Gary Francis

Thursday November 9, 2023

Gary Francis entertained us during our meeting Thursday with his incredible story about his career as a Navy Submarine Officer. It was obvious that Gary was a dedicated officer when he talked about the four missions during his career. As a young man, he volunteered to be in the Submarines Division and was quickly moved to higher command positions. Gary’s passion for serving this country and contributing to the defense of his fellow citizens was very obvious, and he was very entertaining as always.

Gary is a long-term Broomfield Rotarian, joining our club in 1997. He has made and continues to make strong contributions to Rotary, including our club. He is also on the board of Broomfield Veterans Museum. He shared with us the upcoming events at the museum along with its history and how the facility is laid out. For more information, please visit http://www.broomfieldveterans.org.

Broomfield Rotary thanks you, Gary, for this awesome presentation and the service that you have provided to keep our country safe and free.

The submarine community is a small force that delivers a major impact and provides unique capabilities to operational commanders. As the maritime security environment has evolved into an asymmetrical warfighting scenario, we now face new weapons systems that can threaten our joint forces at over-the-horizon ranges. These long-range challenges underscore the demands on the submarine force to meet their growing and increasing scopes of responsibilities.

World War II submarine operations paved the way for most of today’s submarine missions. Today’s submarine force is the most capable force in the world and the history of the U.S. Navy, comprising 53 fast attack submarines, 14 ballistic-missile submarines, and four guided-missile submarines. Our existing fleet of ballistic submarines currently carries 54 percent of our nation’s nuclear deterrent arsenal, and their replacements will carry an even greater percentage of strategic warheads.

For more information on submarines, please visit.