PigBoats Staff

Your PigBoats.COM Staff

Webmaster TN(SS) Richard C. "Ric" Hedman, USN, a native of Washington state, joined the Navy in 1964. He put into commission the nuclear submarine USS Flasher (SSN-613) and took her to sea on her initial sea trials in the Atlantic and subsequent patrols in the Pacific. In 1968 he transferred to the Naval Reserve and in 1969 was sent to the diesel submarine USS Cusk (SS-348) as part of his annual Reserve training. He mustered out of the Navy in 1970 to pursue a civilian career. He is Qualified in Submarines. Ric has been the webmaster of PigBoats.COM since 1999.

It has just been learned that Ric was one of two men to be the recipient of the Prestigious Ben Bastura Historical Achievement Award by The United States Submarine Veterans Inc. for 2023. The Award is given for these reasons:
a) Demonstrate their understanding and commitment to our Creed in perpetuating the memory of submariners and submarines by gathering, creating, or in other ways preserving a significant volume of submarine history.
b) Within the submarine community, demonstrated a broad and encompassing discipline of gathering submarine history.
c) Demonstrated they are an expert in the many aspects of gathering and preserving submarine history, its artifacts, and documents.

Webmaster DCC(SS/SW) David L. "Dave" Johnston, USN (Ret.) is a native of Michigan and first joined the Navy in 1983. He joined the crew of the USS Darter (SS-576), forward deployed to Sasebo, Japan and patrolled the western Pacific for three years. After a break of nearly 15 years, he rejoined the Navy in 2001 and finished out a 21 year career, retiring in 2019. Dave has also served on minesweepers and destroyers in addition to active duty service to the Navy Reserve. He is Qualified in Submarines and Surface Warfare. Dave has been associated with PigBoats.COM since 2001.

**Our Legacy**
The mighty Flasher. Fast, Deep, Silent, Deadly.	The coveted Silver Dolphins of a sailor Qualified in Submarines. The insignia of the best of the best. A comradeship like no other. The un-official Diesel Boats Forever badge of a Real submariner!	The indomitable Darter. 33 years of service and a lasting legacy for all those who went before.