Lloyd M. Bucher - Career As A Submariner

Career As A Submariner

In January 1954, Bucher was called to active duty and served as division and education officer on the USS Mount McKinley (LCC-7). It was in mid-1955 that Bucher was admitted to submarine school at New London, Connecticut.

After graduation, Bucher served as torpedo and gunnery officer of the submarine USS Besugo (SS-321), operations officer of the USS Caiman (SS-323), and assistant plans officer for logistics on the staff of Commander, Mine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet.

From 1961 to 1964 he served on the submarine USS Ronquil (SS-396) rising from third officer to executive officer, after which he became an assistant operations officer on the staff of Commander Submarine Flotilla Seven in Yokosuka, Japan. Bucher loved submarines and his greatest desire was to command one. However, Bucher was a conventional submariner not trained in nuclear power, and his career options became limited when the submarine force became increasingly populated by nuclear-powered submarines and nuclear-trained submarine officers effectively hand-picked by Admiral Hyman G. Rickover in the 1960s. As a result, when Bucher screened for command, he was slated for command of an auxiliary surface vessel outfitted for communications and signals intelligence (COMINT/SIGINT) collection, in this case, USS Pueblo (AGER-2).