Submariner? You Be The Judge

Last week we posed this Mystery Question:

What submariner made the quoted declaration, and in which branch of the armed services did he enter the military?

Less than 24 hours later, esteemed reader SonarMan nailed it...
That would be oceanographer Robert Ballard of Titanic finding fame. He first entered the Army as an intel specialist, and then later transferred to the Navy as an oceanographer. Point of contention: Ballard was never a true Submarine Sailor. Though he worked on submersibles, he never earned the Submarine Warfare Dolphins insignia. You can't be a Submarine Sailor if you haven't earned your Dolphins.

While SonarMan's correct answer exhibits significant astuteness, his prize is whatever psychic satisfaction he obtains from being the first with it.

In all fairness, Dr. Ballard is a highly accomplished civilian submariner. Moreover, he is eminently qualified on operation of submersibles that have set diving records. The fact that most of Ballard's research submersibles were deep-diving rather than combative units of the greatest submarine force on Earth may be administrivia. In today's world Naval strategy calls for increasingly non-combative missions, as Galrahn often reminds us:

There is a mission statement in bold and italics on page 4 of 21st Century Seapower, (PDF) it reads: 'We believe that preventing wars is as important as winning wars.'

For hints on answering next Friday's mystery question, readers will want to re-read carefully last Friday's posting.

Submarines are always silent and strange.