Floyd Matthews entered the world in 1903, the year the Wright Brothers took flight.

Retired Navy Lt. Cmdr. Floyd Matthews with his wife Vena. Matthews was honored by friends and family at a party at Hall's Seafood Sunday afternoon. He turns 100 years old today. Karena Cawthon @PensacolaNewsJournal.com

And of all the technological wonders since, he is most in awe of the evolution of U.S. Navy submarines.

"There is a world of difference now," said Matthews, who spent 15 years serving on submarines before World War II.

"We didn't have air conditioning, not even a blower. It got pretty hot when we shut them down to dive, especially when we operated around Panama," he said. "We couldn't stay down long because we were operating off batteries. Now they have these nuclear-powered submarines."

Matthews is one of Florida's oldest living submarine veterans. He spent Sunday celebrating his 100th birthday - one day early - with a special recognition during services at Warrington United Methodist Church.

Afterward, he and wife Vena joined family for a lunch celebration at Hall's Seafood on Gregory Street. Today, Drum Base, the local chapter of the U.S. Submarine Veterans Association, is honoring him with another luncheon at Halls.

Jim Rolle, a Drum Base member, said Floyd is a rarity.

"We only have five veterans in our organization that qualified (as submariners) before 1920," Rolle of Milton said. "It's a hard life and it takes a toll on your body."

Matthews says he's glad he made it to 100.

"I didn't want to disappoint everyone," he said.

That's because he has been treated to two early centennial celebrations, one at a family reunion last year in his hometown of Loretto, Tenn., and another last October in Pensacola during a reunion of surviving crew members of the USS Chickasaw, a salvage vessel he commanded at the end of his career.

Matthews credits his good health and sharp mind to, "Exercise and taking care of my health."

"Why don't you tell them what you tell me," son John Matthews chimed in. "Don't travel alone and stay out of dark alleys."

Such sage advice doesn't mean this centenarian spent his life on the side of caution.

He joined the Navy in 1919 at age 16 at the close of of World War I, his son said. During his 30-year career, he participated in landmark submarine escape experiments under the legendry submariner Adm. Charles "Swede" Momsen.

In 1939 he helped with the rescue of 27 sailors from the submarine USS Squalus off Portsmouth, N.H. The details of that remarkable rescue were captured in "The Terrible Hours," by Peter Maas, said John Matthews.

Matthews retired as a lieutenant commander in 1949. Then at age 65 he married Vena, his second wife, and purchased a 40-foot cruiser.

"We took a honeymoon cruise down the Tennessee River, Ohio River, the Mississippi and all the way around the Florida coast to the Keys and to Jacksonville," said Matthews, who has lived in Warrington since 1976.