Fleet Plan of the Day

Today, we remember...

We set aside this day, Memorial Day, to honor those military personnel who died serving in the United States Armed Forces, and that number is so great as to be hard to grasp. 

We are grateful, we give thanks, and we acknowledge the sacrifice made by so many, but unless you personally know someone who gave their life serving, the sheer magnitude of numbers renders those we remember nearly anonymous.

Perhaps we focus on those lost only in the submarine community, but even the 3506 submarine officers and men lost during World War II are difficult to hold in your head, and that doesn’t include those lost before or since.

Even bounding our count with the duration of the Cold War, from 1946 to 1991, produces hundreds of names from the well-remembered USS THRESHER (SSN 593) and the USS SCORPION (SSN 589) to the lesser known USS COCHINO (SS 345)/USS TUSK (SS 426) incident, and many others lost one or two at a time. 

Who can name all of these men, who selflessly sacrificed themselves so that we might live the lives we live today. Even me, I confess, if pressed, could only produce the name of TMC(SS) Walter ‘Wally’ Bishop, Chief of the Boat of the USS SCORPION at the time she was lost, and that only because I was billeted for a short time in Bishop Hall at SUBASE Point Loma, named in his honor.

That brings me to the sharp point of remembering…sometimes found in the act of remembering a single sailor, perhaps unnoticed in the overpowering numbers of Memorial day.

His name is Billy Carter Semones

In 1964, Billy Carter Semones was a 28 year old Navy Torpedoman First Class, Submarine Qualified, Petty Officer serving aboard the USS HENRY CLAY (SSBN 625), one of the Navy's new atomic-powered ballistic missile submarines, and one of the nation's ultimate weapons during the Cold War.

The Henry Clay was in distress on November 2, 1964: a severe storm off the Atlantic coast of Spain was causing 30-foot waves while the sub was operating on the surface in preparation for another several months patrol underwater.

A hatch cover was loose; its banging was interfering with the Henry Clay's forward sonar array, a critical navigation and ranging system.

Meanwhile, a Soviet trawler equipped with spy equipment was lurking nearby trying to record a "sound signature" of the sub in order to track its movements.

Billy Semones strapped on a life vest and headed onto the deck to lock down the hatch cover. As the high waves crashed onto the rolling deck, Billy was trying to secure his safety line when he was suddenly swept overboard by a wave.

Although crewmen from the Clay braved diving into the cold water to try and rescue Billy, nearly drowning in the huge waves, his body was never recovered.

Due to Cold War security concerns at the time, the Navy only told Billy's family that he had died accidentally during a minor repair job. His parents, Rosalyn and George Semones of Woodford County, Kentucky, were devasted by Billy's death and never really got over it.

Rosalyn died in 1985 and George died in 2002, neither knowing that their son was actually a war hero.

Today, Memorial Day 2025, I ask you to remember the sacrifice made by one of our own, a Cold War submariner, one TM1(SS) Billy Carter Semones, and take a quiet moment to thank God that men such as Billy Semones once lived…