My Take on Our Military/Navy

[dannyd]

Why would they keep all those planes on the flight deck? It seems an enemy would love to drop a bomb right in the middle of them. Besides, how long would it take them to get that ship into operational fighting mode if the need arose? It may look pretty for a picture but doesn't make much sense.

That a show picture; real world underway the aircraft would be back on the fantail with ready aircraft on the catapults and the secondary aircraft behind them with the Helo ready to go.

The Enterprise would do that same picture when the ship got different aircraft over the years.

I have a picture somewhere of me standing on pier 12 in Norfolk in 1965 when the Enterprise was new, before she transferred to the west coast.
( I was a kid on tour of the base)

The Enterprise had a fire off of Hawaii late 1960's while on her way to Vietnam. Killed 28 and Injured 314.

Every time the Navy takes it eye off the ball because of stupid stuff like their doing today someone's kid pays the price with their life.

 

[dannyd]

Well, it's been about 56 years since I did a WestPac cruise on what "should" have been converted to a "small" museum piece, the USS Bainbridge DLG(N)-25. It was a showboat while I was on it. It was always on display in every port, so it was kept freshly painted and clean. What initially made it famous was the operation sea orbit cruise which was a 1964 around-the-world cruise ofthe United States Navy's Task Force One, consisting of USS Enterprise(CVAN-65), USS Long Beach (CGN-9), and USS Bainbridge (DLGN-25). This all-nuclear-powered unit steamed 30,565 miles around the world for sixty-five days without a single refueling. I arrived two years after this cruise, but did get to visit Perth, Australia (and Subic Bay several times). There were "nuclear" protests in Japan at the time, so we couldn't visit any Japanese ports.

I suppose that it would cost too much to remove the two GE reactors and prepare it for public tours, but it's demise in 1995 really bothered me. The aluminum superstructure was removed for recycling and the hull was towed to China with an ocean going tug boat. It made me sick to read that end for such a special ship.
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Wish I was still 17 and in the back of that H-46. Sometimes you just don't know how good you have it until it's over. Delivered tons of parts, people, mail and movies. Changed every part on Helicopter

 

[Wyandot Jim]

Son about to be shot off in his Show Plane for the 50th anniversary of VRC-40. Yes he got into a little trouble having the C-2 Painted like this.
Well until the Admiral said it looked great.
There are even plastic models of the C-2 with this paint job.

 

[Richard C]

Why would they keep all those planes on the flight deck? It seems an enemy would love to drop a bomb right in the middle of them. Besides, how long would it take them to get that ship into operational fighting mode if the need arose? It may look pretty for a picture but doesn't make much sense.

Well, those two guided missile cruisers can get a missile out on the rail pretty fast. The smaller of the two missile systems "Terrier" is a two stage missile with a 65 mile range and the ship uses a powerful illumination beam that was very hard to jam at the time. The Long Beach had even longer range missiles with a great AN/SPS 32/33 radar system that could both search and designate targets out to over a hundred miles. Any aircraft would be monitored and dealt with. I don't think a navy captain would have to get as much permission then to engage an enemy as today!

That a show picture; real world underway the aircraft would be back on the fantail with ready aircraft on the catapults and the secondary aircraft behind them with the Helo ready to go.

The Enterprise would do that same picture when the ship got different aircraft over the years.

I have a picture somewhere of me standing on pier 12 in Norfolk in 1965 when the Enterprise was new, before she transferred to the west coast.
( I was a kid on tour of the base)

The Enterprise had a fire off of Hawaii late 1960's while on her way to Vietnam. Killed 28 and Injured 314.

Every time the Navy takes it eye off the ball because of stupid stuff like their doing today someone's kid pays the price with their life.

I was a 3rd class FTG (E4) and got to help handle one of the lines when the Enterprise tied up to the pier in Pearl Harbor. Stupid stuff - like when several Navy ships have collided with each other AND large cargo ships in the last few years? We didn't do that when I was in

 

[dannyd]

Being with helicopter's for 19.5 years I got around a lot and one of the best places was the training carrier the Lexington. Unlike the big carriers life was easy on the Lex, so getting assigned to Air Rescue Detachment was great.

Going to lunch one day notice the guy in front of me in the chow line was quietly sobbing. He was probably 5 feet tail, had on engineering coveralls and a bad hair cut because it was kinda longer than it should be.

So, I looked over his shoulder and said " foods real good and it's cooler once you get in the galley". This little face with dirt and tear stains down running down it looked up at me and I said " Holy Sh** your a girl". The way everyone in line acted you would thought the ship was on fire.

Found out she was in the First class of girls allowed in the Naval Academy and would graduate in 1980, My guess was this was her first year summer cruise and she had to start in the engine rooms.

The chow line on the Lex was beside the main exhaust stacks, we were down off Texas probably July or August. It was so hot in that line if the Devil had handed me a tray I would have just said "Thank you".

 

[Watertender]

Dannyd I can relate but not in the context of serving in the military. I have worked on boilers and related equipment for my entire working life. The best way to learn is to be literally thrown into hottest hardest part of the job. That weeds out crop and gives you people who want to become something. I spent many years inside, on top of, and under equipment in any condition you can imagine. 12 hours ago I was slugging up the front door of a 500 horse Cleaver Brooks boiler and in about 3 hours I will be slugging the back door which weighs over 3 tons. It would be interesting to know if that female made it through Annapolis and became an officer.

I have seen people walk out and quit when they were put on a job of cleaning a boiler because it isn't an easy task. Confined spaces also have a tendency to weed out the unwilling. I am sure there are plenty of ex snipes here that can attest to this. It all comes down to if you want to succeed. You have to start at the bottom and work your way up.

 

[Colonialgirl]

I was born in a Naval Hospital (Portsmouth, VA) and have traveled on three naval vessels;:
1. An LST From Oahu to the big Island and back again, (Vacation in a military rest camp with my Dad, Mom and Brother)
2. US Navy Transport USNS President Haze (about 7 years old at the time) from Hawaii back to the USA when my Dad was transferred.
3. The maiden voyage of the USNS Transport The Geiger from Brooklyn Navy Yard to Casablanca, Morocco.
Then the Anniversary voyage from Casablanca back to the USA. I was ready to start the 7th grade at the time.

 

[caryc]

Sounds like there are some old guys here that remember the time before Navy ships had air conditioning everywhere. I remember that constant heat rash and how good it felt to get into a shower and get that sweat off of me, especially with the fresh water I had worked to make all day.

 

[Watertender]

Sounds like there are some old guys here that remember the time before Navy ships had air conditioning everywhere. I remember that constant heat rash and how good it felt to get into a shower and get that sweat off of me, especially with the fresh water I had worked to make all day.

No Hollywood shower either! Running evaps is a hot job literally and those thirsty boilers take precedence over sweating sailors. Both of my wives can't believe how quickly I can shower and be dried off. Of course my hair and beard are very short and kept that way. To make something clear, I have been married twice. Not 2 at the same time!

 

[caryc]

Navy Shower while steaming at sea.
Turn on water
Rinse off
Turn off water
soap up
turn on water
Rinse off
turn off water

 

[RC44Mag]

What I would have given for a stingy Navy shower. We were in the I.O. in their summer and air temp must have been 120* on deck. We ran into this gigantic mass of huge jellyfish about the size of 5 gallon bucket each. They proceeded to clog our water intakes so we couldn't make potable water and had to put strict limits on all water aboard ship. It also prevented using the AC throughout the ship except for spaces that needed it for running the ship. As an OS I was certainly thankfully that our CIC equipment absolutely needed cool air to not burn up. berthing was brutal and most crashed topside. I don't recall exactly how long our ship was turned into the scenes in cool hand Luke where he was in "the box". It was over a week though. Fun times at sea!

 

[Richard C]

Yep, had some good times on that WestPac cruise in '67. On Sundays we could lay in those helo nets surrounding the fantail. I used to marvel at the CH-46 pilots that would bring us "stores" from the Enterprise. They flew at a slight angle to straight ahead (I was told they could see better that way?) They would come over fast and then stop by turning sideways and swinging up at 90°. The sound of those twin rotors beating the air like that was really something. It's like they would swing up like that, stopping all forward speed, swing back down, then drop down just enough to un-hook and drop a pallet of stores right in the middle of the big circle on the fantail. They never landed - probably too big...

 

[g5m]

Navy Shower while steaming at sea.
Turn on water
Rinse off
Turn off water
soap up
turn on water
Rinse off
turn off water

If you don't learn that one pretty fast you will be educated.

 

[MADDOG 521]

What year and type of ship were you on. Son and DIL were both stationed at Mayport/Jacksonville in 92-96.

I believe it was in 98 or 99. I will ask my son to verify the date and report back.

 

[caryc]

If you don't learn that one pretty fast you will be educated.

Especially by the guys that run the evaps.

 

[JiminMaine]

Why would they keep all those planes on the flight deck? It seems an enemy would love to drop a bomb right in the middle of them. Besides, how long would it take them to get that ship into operational fighting mode if the need arose? It may look pretty for a picture but doesn't make much sense.

There is only so much room in the hanger bay. Most of the planes down below in the hanger bay are there having maintenance done on them.

I was on the USS Independence CVA/CV-62 for 6 years and five Med.cruises.

 

[JiminMaine]

Sounds like there are some old guys here that remember the time before Navy ships had air conditioning everywhere. I remember that constant heat rash and how good it felt to get into a shower and get that sweat off of me, especially with the fresh water I had worked to make all day.

I'm one of those old guys. We had A/C when it worked. I was an IC man (fresh-air snipe) and spent a lot of time in the main machinery rooms (boiler room/engine room) on the USS Independence and other ships. I felt bad for those guys standing the watches down there. 100-120 degrees and only a couple of cool air vents to cool off. I would only have to be there for the time it took to maintain all my equipment that monitored salinity in the boilers and evaps. I also had a lot of other remote sensing equipment to maintain there.

I was really happy when I got sent to telephone C-School and Gyro scope so I didn't have to spend as much time in the MMRs.

I retired in 1991 as an ICCS(SW) after 22 years.

 

[dannyd]

Yep, had some good times on that WestPac cruise in '67. On Sundays we could lay in those helo nets surrounding the fantail. I used to marvel at the CH-46 pilots that would bring us "stores" from the Enterprise. They flew at a slight angle to straight ahead (I was told they could see better that way?) They would come over fast and then stop by turning sideways and swinging up at 90°. The sound of those twin rotors beating the air like that was really something. It's like they would swing up like that, stopping all forward speed, swing back down, then drop down just enough to un-hook and drop a pallet of stores right in the middle of the big circle on the fantail. They never landed - probably too big...

We weighed to much to land of the Bainbridge, the Navy did fix this problem on the Virginia class CGN's, so we could land to pickup passengers.

Long Beach, Bainbridge and Truxtun were some of the first nuke surface ships and considered one class ships. Meaning they were the only one built in their class.

The Enterprise's new running mate was the Arkansas CGN-41. I rode a frigate in the Nimitz Battle 1984 to 1985, Nimitz's running mate was the South Carolina CGN-37. The Nimitz and South Carolina could leave the rest of group in the dust and cross the Atlantic in 96 hours, because with conventional ships, slowest ship in battle group is the Tanker and we definitely needed her.

 

[MADDOG 521]

What year and type of ship were you on. Son and DIL were both stationed at Mayport/Jacksonville in 92-96.

Finally tracked down my son. That "Tiger Cruise" was in 1998 and we were on the USS Nimitz. He was not a Chief at that time but he was later in his career. He was stationed out of Norfolk most of the time and I visited there a couple of times also. He finished up in San Diego and he's happy in his retirement. Thanks for asking and thank your son and DIL for serving.

 

[caryc]

Jim, just a bit curious, do you know how old your son was when he made chief?