U.S. Navy photo by Steve Moore JWAC employees who have served on submarines cut a cake during the celebration. Cmdr. Ring is on the right.

‘‘I thought that celebrating the submarine birthday would be a good opportunity to tell the employees of JWAC about the submarine force,” said the command’s lone active duty submarine officer, Lt. Cmdr. Andrew ‘‘Homer” Ring. ‘‘I constantly receive a lot of questions about what it’s like to serve on a submarine.”

A native of Kansas, Ring grew up a long way from any ocean, but was inspired by his father’s experience as a Navy P-3 pilot and his father’s stories that he heard growing up. But, it was while he was attending the U.S. Naval Academy that he got his first real submarine experience when he served on the USS Georgia (SSBN 729) during a summer cruise.

‘‘I tremendously enjoyed the experience,” Ring said. ‘‘I came from a small town of 50 people and the thought of serving on a carrier with 5,000 people was not that inviting. Submarines have small crews that allow you the opportunity to get to know everybody onboard.”

Since Ring’s graduation from the Naval Academy in 1997, he has served on the USS Charlotte (SSN 766), the Alabama (SSBN 731), and the Nevada (SSBN 733). He reported to JWAC in June 2007.

Among the more unusual features of the JWAC-sponsored event was a specially designed submarine-shaped cake from Baltimore-based Charm City Cakes that cost $900, which Ring paid for himself. Nonetheless, Ring considered it worthwhile to be able to work with a celebrity chef on the project. ‘‘Besides,” said Ring, ‘‘who wouldn’t want to see a cake that looked like a submarine!”

Beyond the cake, however, Ring succeeded in inspiring interest and learning among his co-workers in submarines.

‘‘As I talked through the presentation more people were coming in and we were standing room only when I started,” Ring said. ‘‘Everyone had a lot of questions about submarine technology and how we accomplish our missions. These opportunities are a great way to give people a glimpse of what’s going on underneath the oceans.”

Although submarines have existed since the Revolutionary War (1775-83) when one was built and used unsuccessfully against the British Navy and both sides used them during the Civil War, the Navy dates the start of the submarine service to 1900 when it it bought the Holland, SS-1, America’s first commissioned sub. Small compared to later designs, it measured 53 feet long and 10 feet wide, had a single torpedo tub, and could only manage five knots underwater.