USS Sterlet (SS392) Tribute To Capt. George Fraser, Jr.
Jim Christley -
"Captain Fraser, like so many other skippers I have served, had a great responsibility. Sterlet had a habit of keeping us on our toes. She was getting on in years and had run many miles. Engines were touchy and prone to serious breakages. Piping systems leaked and were getting thin walled. One knew the difference between leaks and flooding. She didn’t like to get underway on Monday. But for all her faults and foibles, she was Captain Fraser’s command and he was justly proud of her."
"On several occasions he took us places that are still classified to do ‘stuff’. It didn’t matter whether the ‘stuff’ was of vital importance or just the standard cold war ‘stuff’, he made sure that we and the boat did what was required and then some. If we were ever in danger, or things were tight, you couldn’t tell by looking at his face."
"In his letters up the chain of command, reporting on conditions and how the boat was keeping up, you could see the love he had for ‘his boat’. "
"I might be wrong, but I always felt the skipper ‘had our back’ in any dealing with folks who repaired us or the upward chain of command. "
"What else could you ask for in a Captain? He is the yardstick by which I measured all the other skippers I had."
Ron Wagner -
"Regarding my relationship with him, back in April when your work on the reunion brought up his email address, I wrote him about a memory I have."
"After reporting aboard, for the first month or so, I was messcookin'. I'd discovered that those silverware drawers in the passageway immediately opposite the galley were home to a bunch of cockroaches. I had established with reliability the ability to reach into any of the drawers at any given time and pull out a cockroach or 2."
"One evening in port before chow, Cpt. Fraser came back through the watertight door, stood there and admonished me to refrain from spouting that scuttlebut any more. I said "Captain, will you hold your hand out please?" With a quizzical look on his face, he did so. Quick as a flash, I opened a drawer, stuck my hand in, pulled it out, slammed the drawer shut and dropped 2 cockroaches in his hand. Startled, he abruptly turned around and stormed off to the Wardroom, a couple of the guys were rolling in the passageway, speculating on what was going to happen to me."
"Before chow was over, the COB yelled down the After Battery hatch, dropped a bunch of cases of cockroach killer down to us. We set it out everywhere."
"That, be it as it may, is how I remember Cpt. Fraser."
"Captain Fraser, like so many other skippers I have served, had a great responsibility. Sterlet had a habit of keeping us on our toes. She was getting on in years and had run many miles. Engines were touchy and prone to serious breakages. Piping systems leaked and were getting thin walled. One knew the difference between leaks and flooding. She didn’t like to get underway on Monday. But for all her faults and foibles, she was Captain Fraser’s command and he was justly proud of her."
"On several occasions he took us places that are still classified to do ‘stuff’. It didn’t matter whether the ‘stuff’ was of vital importance or just the standard cold war ‘stuff’, he made sure that we and the boat did what was required and then some. If we were ever in danger, or things were tight, you couldn’t tell by looking at his face."
"In his letters up the chain of command, reporting on conditions and how the boat was keeping up, you could see the love he had for ‘his boat’. "
"I might be wrong, but I always felt the skipper ‘had our back’ in any dealing with folks who repaired us or the upward chain of command. "
"What else could you ask for in a Captain? He is the yardstick by which I measured all the other skippers I had."
Ron Wagner -
"Regarding my relationship with him, back in April when your work on the reunion brought up his email address, I wrote him about a memory I have."
"After reporting aboard, for the first month or so, I was messcookin'. I'd discovered that those silverware drawers in the passageway immediately opposite the galley were home to a bunch of cockroaches. I had established with reliability the ability to reach into any of the drawers at any given time and pull out a cockroach or 2."
"One evening in port before chow, Cpt. Fraser came back through the watertight door, stood there and admonished me to refrain from spouting that scuttlebut any more. I said "Captain, will you hold your hand out please?" With a quizzical look on his face, he did so. Quick as a flash, I opened a drawer, stuck my hand in, pulled it out, slammed the drawer shut and dropped 2 cockroaches in his hand. Startled, he abruptly turned around and stormed off to the Wardroom, a couple of the guys were rolling in the passageway, speculating on what was going to happen to me."
"Before chow was over, the COB yelled down the After Battery hatch, dropped a bunch of cases of cockroach killer down to us. We set it out everywhere."
"That, be it as it may, is how I remember Cpt. Fraser."
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