F.S.B.I.
The letters simply stand for the:
Forgotten Submarine Bastards of
Ireland

The unique shamrock tattoo
adorns the port check of the butt of Ken Jacobs, a USS Queenfish SS
393 sailor. Here's Ken's story.
********
Late in the year 1944 a group was formed at the
Submarine base in New London, CN. It consisted of approximately 200
Officers and men. The group was called the Rainbow Division and their
express goals and commitment was aimed at taking over 10 German
U-Boats and bringing them back to the U.S. for further study. These
boats were located in North Ireland at a Base called Lisahally. It
was situated on the Loch Foyle which had access to the North Sea. The
war in Europe was winding down and U-Boats were surrendering to the
British and were being stored there. At one point there were over 50
U-Boats tied up at the base. We were assembled and given a crash
course on how to read understand markings on valves and other
equipment on the boats. It was intended that we would bring them back
on the surface. Late in January 1945 we were shipped out of New
London by groups of 25-30 men and flown over to England. All the
groups did not go exactly the same way. We were a very hush hush
operation and as such were ordered not to reveal to anyone where were
being sent. We didn't know where we were going until we got to
Ireland. After we arrived we were broken up into groups and assigned
to a U-Boat to get familiar with it, clean it up, and make ready to
go to sea on her. I was assigned to a group that worked on the
U-3008. We boarded her and found the she was extremely neglected and
nicknamed her the "Dirty 08." One morning at muster, one of the
Officers handed out cards to each man as his name was called out. The
cards were our membership into an exclusive club called the F.S.B.I.
To my knowledge there are only approximately 200 of these in
existence. I assume the Officers all received them as well, but I
have no count of them. The cards look something like
this:
(Front side)
Supremesmeller: O.J.Cameron
(sig.)
Supersmeller: A.C. Burley (sig.)
Countersmeller: I.Dye (sig.)
(by direction)
(The rear side)
F.S.B.I.
Know ye by these
smells, the understinker is a
member
of good standing of the
Forgotten Submarine Bastards of
Ireland
having consumed his duly authorize
over quota of John
Jameson Irish Whiskey, caroused
above the Irish Seas,
and suffered the untold agonies of
VICARAGE.
Furthermore,
he is entitled to wear the official badge of
the fraternization, namely a Cluster
of Shamrocks on his port cheek aft.
STINKER: Ken Jacobs F1/c
Here's the rest of Ken's
story*:
To my knowledge Leroy Raphel West and I are the
only two people on the Queenfish SS 393 that were with the Rainbow
division over there. I know for a fact he had the tattoo because I
was with him the night he got his. I didn't mine until a later date.
The wind up of the whole story was that instead of getting the number
of U-Boats we were promised, we only received 3 boats. There were too
many men to tie up on three boats so they sent the excess back to New
London, via the Queen Mary to New York. West and I were then
transferred to the Queenfish SS 393.
****
*This story
is true, I saw them once as they were taking the weekly shower,
whether they needed it or not. One of the U-Boats was tied among the
school boats in 1946 when I went through sub school in New London,
CN. - Harry E.Hall