January Meeting Notes

We started off the January meeting with the Tolling of the Boats, birthday wishes for our members, introductions, and officer reports.

After the officer reports, Base Commander Doug Abramson presented Karl 'Dutch' Krompholz with his Shipmate of the Year plaque. Dutch was unable to attend the Holiday Luncheon, so we gave him his award at the January meeting.

Karl 'Dutch' Krompholz receives his Shipmate of the Year plaque from Base Commander Doug Abramson

Old and New Business 
Membership Dues - If you are on the annual membership plan for National or Seattle Base, it is time to pay your dues. You need to make sure you get your dues paid or you will be removed from the membership rolls. Please contact Jim Harper to pay your dues or if you have questions.

Holiday Luncheon Recap and Future Plans - We had a nice lunch at the Seattle Yacht Club in December (you can view photos from the event here and here) and they sent a 'Thank You' card for the base, but it looks like it might be time to look for another venue for the 2013 luncheon. Andrea Giesler is looking for a new place to host the lunch. Right now the leading candidate is Anthony's HomePort restaurant in Kirkland. We are still exploring other ideas and if you have a suggestion, please contact Andrea or Base Commander Doug Abramson.

Chairman Needed for Tolling Ceremony - Bob Opple let us know that he will not be able to continue as the Chairman for the Tolling of the Boats ceremony. The Tolling ceremony is important for our creed and we need someone to step-up to take over the position. Bob has set things up so it will be easy to run and most of the setup work for the 2013 ceremony is already done. If you are interested in the position or have more questions, please contact Base Commander Doug Abramson or any of the other Base officers.

Smokey Point Rest Stop Event - Steve Shelton let us know that the Smokey Point event is back. This year we drew the southbound rest stop for June 28 - July 1. Be sure to mark it on your calendar and start planning for when you can volunteer to man the coffee booth.

2013 Calendars and other Storekeeper items - The USSVI 2013 and Submarine Veterans of WWII calendars are available through the Seattle Base ship's store. Additionally, Bill wanted to let everyone know that he still has a few copies of Don Ulmer's latest book, "Ensure Plausible Deniability."

Other Fund Raising Opportunities - The Base is on the lookout for more fund raising ideas. The hope is that if we can raise some more money, we can plan more events (some suggestions were a trip to visit USS Blueback in Portland or a Summer Luncheon). If you have some ideas for what we can do, please contact Base Commander Doug Abramson or any of the other Base officers.

Base Raffle - We held the raffle for the canvas reproduction of the USSVI plaque at the end of the meeting and the winner was Sam Ronnie. Congratulations to Sam.

Sam Ronnie picking up his raffle prize

January Presentation
The presentation for our January meeting was by representatives from Dignity Memorial. The representatives from Dignity Memorial provided us with information about veteran's death benefits through the VA. Additionally, the gave out information on the special veterans programs and assistance available through Dignity Memorial. It was a very informative presentation, especially if you haven't thought about the issue. If you would like the contact information for the representatives at the meeting, please contact Base Commander Doug Abramson or any of the other Base officers.

January Meeting Reminder

We want to remind you that the next Seattle Base meeting is this coming Wednesday, January 16.

As usual though, we will meet at VFW Post #2995 (4330 148th Ave N.E., Redmond WA 98052). Social hour starts at 6 PM with business meeting at 7PM. Don't forget to review the previous meeting minutes, you can find them here on the blog or on the Seattle Base website, just click the Minutes button on the left.


Come ring in the new year with your fellow submariners. Don't forget to bring along some extra money to buy raffle tickets for the 14" x 14" reproduction of the memorial plaque. We'll be raffling it off at the meeting. You can purchase tickets for the drawing for $1 each or 6 for $5.

Raffle Prize

This months program will be a short presentation by Dignity Memorial. 

We hope to see you at the meeting.

Submarine Force 2012 in Review

COMSUBFOR (Commander Submarine Forces) has put together a video review of the U.S. Navy Submarine Force in action during 2012.

If the embedded version below doesn't work, you can find the video here. Once you start the video, you can click on the full screen icon (in the lower right) to expand the video. 

More Photos from the Holiday Luncheon

Here are some more photos from the Holiday Luncheon, provided by Ric Hedman.

January - February Newsletter Posted

The January - February issue of the Dolphin Brotherhood has been posted to the Seattle Base website.

January Meeting Raffle Prize

This issue has information about our Base raffle for the reproduction of the memorial plaque, pictured above (which is happening at the January meeting), photos from the Auburn Veteran's Day parade and the 2012 Joint SubVets WWII and USSVI Holiday Luncheon, along with the usual base news, upcoming events, and other submarine related articles.

Hardcopies of the newsletter will go out this weekend. I hope you all enjoy it.

As always, don't forget to check back here for base updates and other articles of interest. You can find old issues of the newsletter at: Dolphin Brotherhood Archives, which is also a link on the right side of the blog.

Dave Schueler

Seattle Base Newsletter Editor