This month, The Extraordinary Times caught up with Bob Viney, a former US Navy officer and Procter & Gamble Marketing Director with a passion for civic engagement. For the past 10 years, he has worked alongside others in the Submarine Cincinnati Memorial Association to identify a site for the Cold War Memorial and Peace Pavilion, commemorating the USS Cincinnati and its unique place in America’s history. Construction of the memorial begins this Spring on the grounds of the National Voice of America Broadcast Museum in West Chester. Viney graduated “With Merit” from the US Naval Academy in 1970. Following graduation, he completed 15 months of nuclear power training and submarine school, and served on the USS Tautog (SSN 639), a fast attack nuclear submarine out of Pearl Harbor (1972-74). He then served as Division Director for the Chemistry, Materials, and Radiological Health Physics subjects at the Nuclear Power School in Mare Island (1974-1976). Viney left the Navy in 1976 and came to Cincinnati to work in Brand Management with Procter & Gamble. He turned around several declining businesses, and started the P&G business in Taiwan as Marketing Director. After 15 years, he took a position as Chief Marketing Officer for Arm & Hammer. Over his career, he spent 30 years managing major businesses for multi-national Fortune 500 companies and working in database, digital, interactive and internet portal marketing agencies. Viney also serves on the Leadership Council of a company in Dayton that builds hydrogen refueling stations for Fuel Cell Vehicles. He has written a book, American Turning Point, proposing solutions to the division and dysfunction that challenges our Constitutional Republic, and has taught the solutions to over 300 adult students in the Lifelong Learning programs at the Universities of Cincinnati and Dayton and Miami University. * What was the significance of the USS Cincinnati in American naval history? The Navy’s nuclear powered submarines are the primary elements in protecting our country’s peace and security; our primary defense against a nuclear attack. The submarines carrying intercontinental nuclear missiles, or SSBNs (SS – submarine; B – Ballistic; N – nuclear powered), can shower missiles on any country in the world without much warning. Land based missiles and bombers are in known locations, and their weapons have to travel very long distances, giving a lot of warning. But submarines can be as close as 20 miles off an enemy coast, so the missile travel time and the warning to an enemy, can be incredibly short. Submarines are nearly impossible to detect, so they can’t be targeted in a first strike. The other submarines in our fleet do not carry intercontinental missiles. They are called “Fast Attack” submarines, or SSNs. Their weapons are mostly anti-ship, traditional torpedoes and newer anti-ship missiles. But the newest submarines carry over 100 cruise missiles which can target ships or land based targets. These submarines also provide important intelligence about the naval capabilities of our enemies—their ships, submarines and the electronic monitoring capabilities around their coasts. In World War II, the submarine force carried the war to our enemies after Pearl Harbor, especially to Japan. They sank more total enemy tonnage in the war than surface ships or airplanes combined. And they lost a higher percentage of the fleet and men than any other part of our armed forces. Their bravery and cunning in pursuing the destruction of as much enemy shipping as possible, to deny the enemy free use of the sea lanes near their own countries, has been celebrated in many books and movies. In the Cold War, SSNs were the primary source of intelligence about Soviet naval capabilities. They protected our surface ships during confrontations like the Cuban Missile Crisis. And they trained to be capable of sinking the nuclear ballistic missile submarines of the Soviet Union “on station” near our coasts, and the anti-ship attack submarines near our surface fleets. Today our newest SSNs bring an arsenal of undetected cruise missiles to conflicts in countries that border the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea in the Middle East, and protect the freedom of the seas missions by our surface fleets in the Pacific where China is seeking to expand its control over international waters. Viney served on a fast attack submarine in the Pacific, and made 3 special operations patrols in Cold War and Vietnam War regions in 1972. The USS Cincinnati (SSN 693) served in many parts of the world’s oceans from commissioning in 1978 to decommissioning in 1996. These included special operations patrols in the Mediterranean Sea, and a 60,000 mile submerged transit of the globe. * How much of the original submarine will be preserved in this memorial?
The original elements of the USS Cincinnati that will be incorporated into the full scale replica of the submarine, the major iconic element of the Memorial, are the superstructure above the hull, called the Sail or Conning Tower; the forward horizontal control planes mounted on the conning tower, called the Fairwater Planes; the upper section of the Rudder; and the emergency back up power supply for the submarine if the reactor shuts down, a diesel generator called the “Big Red Machine”. The submarine was built during the years that the Cincinnati Reds teams were winning back-to-back World Series Championships, and were called “The Big Red Machine”. So the diesel generator was painted red in construction and was always referred to as the “Big Red Machine” by the crew. * What is the mission of this memorial in promoting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education? Our purpose is to teach young students the elements of the operations of a nuclear powered submarine that relate to STEM topics, with the goal of getting students interested in taking more science, engineering and math subjects in school, and developing an interest in science, technology and engineering careers. We have started connecting with school districts in our area to pull together teachers to help us develop the STEM elements to include in our educational curriculum, and to help us present the information in age-relevant ways to students from elementary school to high school. We’ve also met with the staff and a few teachers at Butler Tech about the opportunity to not only interest students in college-based STEM careers, but also developing interest in the technical skills related to STEM topics. As a nation, we are falling short in the skilled trade areas we need to not only keep our economy growing but also competitive in the world, which is a critical element of maintaining our national security. Our vision is to use fixed displays and interactive digital content, eventually transmitted via QR codes on individual phones, as students explore the equipment and operations in each compartment area of the Memorial’s full scale submarine replica. We plan to develop day-long programs focused on teaching specific STEM related topics by docents who have served in different roles on submarines, many with hands on experiences. These will be conducted in an Educational Center on the grounds next to the replica of the submarine itself. We will also include STEM topics related to the VOA’s broadcast technology in sending radio program signals around the world from the transmitting station that existed on the grounds of the National VOA Broadcasting Museum, and the area which now encompasses the shopping center to the west of the Museum, Miami University’s VOA campus, the VOA MetroPark of Butler County, and the MetroPark Athletic Fields. * What parallels do you see between the 20th century Cold War and the global challenges faced by the United States today? The parallels are disturbingly similar. The 20th century Cold War sprung from the conflict between the countries that were based on authoritarian governments and those based on free democratic republican governments. A simple way of defining the difference would be the conflict between governments where citizens are ruled by leaders and governments where citizens choose their leaders. And a conflict between authoritarian governments seeking to expand their areas of geographic dominance, and democratic governments seeking to respect the sovereignty of independent nations; of governments seeking to install and expand their own laws in all territories, and governments seeking global peace and security through the acceptance of common laws. During the Cold War, it was difficult for authoritarian governments to spread the falsehoods and disinformation used to control their populations outside of their own borders. The United States had a technological advantage that enabled VOA to broadcast truthful messages into those areas controlled by authoritarian leaders, under the mission of “Tell the Truth and let the World Decide”. That was one factor that led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union from within, not from a military attack from the United States and our Allies. The global challenges facing the United States today are similar. A major difference today is the ability of authoritarian leaders to spread disinformation to distort truth and replace it with falsehoods outside of their borders, and to target those false messages to maximize the divisions in our country that undermines our national unity, our economic prosperity, our national security, and our ability to exert positive global leadership. Another difference is the willingness of authoritarian leaders to use military force to achieve territorial expansion. The invasion of Ukraine by Russia is an attempt to rebuild the former Soviet Union’s empire in Europe. Putin views the dissolution of the Soviet Union as the world’s greatest geopolitical catastrophe, and is focused on regaining control over as much of the former Soviet Union’s control of other nations in Europe as possible. This conflict will remain a “Cold War” only with the support of Ukraine by the free democratic governments in the world with financial support for their military defensive operations. I hope that the United Nations might take a stronger role in requiring Russia to abide by the UN Charter they have committed to support in joining the UN and being offered the esteemed position as a permanent member of the Security Council. Russia’s actions in Ukraine are entirely at odds with that commitment, and put the UN at risk of becoming ineffective in accomplishing their purpose in founding after World War II – the protection of the sovereignty of independent nations from the aggression of its neighbors. * How will this memorial complement the nearby National VOA Museum of Broadcasting? In our education program, we will also include topics related to the history of the Cold War, and the roles played in winning the Cold War by the Voice of America broadcasts and fast attack nuclear submarines such as the USS Cincinnati. We will also include the highlights of the technology involved in the broadcast of messages from the Broadcast center in West Chester around the world, sending VOA program content to all parts of Europe behind German lines in World War II and the Iron Curtain of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. We plan to have joint merchandise for the Submarine memorial and the VOA Broadcast Museum. The extra visitors we attract to the Memorial may be interested in visiting the VOA Museum as well, increasing the visitor traffic for the Museum.
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AuthorMatthew Smith, PhD (History). Public Programs at Miami University Regionals. Historian of Appalachia, the Ohio Valley, & the early American republic. Archives
February 2024
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