended. According to a press release on the college website, Major Wynn is a Roosevelt scholar who is recognized as having one of best private collections of Theodore Roosevelt materials in the nation. He came across a letter that T.R. wrote to the English statesman, Sir George Otto Trevelyan in 1911 in which "...Roosevelt discusses his trip from Khartoum to London, describing his foreign policy and intimate dealings with foreign governments. Major Wynn calls the letter a sprawling intellectual romp through Africa, Norway, Italy, France and Germany." The Major is also the Executive Officer of the SUNY Maritime College NROTC Battalion. (For the full article go to www.sunymaritime.edu)

NEWS FROM TEHRAN - In the 1970's the Maritime College welcomed a contingent of students from Iran, officers in training for the Iranian Navy, which at the time was significantly expanding its fleet in order to defend vital sea-lanes of the Shah's Iran. The revolution in Iran in 1979 put an end to that program. According to FARHAD MIRIANY '77, now a consulting engineer in Tehran, who also owns companies that do business in Iran and elsewhere, "...although they were trained for the Navy...many left the navy for either the commercial fleets or civilian jobs."

In response to a request for updates on some of the Iranian graduates, Farhad first reported the deaths of some classmates: SIAMAK DERAKSHAN '79 "...was lost in naval war action against Saddam's forces on the 28th of November, 1980; AHMAD SOHRABI '77, an electrical engineering graduate who attained the rank of Commodore in the Iranian Navy, died of cancer several years ago, and another Iranian graduate who lived in Canada, SAIID TAVAKOLY '76, died of a heart attack.

"The rest of the graduates, as far as I know, are doing well. Some are here in Iran, some in the U.S. and Canada, and some in the rest of the world." Farhad then asks if anyone "...knows anything about SIAVASH MAHALATI '75, who was very bright and remembered well by all his teachers and the students? The last news about him is that he was in Minnesota in 1978."

NEWS FROM KABUL - Fort Schuyler graduates seem to circle the earth. LUIS M. LUIS '83, for example, lives in Texas, normally works in the oil fields of the Niger Delta, and has gone for training in Hawaii for the past 14 year as a Reservist. For the past two months, however, he has been stationed at Camp Eggers at the HQ of the Combined Security Transition Command in Afghanistan. "'. my primary duties are to drive the colonels and majors around town to meetings in various others camps around Kabul. I am typically the convoy commander in our missions. Every time we go outside the 'Inner Zone' we really can never be sure that we will return alive, because we drive SUVs with only enough armor to protect against small arms fire. When a suicide car bomb blows up it even destroys the Humvees, because these insurgents pack 500 to 1000 lb of explosives!" Luis takes a philosophical view, noting that in another six years he will be getting "'.a retirement check and medical benefits that certainly will still be worth more than the present loss [of income, since his Nigerian employer does not compensate employees for reserve duty.]"

LIBERTY SHIP MEMORIES - Responding to the NFFS item about Project Liberty Ship in Baltimore and its ship the SS JOHN W BROWN (NFFS 9:35) RICK BAGSHAW '62recalls "...the ship was a vocational high school in NYC in the early 60's. Schuyler Engineers were bussed to the ship one day during our junior or senior year to see a reciprocating engine and how it operated. Apart from the massive engine, I remember the school's unsavory student body most."

"About 10 years ago, my wife and I drove to Baltimore and rode the ship for a day-long outing, which included a mock air attack. While I can't say it was my wife's favorite trip, it was an interesting day for me. The engine room was as hot as the Victory ship I rode around the world. Net, well worth the trip for any retired snipes w/time on their hands. (www.liberty-ship.com)

LIBRARIES HERE AND THERE - In his recent e-mail, FARHAD MIRIANY '77 expressed his appreciation for "....your and your colleagues efforts in providing excellent library services at the Maritime College. Whenever I visited a closed service library in the Iranian Colleges I reminded the librarians of your way of work and encouraged them to used your methods. I also thank you for providing some special services to the Iranian students while we were at Fort Schuyler, such as the Iranian newspapers that let us know what was going on in our homeland." (The Luce Library continues to reach out to students ashore and afloat.)

EBB TIDE - LT. CMDR. ERIC H. SVAIGSEN, USNR (ret.) Oct '44, died on March 24, 2009 at the age of 83. He was for 30 years a representative of the Nicoverken Ship Repair Group, based in Goteborg, Sweden. A long-time resident of Astoria, NY, Svaigsen taught for several years at the Merchant Marine Academy.

The death of CAPT. VERNER B. UNGER, USNR (ret) '61, age 72, on August 28, 2009 after a 3-year struggle with prostate cancer was reported by Jim Vatis, his former colleague at Fairfield Bulk Carriers. According to an obituary in the October 14th issue of the Amityville Record,Unger, a longtime resident of the city, was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. He served in the U.S. Navy for three years after he graduated from Fort Schuyler and spent 40 years in the Naval Reserve, retiring with the rank of Captain. He was in hospice care at the Calvary Hospital in the Bronx at the time of his death. (www.amityvillerecord.com) BOB SCHWIEGER '64 recalls Vern on the Fort Schuyler soccer pitch: "He was a great center forward. Long before Pele gained fame with his back-to-the-goal summersault goals, Unger was doing it for Maritime. LOUIE PROSEK '63 could set up Unger like not other. Pure poetry."