Navy League to hear about Polaris missile submarine fleet at July 17 meeting
"The 41 For Freedom - How the Polaris Missile Submarine Fleet Helped Win the Cold War" will be explored at the Tuesday, July 17, meeting of Aurora Navy League Council 247.
Retired Navy Lt. John Lindstedt, a former nuclear submarine officer, will speak after the council's monthly dinner meeting at 6 p.m. at Grandma's Table Restaurant, 1700 Douglas Road in Montgomery.
Oswego resident and retired Navy captain Len Wass, who served on a Polaris sub for about three years, will introduce Lindstedt.
After a reception at 5:15 p.m., dinner will be served at 6 p.m. Entree choices are fish, chicken or beef with soup or salad, dinner rolls, vegetables, dessert and nonalcoholic drink. The cost is $20. A dinner salad with soup, dinner rolls, dessert, and nonalcoholic drink is $12.
"41 for Freedom" refers to 41 ballistic missile submarines deployed and manned by 25,000 Navy sailors over a 33-year period. Lindstedt will recount how the fleet was developed during the Cold War (1945-1991), in record time, with complex technological systems that rivaled the space program.
Lindstedt said, "The Cold War was a period of intense confrontation between East and West, U.S.S.R. and U.S.A. It was waged on social, economic and military levels.
"Multiple times in this period war was eminent but unknown to the general public. The availability of nuclear weapons and the platforms to deliver them made this era particularly dangerous. It also demanded a different strategy, deterrence, and systems capable of countering the nuclear threat."
Lindstedt served on the USS Kamehameha SSBN 642, making three deterrent patrols in the Mediterranean Sea with Submarine Squadron 16 out of Rota, Spain.
As main propulsion assistant, he was responsible for operating and maintaining the S5W nuclear reactor plant and propulsion equipment.
A native and resident of Milwaukee, Lindstedt is CEO of Advanced Plating Technologies in Milwaukee. He graduated from the United States Merchant Marine Academy and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where he received a bachelor's degree in chemistry. He completed graduate work at Arizona State University in electroanalytical chemistry.
Lilndstedt has worked in the metal finishing industry since retiring from the Navy in 1974. A Fellow of the National Association of Surface Finishing, he holds the NASF technical level of Master Surface Finisher.
Call (630) 816-7612 for more information.