“Rattlesnakes of the sea”
January 2nd, 2009 From
>Date: Wed, 10 Sep 1997 17:32:31 -0600
>From: Brooks A Rowlett
>Reply-To: brooksar@indy.net
>Organization: None whatsoever
>X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.01-C-MACOS8 (Macintosh; I; PPC)
>To: “Louis R. Coatney”
>CC: consim-l@listserv.uni-c.dk, mahan@microwrks.com, >marhst-l@qucdn.queensu.ca,
> milhst-l@ukanvm.cc.ukans.edu
>Subject: Re: “Rattlesnakes of the sea”
>Precendence: bulk
>Sender: mahan-owner@microworks.net
>
>1. Actually, since the sea snakes of the tropics/Pacific are among the
>most venomous of reptiles, “sea snake” is not a bad ‘demonym’. If you
>want specificity, you might look up some of the nomes for those
>beasties.
>
>2. On a related idea, note the modern (NATO era) German torpedo whose
>name translates to “Sea Snake”.
>
>3. At least the rate of loss of carriers to IJN submarines you are
>experiencing in the game is historically accurate!
>
>Brooks A Rowlett
>brooksar@indy.net
>
>Louis R. Coatney wrote (several nonessentials snipped for space):
> >
> > Despite the decent AntiSubmarine Warfare capability of the USN ships,
> > it seems like every game (of SKY, SEA, AND JUNGLE) I lose 1-2 carriers
> > to Japanese subs … usually in the South Pacific (better called
> > “Torpedo Junction”) sea area.
> >
> > In one of his “prewar” addresses, President Roosevelt labelled German
> > U-booten as “the rattlesnakes of the sea,” and I indeed get a
> > snake-killing sense of satisfaction whenever I nail one of these
> > reptilian, *poisonous* pests …
>
> > However, I think Pres. Roosevelt handed rattlesnakes a bad rap, when
> > he lowered them to the level of U-boats. At least rattlers give
> > you fair warning and are really only interested in being left alone.
> >
> > SO … what alternatives are there?
> >
> > “Sea snakes” … although they go nicely with the US Navy’s “SS” ship
> > code for submarines … seems too generic.
> >
> > Anyway, I’m just calling — sort of hissing out, actually — the varmints
> > “@#%! snake!”
> >
> > What other … unpleasant … sobriquets for submarines … has anyone
> > heard?
> > Lou Coatney, mslrc@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu