Shipboard Life

[popper]

Try a diesel boat WWII type with head and knee knockers. Then went aboard Jefferson SSBN - like being in Texas! I just hated going down the scuttle for GC, from fantail then up several ladders to the bridge. Did get to see lots of action - skipper's tele talker. Our full roster was 1200 but normally only 900 or so. Still plenty of room on CAG2. Fun times when replenishing at sea, no peanut butter or grape jelly to be found (wink-wink) and nobody cared. Go ask cookie for some bread on midwatch. CG11 we launched a bird that went downrange, then turned around twice, crossing the bridge. Chief set his cap over and was ready to jump. Sitting in launch room and whosh, then another - we looked at each other, then another - no place to go!

[Mk42gunner]

To this day I can not eat canned ravioli. If the cooks didn't have enough leftovers for midrats they opened several cans of ravioli, at least they warmed them up but still you'd think they could have had some variety.

I still like baked or fried spam though, Dad had a coworker that was a Korean War vet that couldn't stand the stuff.

Shipboard life was hard, especially if it was built before say the mid 1970's. After that they started having elevators to move massive amounts of supplies below deck. Before that it was E-5 or 6 and below working parties.

Robert

[2A-Jay]

Unhooking 8" projectiles from the high line in heavy water is fun.

I have on of those 8" dummy projectiles sitting on my patio. Came from a Scrap Metal yard in southern WA. I always joke about it being hard to Reload for that caliber, and even harder to shoulder the Rifle that Shoots it.

[AKtinman]

I was on a 1944 built 213' Navy ARS - turned CG WMEC. Seagulls would land on the fantail, and if they stayed long enough, they would get seasick, and it was pretty easy to catch one. The CO wasn't very happy to see a couple of seagulls painted International Orange flying near the ship! He had no sense of humor.

[AKtinman]

Speaking of CG cutters... I always thought it interesting that we had MEC - "Medium Endurance Cutter" and HEC - "High Endurance Cutter", but no LOW Endurance Cutters

[Land Owner]

Apparently, there is no definitive "length" in distinguishing a "boat" from a "ship". You can put a boat on a ship, but not the other way around. Public Opinions use 60-feet sometimes.

When does a prop become a screw? Apparently, they are one in the same, but our usages differ.

Some say taa-may-toe, some say taa-mot-toe. Pa-taa-toh. Pa-taa-toe. In Boston "Stay wicked fah aphat". The list of things "I don't get" is long....

LEC's eh? Are not those just small-boats really, with no stores or galley? Perhaps it depends on the Invoice from the Guard to Congress. "Cutters" has a much more expensive "ring" to it than "small-boats".

[popper]

Yea, was fun watching the 8" hit the target sleeve 11mi away. and the 5" taking the wire off the towed sleeve - S2 pilot made an immediate 'alteration' when the radar locked on the wire. Then they started using drones, which we would recover. Both cruisers I was on were 44 built old school. Cutter is old fast sloop used for off shore patrol in 1600s.
Boats don't care but ships are always female.
Land is never more than 6 mi away.
'Screws' were an early development by a guy on the thames river. Early ocean going ships were sidepaddler (late 1700s?) and sail that were slow and dangerous. He tried archemides screw water pump idea to small boats, eventually developing propellers as we know today. He also developed the V drive as recip steam engine cranks couldn't be directly connected to the props. Thrust was applied to the block gears in front of the crank. Larger ships needed a jacking motor to keep the prop shafts rotating at anchor so they wouldn't take a permanent sag.
This is one I was on.

Got a pic somewhere of the engine rooms blown out from aerial torpedo on return from tarawa.
The other one

[jsizemore]

We were testing our ASROC system in the channel between Maui And Kahoolawe using an older diesel boat as our quarry. ASROC was launched, rocket engine seperated, parachute deployed and the torpedo released the parachute and hit the water. The torpedo turned circles as it descended till it's sonar acquired the sub. It headed to the sub and after it gets within so many feet it's supposed to stop and inflate it's recovery collar. The last part didn't happen. The torpedo started ramming the subs hull and wouldn't stop. That sub came up out of the water with a little daylight under it's bow. All their topside hatches and crew came streaming out like fire ants out of their mound.

For a moment us surface fleet sailors weren't "victims" like the sub sailors used to call us.

[Neverhome]

Im currently active duty CG and living in Norfolk. Oh the jokes I get from the Navy folks here!
The wading to shore more than once!

The most satisfying feeling ever is getting underway with Navy ship riders for TSTA or TACT or whatever it’s being called at the time and watching all these salty squids getting sea sick in 6 footers.
One of my afloat tours was a year as EPO of a 110 in the Arabian Gulf. We were working for the Navy as security around Iraqi oil platforms. Navy O6 small boats over to our cutter to shake hands and kiss babies and thank us blah blah blah. He came onboard and immediately turned green. All I remember him saying was “Is it always like this??”. And then he split.

Yes, yes it is always like this.

[Nazgul]

One of our duties was to operate the brig on the carrier. We had panic buttons at all our guard stations. One night it goes off for the brig and we respond. Found the Marine CO, all 5' 8" of him, who is the Brig Warden standing toe to toe with one of the biggest sailors I had ever seen. The sailor was wearing civies, unusual because we were at least 3,000 miles and 90 days from any shore leave.

He refused to put on a uniform and obey any commands. We never hurt anyone, it was against policy, could force them to obey a lawful command. Took 5 of us to get him in uniform and shut up. I was the one sitting on his chest holding his nose while they gagged him. Put him in an isolation cell on a mattress. They cannot be left unattended while restrained and I drew the first watch.

After it got quiet he started to cry, the CO had us release the restraints. He was just having girl problems.

Fast forward a month. Now even a carrier is not that big when there are 5,000 people on board. I am waiting in line for chow, there is some greasy water in a pan they are serving something unrecognizable from. A huge arm reaches out from the galley and pulls me in, it is the aforementioned prisoner. I assumed a fighting stance with my tray figuring it was on!!

He said "SGT Don you don't want any of that. Here!!". He gave me a huge steak from the Chiefs mess! Guess he didn't have any hard feelings.

Don

[Land Owner]

One of my shipboard buddies was a cook. Danny always baked bread, 44 loaves in total, starting at the beginning of the 4-8 watch. The aroma of baking bread would stay with us until breakfast at 8. Still, at or about 0500, Danny would bring one of the warm just-out-of-the-oven loaves to the bridge. Five of us there, including the OD, would share. That headed off the feeling of your stomach eating a hole through to your backbone.

[10x]

One of our duties was to operate the brig on the carrier. We had panic buttons at all our guard stations. One night it goes off for the brig and we respond. Found the Marine CO, all 5' 8" of him, who is the Brig Warden standing toe to toe with one of the biggest sailors I had ever seen. The sailor was wearing civies, unusual because we were at least 3,000 miles and 90 days from any shore leave.

He refused to put on a uniform and obey any commands. We never hurt anyone, it was against policy, could force them to obey a lawful command. Took 5 of us to get him in uniform and shut up. I was the one sitting on his chest holding his nose while they gagged him. Put him in an isolation cell on a mattress. They cannot be left unattended while restrained and I drew the first watch.

After it got quiet he started to cry, the CO had us release the restraints. He was just having girl problems.

Fast forward a month. Now even a carrier is not that big when there are 5,000 people on board. I am waiting in line for chow, there is some greasy water in a pan they are serving something unrecognizable from. A huge arm reaches out from the galley and pulls me in, it is the aforementioned prisoner. I assumed a fighting stance with my tray figuring it was on!!

He said "SGT Don you don't want any of that. Here!!". He gave me a huge steak from the Chiefs mess! Guess he didn't have any hard feelings.

Don

One of my shipboard buddies was a cook. Danny always baked bread, 44 loaves in total, starting at the beginning of the 4-8 watch. The aroma of baking bread would stay with us until breakfast at 8. Still, at or about 0500, Danny would bring one of the warm just-out-of-the-oven loaves to the bridge. Five of us there, including the OD, would share. That headed off the feeling of your stomach eating a hole through to your backbone.

Apparently Military cooks are some of the best, and some of the worst in the world.
I have had steak diners in the field that would have not been out of place in in a five star restaurant.
And at the bottom of the culinary chain I have had Flour, lard, with a little sugar and salt mixed with water and tossed in a deep fryer. and boiled coffee.


Thank you for the Navy stories.

[EMC45]

Apparently Military cooks are some of the best, and some of the worst in the world.
I have had steak diners in the field that would have not been out of place in in a five star restaurant.
And at the bottom of the culinary chain I have had Flour, lard, with a little sugar and salt mixed with water and tossed in a deep fryer. and boiled coffee.


Thank you for the Navy stories.

Some of the worst chow I ever ate was in Navy Galleys. The Marine Galley at Iwakuni was awesome. The DFACs of the Air Force always treated me well too.

[Dapaki]

I served 8 years working on the A-6 Intruder, through the Gulf War and on to decommissioning of that lovely (ugly) bird. I got to spend 4 years shore duty in Va Beach at Oceana NAS and spent time on every carrier on the East coast and most on the West coast as we trained flight crews and did workups with the boats as they sea-qualed before going on a cruise.

Brown shoes, the diva queens of the flat top, we lived on the hanger bay by day, hot-racked for sleep and never seen a bilge in our lives!

The Rosie (Roosevelt) had the best all day chow, there was a 24 hour chili bar with 3-4 kinds of chili always hot and ready. The mess was run well by the jolliest Sr Chief I ever met, he would run the griddle and look you straight in the eye and ask how you would like your eggs and then actually make them just that way right in front of you, serve them and say, "Have a great NAVY day, Petty Officer!"

He was also the fat Sr I had to pay homage to moving from a pollywog to a shellback. THAT story, I'll keep to myself....

[Idaho45guy]

I was on the Stinkin' Lincoln (USS Abraham Lincoln CVN-72) during Desert Storm and were in the Persian Gulf. It was middle of the night and suddenly the ship started shuddering as it tried to come to a stop. Apparently a mine had been spotted by a helo. We heard it was off the port side so we ran out to a catwalk to get a good look and a flare was in the water near the mine to mark it. Seemed like it was so close, you could have hit it with a baseball. Me and my buddy looked at each other and decided it was a good idea to get the heck out of there.

I remember moving quickly down the hangar deck to the other side of the ship while a crew of EOD guys passed me carrying a zodiac and running towards the fantail to launch and disable the mine. I found the irony humorous.

I then got out of the Navy and joined the Army as a 12B Combat Engineer and my job was clearing minefields and obstacles.

[Idaho45guy]

After living through the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980, I found myself in another volcanic eruption in the Philippines in 1991 when Mount Pinatubo blew and destroyed Subic Bay Naval base. Our carrier group was tasked to ferry military dependents down to Cebu.

I think I lost most of the photos of the mayhem on board with hundreds of wives, children, and pets brought onboard. I may have one or two left I took of the base.

Attachment 263507

[trapper9260]

Well when I was on my first ship in the navy , I use to hear about the rough seas in the North Atlantic and seen some old movies of it , well it is not like you see in the movies and hear about it when you live it. When you sleep on the top bunk of 3 , if you do not tie yourself with your towel in your rack you might be on the floor from the rough seas. I use to tie myself in with a towel one end tie to the towel rack and the other end on to the handle to get in your rack. There was one guy in another birthing area that did not do that and crack his skull open when he fell out of his rack. I was on 2 ships on active duty and then later on one when I was on active reserves. first 2 I was station and home port in Norfolk,VA and the one for the reserves was out of Groton,CT . First ship was the USS Saipan LHA-2 and then the next later was the USS Emery S Land AS-39 and then last one in the reserves was a WW2 one USS Fulton S-11

[Idaho45guy]

Well when I was on my first ship in the navy , I use to hear about the rough seas in the North Atlantic and seen some old movies of it , well it is not like you see in the movies and hear about it when you live it. When you sleep on the top bunk of 3 , if you do not tie yourself with your towel in your rack you might be on the floor from the rough seas. I use to tie myself in with a towel one end tie to the towel rack and the other end on to the handle to get in your rack. There was one guy in another birthing area that did not do that and crack his skull open when he fell out of his rack. I was on 2 ships on active duty and then later on one when I was on active reserves. first 2 I was station and home port in Norfolk,VA and the one for the reserves was out of Groton,CT . First ship was the USS Saipan LHA-2 and then the next later was the USS Emery S Land AS-39 and then last one in the reserves was a WW2 one USS Fulton S-11

I remember going through 40' seas on the Lincoln. I slept like a baby since the heavy seas actually rocked me to sleep. Carrier life is certainly different.

We passed by the oldest aircraft carrier, the Ranger,on her last cruise in the Straits of Hormuz. The waves were nearly swamping her hangar bay doors while the same waves were still a good 20 feet below ours.

[EMC45]

After living through the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980, I found myself in another volcanic eruption in the Philippines in 1991 when Mount Pinatubo blew and destroyed Subic Bay Naval base. Our carrier group was tasked to ferry military dependents down to Cebu.

I think I lost most of the photos of the mayhem on board with hundreds of wives, children, and pets brought onboard. I may have one or two left I took of the base.

Attachment 263507

That looks like some Seabee action going on behind you.

[gkainz]

I did the Med to I/O (144 days on Gonzo Station was "interesting") cruise on Nimitz. I did my shellback initiation with most of the rest of the crew, as Nimitz hadn't crossed the equator at that time.
Following that, then did WestPacs on Constellation and Ranger.

I was aircrew in the Hawkeye, so at least I got to leave the ship nearly every day. Did have to come back because "that's where the food and my bunk were". (except that time we stayed overnight on Diego Garcia because storms made recovery impossible that night).