About "Cold War Submarines"

Cold War Submarines was started in 2003 when Mel Douyette, the owner, decided he wanted a model of each of the two submarines he served on.  Mel ordered kits to build the two boats.  When Mel received the kits and saw how small and generic they were, he decided to build his own larger scale replicas.

After building the two larger replicas, a close friend suggested building a web site and offering the models to other submarine veterans.  Cold War Submarines was born!  At about the same time as Cold War Submarines came into being, Mel was "down-sized" after 30 years in industry traveling the world.  So Mel decided to pursue building "submarine replicas" seriously.

After graduating from high school in 1968, Mel joined the US Navy.  Mel was asked to volunteer for submarine duty.  He "qualified" and served on two United States Submarines, first a diesel boat and then a nuclear fast attack submarine.  Mel's first boat was the USS Cusk SS-348.  His second boat was the USS Permit SSN-594.  As a member of the Permit crew, Mel participated in several covert operations.

Mel has been a member of United States Submarine Veterans, Incorporated (USSVI) since 1995.  He is a founding member of the USSVI - Great Lakes Base.  He served the first year as the vice-commander and since then as the treasurer for the organization.

After leaving the US Navy, Mel first earned an Engineering degree, then a Business degree and finally an MBA, all while struggling to attend night school and raise a family at the same time.  Mel now spends his time substitute teaching at a local high school several days a week and then building submarines late into the night and weekends.

As of 2010, Mel has built over 500 World War II and Cold War Submarine replicas and is proud to offer the most complete line of 1/192 scale US submarine models in the world.

Mel is continuously looking for ways to expand Cold War Submarines by offering quality submarine-related merchandise for submarine veterans.