A Brief History of the International Submariners Community In the late 1950’s, two key men in the international submarine environment, the Frenchman Commander Jean Blanchard and the German Commander Adalbert Schnee had the opportunity to meet. Both men had illustrious careers, serving on submarines during the Second World War. Schnee, a key man in the German submarine force was decorated with medals of merit. The two men shared their common experiences in submarines and became friends. The harsh reality of the war, in which they had fought on opposite sides with courage and determination, was now over and they found strong ties of solidarity and understanding. As a result of this strong understanding, they planned to arrange a meeting of submariners from both countries. Hence, in the spring of 1961 the first meeting took place in France. The success was so great that the following year another was arranged to be held in Germany. Meanwhile, the two Commanders got in touch with Admiral Parona, Commander of the Atlantic base of Italian boats in Bordeaux, who gladly accepted the invitation to join the initiative. So, from 1963, the year of the second meeting in Paris, France, there was a numerous participation of Italian submariners. The first Italian meeting took place in Venice in 1965. Since then, these meetings have taken place every year in rotation, starting in France, then Germany and then Italy. Great Britain joined in 1962 and was shortly followed by The United States. In recent years we have been joined by many other countries from around the world (see Resume). We are delighted to see our ‘family’ growing. We all feel real harmony, the brotherhood and the solidarity that derives from us all being ‘sailors’ and ‘submariners’ and from our common experiences of life at sea, and of course, our strengthened friendship which has developed throughout the years. The late Commander Schnee of NATO headquarters, during the 5th meeting in Paris (1966) uttered words which are indelible in everyone’s minds and hearts, words which now seem prophetic: “There is someone who wants to build Europe starting from above us; submariners will build it from below, the abyss… Without doubt, the ‘construction’ of Europe goes ahead, not lacking problems, in the belief that it should not stop. But us submariners can affirm in all modesty but with pride, that ‘our’ Europe, ‘our’ World are already born.” Anon.