A few of my Navy Pics

[HollandNut]

BrassMagnet's thread reminded me I still have a few pitchers stowed away ..

Most of mine were lost in May 2007 when our house burned , had thousands of slides and prints , and very few stored off site on a website

I was a Gunners Mate Guns , the purpose of the entire ship was to take us somewhere to shoot ..


USS IOWA 16"50 broadside , the 16" projectiles were about six feet tall , the BL&P ( Blind Loaded and Plugged ) practice rounds weighed 2400 pounds IIRC , the fuzed rounds with HE weighed around 2700 pounds , took close to six hundred pounds of BP to fire one round ..

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a109/GroovyJack/Navy/IOWA21GUNS.jpg (http://s10.photobucket.com/user/GroovyJack/media/Navy/IOWA21GUNS.jpg.html)

1977 Princess Grace and her family aboard USS H.E.Yarnell CG-17

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a109/GroovyJack/Navy/PrincessGrace78.jpg (http://s10.photobucket.com/user/GroovyJack/media/Navy/PrincessGrace78.jpg.html)


1985 refueling off the Chilean coast on USS Stump DD978

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a109/GroovyJack/Navy/StumpUnrep2.jpg (http://s10.photobucket.com/user/GroovyJack/media/Navy/StumpUnrep2.jpg.html)

[leeggen]

That refueling at sea can and does get exciting at times. Does "emergency Breakaway" sound fimilar? We had to do that 2 differant times when the other ship lost steering. Great pics thanks for sharing.
CD

[trapper9260]

I was on the refueling detail a few time because I had to do the maint on some of the what is used to do it.But had not do any break away .but came close.Not counting all the work on the hydralics on the ship and repairs. I was on the USS Saipan (LHA-2) and then on the USS Emery S Land (AS-39) .!979 to 1983

[HollandNut]

We had to do a couple Emergency Breakaways in the '70's when the Rooskies would run between us and the oilers , bouncing my pea brain here thinking of some of the oilers we used , they went USNS and had a handful of Navy and a bunch of Merchant Marines and would stay in the Med three years or so at a time ..

Buddy of mine from shore duty in Pensacola (79-81) , came there from Holy Loch and I believe it was the Land he was on .. Knew some peeps on Saipan as well , don't ask names , long since forgotten ..

Never dealt with Land , obviously , but did with Shenandoah and Puget Sound .. Piedmont AD17 , was in Naples my first Med Cruise , had one of the seven dwarves painted on the stack , was run down and wore out then ..

[HollandNut]

Black Sea , 1978 , Harry E Yarnell , independent steaming ( we were there by ourselves ), looking for the Russian carrier Kiev , this Russian Destroyer shadowed us for three weeks , it is very eerie and spooky up there

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a109/GroovyJack/Navy/RuusianCruiser78.jpg (http://s10.photobucket.com/user/GroovyJack/media/Navy/RuusianCruiser78.jpg.html)

Mt51 , my baby
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a109/GroovyJack/Navy/StumpMt51.jpg (http://s10.photobucket.com/user/GroovyJack/media/Navy/StumpMt51.jpg.html)

[Freightman]

Thank guys for keeping my family safe.

[lbaize3]

I well remember the 45-70 single shot rifles that fired the blank cartridge, sending the lines between ships refueling/replenishing at sea! Wideners once sold large numbers of those once fired blanks. I still have some of those laying around here somewhere.

[HollandNut]

Yeah those little beasts kicked like a mule , and the M14 blanks weren't real comfy either come to think of it .. Being a Gunner during refueling made you a target if you weren't sending the shot lines over .. The Gunner always looked for the red helmet on the receiving ship .. And there was nowhere to hide ..

[leeggen]

I was on a destroyer and the oiler had us over to 27 degrees before we got breakaway. Was on a Middle East cruise for 6 months. Had lots of pics but ex. kept them, atleast I have the memoreis. Had pics of our twin- 5 inch 55s firing both barrels at the same time, WOW! Never was around the battle wagons. Ran interfearence for a couple carriers. Our ship went to Nam. and came home totally broken. Mast held up by guy cables and the 01 level was cracked at the deck all the way around. Those 5in 55's sure had shook it apart. It was then sold to Korrea.
CD

[HollandNut]

Twin 5" wudda been 5"38's , I remember some of the FRAM II's and 2250's ( remember those , bullnose only six or eight feet off the water ) coming into Norfolk from the North Atlantic in winter , main deck and everything on it was covered in a solid sheet of ice .. those had to be a terror in bad weather ..

[HollandNut]

USS Stump DD 978 being sunk off NC in June 2006

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a109/GroovyJack/Navy/Stump1.jpg (http://s10.photobucket.com/user/GroovyJack/media/Navy/Stump1.jpg.html)

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a109/GroovyJack/Navy/Stump2-1.jpg (http://s10.photobucket.com/user/GroovyJack/media/Navy/Stump2-1.jpg.html)

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a109/GroovyJack/Navy/Stump3.jpg (http://s10.photobucket.com/user/GroovyJack/media/Navy/Stump3.jpg.html)

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a109/GroovyJack/Navy/Stump4.gif (http://s10.photobucket.com/user/GroovyJack/media/Navy/Stump4.gif.html)

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a109/GroovyJack/Navy/Stump4.jpg (http://s10.photobucket.com/user/GroovyJack/media/Navy/Stump4.jpg.html)

[bikerbeans]

I was assigned to the Shenandoah (AD-26, IIRC) from Dec 73 to May 74 while waiting to go to Nuc School in Bainbridge, MD. The engine room was in rough shape, we tried three times to make a Dependant's cruise in Chesapeake Bay and we never left D&S piers.

BB

[HollandNut]

I remember the that same Shenandoah going to the Med ( there was a later one AD44 I think ) and three days later the tugs were towing her back to D&S , made it out past Ches light and that's as far as she got ...

HHMM didn't know there was a nuc school in Bainbridge , knowed about the one in Orlando

[crazy mark]

There was also Nuc school at Great Lakes in 69-70. I think it was class room only. I was a Coastie at BT-a and EN-a school. While refueling I ran the show and was on main deck. Underway or in port. Loved it when the Navy oiler said to unhook so I did and they blew the hose before it cleared the deck. Boy were the deckies pissed.

[HollandNut]

yeah they did that a few time with us , nasty and slicker than owl dook

[wallenba]

Photo's are impressive! But meeting Grace Kelly... WOW! I'm assuming that pic is at Monaco?

[HollandNut]

yes Monaco

[bikerbeans]

HHMM didn't know there was a nuc school in Bainbridge , knowed about the one in Orlando

IIRC, the base in Bainbridge was a WAVE training facility in WWII. When I arrived in 1974 the place was mostly shutdown and I was in one of the last classes to graduate before they closed the base.

BB

[HollandNut]

I was in Orlando in 74 , don't recall if the nuc school was there then , but know it was by the end of the 70's .. Is where the waves did their basic as well .. Orlando shut down years ago ..

[meterman]

Photo's are impressive! But meeting Grace Kelly... WOW! I'm assuming that pic is at Monaco?

My God, she was a beautiful woman!

[wallenba]

My God, she was a beautiful woman!

Yes she was, the above pic does not do her justice. Anyone who does not know or remember her should search the web for some Hollywood head shots.

[Bad Water Bill]

She was a beautiful person both on and off stage and many of us still cry because she gave up a great career to marry some prince from a country no bigger than Chiraq but with none of its crime.

We lost a beautiful person to Monaco but as the fairy tail goes "she lived happily ever after".

[Artful]

Yes she was, the above pic does not do her justice. Anyone who does not know or remember her should search the web for some Hollywood head shots.
http://img2.timeinc.net/instyle/images/2011/GalxMonth/0824-28-grace-kelly-400.jpg
http://a1.files.biography.com/image/upload/c_fit,q_80,w_630/MTE1ODA0OTcxNjg1MTUyMjY5.jpg
http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biographies/grace-kelly/mainPhoto/grace-kelly-225.jpg

[popper]

Unfortunately they wouldn't allow US servicemen into Monaco. CAG 2 was too big for the port. We only got to shoot one 8" at a time. 5" 38s. Those auto loaders are neat.

[leeggen]

HollandNut, they were twin 5in 55s, 2 barrels on each mount and we had one mount forward and one aft. DD-849. Shot a 55lb projectile of varries sorts and was launch by 27 lb of pounder. Sure did shake that can when they went off. We also were equipt with ASROC. The old ones before FRAM, were 3in 38s. Would have liked to see the battle wagons in a gun shoot?
CD

[HollandNut]

who was CAG 11 ?? 10 was Albany and was flag ship for ComSix for years , when they were getting ready to decomm her , we had a huge missile shoot in the Med , I was on Harry Yarnell CG 17 , we had Terriers and Albany had those extreme badazz Talos , they would launch a Talos and the missile ships would intercept them with their missiles ..

Sorry shipmate they were 5"38's , not 55's , may have been a 55# projectile , but that isn't what the second number stands for . The first number is the caliber 5" , second is the length of the barrel in calibers 38 , so 5 x38 is a barrel 190" in length or almost 16' in length .. The 3" was a 3" 50 twin mount , barrels 150" ( 3 x50 ) in length .. The later 5" were 5" 54's , with a 270" barrel length or 22.5 ' in length , they were what I worked on , there was the Mk 42 which could be manned or auto from a control panel and the Mk 45 which was unmanned .. They both fired the same projectiles which weighed 70# ..

Jack
retired GMCS

DD849

http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/849.htm

[Rapidrob]

I served on the Stump as a GMGC in the early 80's.I would like to PM you about the ship and what we did.

[Rapidrob]

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c374/Rapidrob/guncrew2.jpg
Me kneeling,center.

[popper]

Sorry hollandnut - CAG2 Canberra dual terriers aft, 2 3x 8" up front, 5 2x5" 38, bunch of dual 3", quad torpedo, dual ash can. I was on the bridge most of the time during shots. That danged Bainbridge would pull upside and then scoot away - while we were doing a pretty good pace. Couldn't keep up with the big E on many scoots to Cyprus - at flank. Steam & 4 screws just don't do the job. CG11 was Chicago, dual tartar, dual talos, dual terrier aft, asroc, one lone 5" 54 next to the stack. Had a tartar hydraulic failure and just missed the bridge on the return trip. McCormic had one (failure that is), CAG2 was behind (4th or 5th) in the firing line, we got the target (remote Panther jet). Theirs exploded underwater. MT5/FT5 61-65.

[Frank46]

Try doing an emergency breakaway when in the engineroom. We were getting ordnance when the ammo ship lost steering. Definitely does things to your heart rate. The guy standing watch on the throttles has to log all the bell changes as received from main engine control. The worst bell you get is the all back emergency full. Close the ahead throttle on the high speed (ahead) turbine and crank open the reverse turbine asap. Guys in the pump room and boiler rooms going nuts during a all back emergency full bell. The noise of all that steam going into the reverse turbine has to be heard to be belived. Course not as bad as a slow firing 5"54 mount going off. Now that will definitely rattle your teeth. Still have one of the brass 5"54 shell casings I made into an ashtray 40 some odd years ago. Frank

[Mk42gunner]

In the Pacific and IO, it seemed like all we did was emergency breakaways, or at least we practiced them a heck of a lot. Every Wednesday and Sunday.

All of the 5"/54 that I ever fired were steel cased, but the clearing charge was still brass. At least we never had to use it.

I remember jumping out of the gun mount and searing the skin on my hands because the cases were still a bit warm. It takes some practice to get the powder cases to sink instead of float. I wonder just how many are on the sea floor around San Clemente Island?

Robert

[popper]

We had a hang fire in the forward starboard 5/38. Some lucky GM got to unload it, climb out under the turret and throw it over the side. We were alternate flag (6th) with Newport News, rotated at Cuba with Boston (sister ship). Actually the flag's launch got squished by the boom. He wasn't happy.
You didn't really want to be on the Talos squad - they had to fuel it with JP. San Clemente range is probably rust coated by now. Transferring 8" projectile while underway is OK but handling on deck is worse - got to move from one hoist to another. Where did that case of peanut butter go? BM would always open the case of apples around and toss them to everybody.
We did have an idiot that engaged the jacking screw motor at 20 knots. Yes, the vibration when shifting to reverse is horrendous. Hey just another day in the life of a swabby.

[Rapidrob]

I was the One Man Control Operator of our ships 5"/54 Mk42 Mod 9 gun while serving in Vietnam. That thing could pump out 40 rounds a minute( slowed down from 60) when needed and the men I had in the magazine earning their keep, that's for sure.
We had many Hot Gun (s) and burned out barrels.
For a single gun DE, I never fired as many rounds in all the years after the 'Nam as we did in the time we spent on the Gun Line.
The only Brass'54 shell I ever saw was the clearing charge.
At first we would throw the fired casing into the gulf. Little did we know that the would float base up and look like hundreds of little buoys bobbing up and down in the swells. I will never forget the eery sound they made as they banged together.
The Sonar gang threw a fit because of all the noise they made and I was told that they must sink when I threw them overboard.
I would unscrew the 18" primer from the fired shells and throw the steel casings into the Gulf.
As stated above there has to be thousands upon thousands of rusting shells littering the Gulfs floor.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c374/Rapidrob/USS%20Joseph%20Hewes%20photos/mount51firingtostarboard.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c374/Rapidrob/USS%20Joseph%20Hewes%20photos/mountfiftyone.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c374/Rapidrob/USS%20Joseph%20Hewes%20photos/CASINGS2.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c374/Rapidrob/USS%20Joseph%20Hewes%20photos/CASINGS1.jpg

A little ship with a big gun
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c374/Rapidrob/USS%20Joseph%20Hewes%20photos/JosephHewesheadon.jpg

[Menner]

HollandNut when were you on the Iowa I was FTG3 (FC3) FM Div. April 85 to May 88
Tony

[HollandNut]

I was on one a those pig boat Knox's Connole 1056 , what a joke they were , what were they called ? McNamara's folly ..

[HollandNut]

Rob I recognize most of those and a few I cant recall their names

Butler made chief and went to one of the LHA's

Benjamin , where did yawl find him ? He had the 3M system so screwed up when I got there , they let the dirt bag ship over and he went to Otto Melara school , I know I mis spelled it , but the new 76 mm that was coming out back then ..

Steenland

Satchfield made chief , hope the goat locker made him take a shower ..

LaRosa ??

and there are a few I recognize and don't recall their names ..

I came there from shore duty and 45 school .. We didn't have a chief , we had Clemon Seaton Butler , we got a chief shortly after I got there , eight peeps in the division and three of us were first class and a chief ..

I got there end of July 1982 , was in drydock in Newport News .. Captain Anderson left about a month after I got there .

We were top gun in 84 , shot a 496 ..

Pm sent ..

[AZ-JIM]

Here is one of my Dad's photos from the Navy. He was also a Gunners Mate. A buddy of his took this from another ship, dad was on the one with the 16's firing. If you look close you can make out the projectiles, in the actual photo you can see all three but this is a photo of the photo. 142413

[HollandNut]

yeah that was pretty neat , you could actually see a 16" projectile in flight , just a shadow momentarily .. When I was on Stump , we had two five inchers , and occasionally when only one gun was firing , they would let us stick out heads out and you could see a five inch projectile , if you were lucky , I saw a couple , very brief , a shadow ..

You may know this , but you can stand over the shoulder of someone shooting a 45 ACP , and follow the bullets and call their shots ( in your brain ) before it hits the paper ..

[Mk42gunner]

I liked to hang out of the gun house to watch the fall of shot when I was Gun Captain on a Mk42/Mod 9 or 10. It was easy if you were in Mt 52, or firing off the port side in Mt 51.

Then there was the day we were firing on a towed sleeve and blew the bridge window in front of the Captain's chair out on Hoel. The "armored glass" shattered into about a million pieces, from the concussion. The BMOW said everybody was ducking when spun around firing rapid continuous.

Robert

[HollandNut]

Yeah the firing cutouts were only one or two degrees from the bridge wings , we had ComSoLant on board Stump during Unitas and he was on the starboard bridge wing with the other first class GMG , shooting at a drone with the 50 cals . I was in 51 and when they gave us a release battery on 51 to shoot at the drone , she went to the cutouts tracking , and as soon as she cleared the cutouts , she went bang with about 30 degrees elevation , they hadda be staring strait down the barrel when she went off ..

Everyone needs to spend a day in a 42 carrier room on a John Wayne , those carriers flying around will rattle your senses ..

[Mk42gunner]

Set your switches right on the EP-2 Panel and you can intentionally lose the carrier, tie a couple of chem lights to it and turn off the lights in the carrier room and have a light show. Once you send it to the upper hoist it would spin until you stopped it.

Best excuse for a slight delay in firing off the beam: "The carrier got lost."

[Rapidrob]

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c374/Rapidrob/WNUS_5-54_mk42_sketch.jpg

He is an 8mm short film I made while in the 'Nam. I was supposed to be in my rack off of watch and decided to film the gun. The rest of the film is Subic Bay. USS Basalone was re-gunning as well as us.


http://vid31.photobucket.com/albums/c374/Rapidrob/Hewes3_zps2723ab2b.mp4

[Mk42gunner]

Definitely rings back memories; I always preferred to shoot with the doors open if I was topside, gas ejection air wasn't always enough.

Robert

[HollandNut]

nice , was that the New Jersey near the end ?

[Rapidrob]

No,it a Russian Heavy Cruiser that tried to stop us from shelling the VC.
At one point we were so busy firing at the bad guys,I spent 72 hours in the "Tractor Seat", a flip up seat in the OMC ( One Man Control) plastic bubble.
We had ammo in every nook and cranny in and on the ship. Every crew member in weapons dept slept with a projectile.(the bullets could not roll around if in the bunk)
One hit and we be gone in a flash.

[therealhitman]

Thank guys for keeping my family safe.

+1 on that.

[jcwit]

+1 on that.

Same here!

[jumbeaux]

Old Tin Can Sailor myself...USS Bigelow DD942 last class of all gun Destroyers (Forrest Sherman). Three 5" 54 & Two 3" 50 Twin Open Mounts (Mount 31 was removed in the Charleston Shipyards 1973) My first GQ station was as a loader on Mount 32. Next was in Mount 52's Magazine. All gun broadsides were something to experience. Thanks to all my shipmates for bringing back the memories.

rick

[tdoor4570]

I was on one a those pig boat Knox's Connole 1056 , what a joke they were , what were they called ? McNamara's folly ..

I am a plank owner of the U.S.S. Connole DE 1056 commissioned 30 August 1969 I want my plank

[smokeywolf]

That is just nothing short of creepy to see a U.S. Naval ship sinking. (post #11)

[M-Tecs]

I have always like this video. http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675060015_16-inch-50-caliber-Mark-7-gun_powder-operators_cradle-operators_rammer_projectile

[popper]

I like those auto guns the French had, looked to be 3" barrel with a guy in a glass slipper next to it. Plus the mains on the Jean Bart - french BS. Used for training cause the guns didn't work but to see a guy with a mop walking on the barrel was 'interesting'.

[quack1]

Saw the USS Chicago mentioned on the previous page- my dad was a plank owner. He went from the Philadelphia Navy Yard to Tokyo bay on it.
Couple of pictures from 70 years ago.
Chicago is second from left, steaming off Japan. July 1945
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll300/1quack1/tf381.jpg
Chicago in Tokyo bay, in the distance, to the left of the Missouri. Sept. 1945
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll300/1quack1/016307c.jpg