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| |  | Shannon "Pat" Clyde, RM2(SS)
From the author's collection | "Yikes! Can this really have been me"? |
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Floridian Shannon Clyde, nicknamed "Pat", joined the United States Navy on March 23, 1976 and served aboard the USS LOS ANGELES (SSN 688) from April 1978 through March 1982. Pat attended basic training (boot camp) at the Naval Recruit Training Command at Naval Training Center in
Orlando, Florida. He was part of Company 307F, the Fifty States Flag presentation company. Upon graduation from boot camp he was promoted from Seaman Apprentice (E2) to Seaman (E3). He completed Radioman "A" School, Basic Electricity and Electronics School, Basic Receivers, Transmitters, and Antenna maintenance, and Morse Code Operator School at the Naval Training Center in San Diego, California. Upon completion of Radioman "A" School, Pat became rated as Radioman Seaman.
Pat was transferred to the Submarine Training Center at New London, Connecticut in late 1977 where he attended the Radioman Advanced Technical Field pipeline of courses. Pat spent over two years in the pipeline taking courses that included Submarine Communications Advanced Technical modules, Submarine Digital Communication Equipment course (SSIXS, VERDIN, Cryptographic equipment), and Teletype Maintenance & Repair training.
Pat was supposed to have been transfered to the USS SWORDFISH, SSN-579, one of the oldest nuclear powered submarines in the Navy. The SWORDFISH, the third boat ( after USS SEAWOLF, SSN 577 and SKATE, SSN 578) in the SEAWOLF class of fast attack submarines, and only the fourth nuclear powered submarine in the U. S. Navy, was comissioned in September of 1958, one year after Pat was born. His orders were changed almost immediately (thank goodness) to
one of the newest nuclear powered submarines, USS LOS ANGELES, SSN-688. He joined the LA during the boat's last days at the Navy base in Norfolk, Virgnia and made the passage through the Panama Canal during the boat's Change of Home Ports cruise in May of 1978. Pat became a Golden Shellback when the LA
crossed the equator at the International Dateline during the ship's first Western Pacific and Indian Ocean deployment in 1979 ( WESTPAC '79). He subsequently crossed the equator and the international dateline four more times while participating in Western Pacific and Indian Ocean Deployments from 1979 through 1982.From the author's collection.
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Pat was part of the radio team which brought the Communications "C" Award for communications proficiency to the USS LOS ANGELES in 1980. The Radioman generated and transmitted hundreds of radio messages in a short amount of time with a
very small compliment of Radiomen. Pat qualified submarines while aboard the USS LOS ANGELES, SSN-688 and is authorized to wear the Navy Meritorous Unit Citation, Navy "E" ribbon, Good Conduct Medal, Navy Expeditionary Medal (second award), Navy Sea Service Deployments ribbon (third award), Navy Rifle Marksmanship ribbon (with Expert "E"), and Navy Pistol Marksmanship ribbon. Pat separated from the USS LOS ANGELES and
the Navy as an RM2(SS) in 1982. After a cross country trip, he landed in the Houston, Texas area where he now resides with his wife Lori, son Patrick, and daughter Mary Elisabeth. Shannon, as he is known today, has worked at Schlumberger, Hewlett Packard, and Wang Laboratories. He has been working at Compaq Computer Corporation since September of 1990 where is now busy building advanced Web sites. |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | Photo from the author's collection. |
Pat designed the company flag and can be seen marching with it in this photo taken during the boot camp graduation ceremony. | | | | Photo from the author's collection. | In the Radio Shack during WESTPAC 1981. Happy to be going to Japan. |
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Photo from the author's collection. 
Pat was advanced to RM2(SS) on April 16, 1980 while the LA was in port at the Submarine Base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
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| | | | From the author's collection |
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| | Photo from the author's collection | Shannon Clyde speaking to the control room from the radioshack. |
| | | | Photo from the author's collection | The Captain of USS LOS ANGELES (SSN-688), Commander Ralph E. Beedle, presents Pat with silver dolphins in the control room of the LA on December 13, 1979. |
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