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Boats vs ships.

My father, a WW II tin can sailor who served aboard DD 398 USS Ellet from 1942 'till war's end, explained to me how sailors distinguished boats from ships: boats were launched sideways, and ships were launched straightforward (or backwards).

Reminds me of the Smothers Brothers song/skit: Crabs Walk Sideways and Lobsters Walk Straight.

Dad, navy, said youse can put a boat on a ship, but not a ship on a bote
 
Sonny Pruit was the name of the character that Claude Akins played on the TV show "Movin' On" in the mid 1970's.

I believe that watertender has answered my question. Must be where I heard the name.

I never put that together back when I was in communication with him (Sonny). Watched that show as a kid but remember Akins more from BJ and The Bear. CBs and trucks were the craze back then.
 
Your Dad is correct, but you know sailors, a nickname for everything. You can call your own ship anything you want , but others better be respectful! 🫡
Aboard apa 195 uss lenawee during the korean divorce and police action thing, he said her unofficial name was leapin lena, from harold teen's old jalopy, but often got pronounced leakin lena.
The original leapin lena was a jumper in 1922. Courses for horses.
 
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alright y'all salty dogs - post your official beer days at sea 🍻

that's our CO Capt. Brade Phillips eyeballing grill operations with a cold Bud!

Ogden-Capt.-Phillips.jpg

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Dang we never had American beer on Steel Beach Picnics.........It was always Tiger Beer.

Ex-Wife burned most of my stuff......had a pic of us Ordies sitting in a kiddie pool wearing our cranials w/dark lenses holding Tigers and grilled chicken up, in the IO '87....we had just set a record for sorties....we were given two cans......however you could challenge others....if you shot gunned it faster you got his other full unopened beer, and so on and so on......some of us actually got a decent buzz.
 
Talking about "boats", most do not realize that the US Army has more "boats" then the US Navy. The Navy has more water vessels but the Army has more 'boats'. Look it up if you doubt my word.
 
I was aboard the old Kitty Hawk doing the 87 world cruise. While we lingered around the IO, we anchored off Diego Garcia for a couple of days. It was there that the 45 days caught up with us and steel beach were declared. I was a Chief back then and while everybody else got their beer ration card punched (twice at the same time both opened), the Chiefs got to enjoy our Schlitz beer in the mess. I gave the guy my card, he gave it back and handed me a beer from the yugo can full of ice. Basically we could drink all we wanted. I drank my fill and pirated some of it to take to the guys in the power plant shop. I was popular with them for about two whole days. The next day we checked out some deep sea fishing rigs and caught a few White Sea bass. Good eats. Then departed to sit off the coast of Somalia for a time. I bet old Ordyman replaced us or we him.
 
I was aboard the old Kitty Hawk doing the 87 world cruise. While we lingered around the IO, we anchored off Diego Garcia for a couple of days. It was there that the 45 days caught up with us and steel beach were declared. I was a Chief back then and while everybody else got their beer ration card punched (twice at the same time both opened), the Chiefs got to enjoy our Schlitz beer in the mess. I gave the guy my card, he gave it back and handed me a beer from the yugo can full of ice. Basically we could drink all we wanted. I drank my fill and pirated some of it to take to the guys in the power plant shop. I was popular with them for about two whole days. The next day we checked out some deep sea fishing rigs and caught a few White Sea bass. Good eats. Then departed to sit off the coast of Somalia for a time. I bet old Ordyman replaced us or we him.
Ahhhhh......Diego G.....the "Footprint of Freedom".....don't mess with crabs, chickens or donkeys or the guys with the funny hats, accents and bad teeth will come after you with their little not pads. Had to spend several days on that rock once. The beer smelled and tasted like formaldehyde and it was warm. As for fishing the only thing we saw in the water was barracuda chasing little fish.

I don't recall who relieved us (Constellation) in 87. That was Operation Ernest Will time, we were on station when it started.....we talked about Sid Dwyer awhile back, being in your Sister Squadron. Whatever he was on relieved us. That's how I learned I made E4....Sid wrote it on a sparrow missile that was loaded on one of his Squadron's birds that we recovered. I was on CAG ARM/DEARM that day and when the bird turned/stopped for me to start dearming it I saw writing on a sparrow as I was turning the arming handle and my name was there "CONGRATS AO3 MCVEY VF21 SEE YA BACK IN SAN DOG". We didn't have the results yet. I wasn't onboard when the Connie relieved I think the Ranger? I was flown into the mess just after the Stark got hit. Pulled me out of FRAMP early for that entertaining leap frog across the world...Navy version of Plane Trains and Automobiles but with Helos instead of trains.
 
Kitty Hawk got on Gonzo Station in mid to late Jan. By the time Ernest Will began we had done the ditch, sailed the Med and off loaded at Norfolk. My youngest was born while on Gonzo.
 
Or the little guy who, when asked his favorite church hymn, proudly said, "Gladly, the Cross-eyed Bear."

In the late 1940s my uncle, while in grade school, was called upon to answer the teacher's question, "Can you make a sentence using the word fascinate?" Sure, he said, "She had 9 buttons on her nightgown, but she could only fasten eight." True story.
 
Kitty Hawk got on Gonzo Station in mid to late Jan. By the time Ernest Will began we had done the ditch, sailed the Med and off loaded at Norfolk. My youngest was born while on Gonzo.
We were relieved in late SEP '87......back in San Diego late OCT.....did a pit stop in Perth as a reward for breaking the SORTIE record set back in Nam days. Of course once Desert Storm was in full swing a few years after, that record was crushed.
 
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