Captain William McKenzie Biography-1
U. S. Navy Captain William W. McKenzie (1926 - 2018)
William “Mac” McKenzie was a distinguished career Navy officer from 1949 through the 1970s. For most of his career, he was a Cold War submarine commander. His assignments included USS Caiman (SS 323), USS Bluegill (SS 242), USS Cusk (SSG 348), Executive Officer USS Greenfish (SS 351), Commanding Officer USS Gudgeon (SS 567), Executive Officer USS Sperry (AS 12), Commanding Officer USS Platte (AO 24), and Commanding Officer Naval Ordnance Engineering Facility, Bangor WA.
To celebrate his 1956 promotion as the Lt. Commander of the USS Greenfish, he purchased an expensive Omega Seamaster engraved “LCDR ~ Bill McKenzie ~ USS ~ Greenfish ~ SS351”. If you look closely in this 1961 portrait of McKenzie, he is wearing the Omega on his left wrist.
USS Greenfish (SS-351) was a Balao-class submarine of the United States Navy. It was stationed in Pearl Harbor during the early 1960s, conducting special Cold War operations in the Northern Pacific (Siberian coast, Japan, Philippines, Hong Kong). As the Greenfish’s Executive Officer (XO) from 1956-1958, Lt. Cmdr McKenzie was second-in-command, and was responsible for coordinating all ship’s work, drills, exercises, personnel organization, and policing and inspection of the ship.
