At the prompting from some of our members and in loving memory of our shipmate LCDR Jack A. Eckert, USCG (Ret) known by many on these boards, I have transferred OCEAN STATIONS to our boards. RIP shipmate and thank you for your service. (
Jack's Obituary)Note to the forum: I didn't transfer the photos as no photos appeared in the original posts.
If you would like me to include photos in the text I can add them in. OCEAN STATIONS
Military.com Forums, annotated. abridged, scanned for uncouth language, and presented (per permission of Fred Siegel) for all to read by your friendly Webmaster, Jack.
Forward to this lengthy document. I recently was lurking through the Point-Counterpoint discussion board on Fred's Place and saw a topic with 176 entries. Having made many weather patrols during my 27 year Coast Guard career, it piqued my interest. I read through most of it and felt that it would be good fodder for the folks that visit Jack's Joint. I contacted my friend Fred and requested his permission to use the material contained in the string. He sent me permission and I undertook making several revisions to it. Because the writers only were identified by their email addresses I decided to purge the names from the material as well as most references to each other. Some of the things were a bit racy and this being a family site, I either cleaned them up a bit or purged them altogether. To those who contributed to this string, Thanks. These stories, events, attitudes and opinions should not be allowed to die. Weather Patrol that began immediately before WWII lasted well into the 1970's before the program was finally put to bed. Many of us can count in years the time we spent on the various stations, just living with our routine. It is a far cry from the major Coast Guard sea going activities of today. But, it was this program that kept our sea going traditions alive. Without it we would not have had a good excuse for all of these ships and all of the officers and men who manned them to be afloat and we would never have had the opportunity to maintain our collective seafaring abilities. There weren't enough icebreakers and miscellaneous large ships to go around.
So let's pretend we are in a big room having a super BSing sessions talking about Ocean Stations. The first guy sets the stage by beginning here -- *********************************************************************************I figure we can waste a little time on this one. There have been a couple "mentions" of the Ocean Station in the last couple weeks. When I joined the Coast Guard it was a major investment of our larger Cutters.
Ocean Station: The on station grid or Oscar-Sierria was a ten by ten mile square of water. The idea was to remain at or near this grid. The "whole station" was 110 miles square and allowed for some wandering around. Most Cutter Skippers considered the number of days in grid O/S as a mark of their ships and crews performance (and sometimes "endurance".) The primary duties of the Station Cutters was to provide weather observation, navigational assistance to transoceanic aircraft and be a ready SAR asset for ships and planes crossing the ocean. Today's High Tech world has forgotten the many things that could go wrong with long range travel. Even well into the 60's Cutters were called upon to provide assistance to vessels in distress.
While aircraft incidents were less common they were perhaps the most dramatic.
Using the BIBB and some of the other Boston Cutters as an example, a crew could expect to "maintain" between four and seven Ocean Stations a year. If you got seven it was most likely that you got "doubled" because the Cutter relieving you broke down or got "Shanghied" by the Navy. If you only had four, then most likely you had a GTMO, and maybe lucked into two Bermuda SAR Standby trips or made the "kiddie cruise".
The Pacific Cutters "doubled" as a scheduled system because they had fewer Cutters and the travel time was greater.
The Stations were manned by 327 foot Secretary Class, 311 foot former seaplane tenders and 255 foot Lake Class cutters. Each of the Ships were endeared to their crew by certain "unique" characteristics. In a Nutshell... The 327 ft Cutters were the Queens of the Fleet. These ships had beautiful classic lines, a smooth "cruiser bow", excellent length to beam ratio for seakeeping in any weather. They were quiet, the wood decking supplied wonderful insulation (until it was all pulled off in the name of NBC defense.) The "new" insulation applied on the interior did not work and as a result it "rained" throughout foward crew berthing the next two patrols. Oh Yeah, they were Air Conditioned. The A/C worked IF YOU KEPT THE DAMN DOORS CLOSED. Should the Fireroom Security Watch find even one door open, the Forward A/C was shut down at once!!! Biggest drawback with the 327 was fuel capacity. You almost always had to stop for fuel "both ways".
The 311 ft WAVP's had tons of fuel capacity. They were WW2 vintage and excessed by the Navy when most of the need for "remote" Seaplane bases ended. They were Diesel powered and had a low length to beam ratio, about like a DE but they were a little longer. They rode OK in a head sea if it wasn't especially rough. They were awful in beam and quarter or drifting on station. The pitch and roll was quick and violent. The 311's had twice as many WTD's as the 327's and the combings were higher (knee knockers) They were noisy and always smelled of Deisel Fuel inside and out. Most of the time they made it to station on two of the four engines. It was not much fun though to head home on two.
The 255's were a ship unique to the CG. There are some guys out there who can tell a lot more about the Lake class than I can. I never served on one and only was aboard the Owasco in Newfoundland for about 6 hours. To me they were too small and had no business out in the winter North Atlantic. I know they served their crews well and also survived a bit longer than the original builders would have imagined.
Me I was happy to be doing my Stations on a 327 and later a 378 at the time they closed down the program.
So are there any folks out there with some O/S stories or "liberty port" stories. For us a "liberty port" was 12-16 hours at NOB Argentia, New Foundland. Big Whoopi!!! We did make it to St Johns' and Halifax too.
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Oh boy, I remember seeing the Lightship Nantucket way back when, you "old salty dog".
I think the longest time I have been out without pulling in was right around 25 days, both on 270's, talk about people going stir crazy!
Every once in a while I will pick up a book about those Ocean Stations. And isn't the Bibb a reef now? I wish the CG still had those ships or built the new ones like them. Nothing worse than a 270 in heavy seas!
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Charlie I heard the Star Dust in St. John's burned down. Too bad. What a place for young Coasties to meet Newfie women.
A true story or this ain't no ****.
When going into St. John's the troops were always advised to find them one of the really plump gals and stay away from the skinny ones. The reason for the plump ones was you knew they didn't have TB. Those skinny ones who coughed a lot were definitely no starters.
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On board the Campbell, Spencer & Half Moon. I did quite a few of those myself out of St. George. Hump day, mail swap, Argentia, balloon men, whacking the ice, 40 pounder of VO!
And then on to the Bay Cafe (Mrs. Pappas) and then under way again.
And..........we loved it
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I pulled Ocean Stations on 255's, 311's, 327's and 378's. The 255 was the worst riding, plus you had to climb and down ladders to get anywhere on the ship. The story was they originally were supposed to be longer than 255 but when the war was ending they shortened them. Turns out that wasn't true.
The 327 was the best riding, although the pitching could get to you. The 311 was a comfy ship as far as the berthing areas. Probably the best of the three (older ships) in my mind. The 378 though....almost unfair to compare them to the older ships. After all the older ships I thought I had died and gone to heaven when I went to the Mellon. She was less than two years old at the time. The berthing areas and mess deck were downright luxurious compared to the older ships.
Best Ocean Stations I pulled were double Victors. Ten days in Yokosuka between stations. I'll never forget "The Alley"....the area loaded with bars and sailors. Had some great times there. Those folks were experts at separating young sailors from their money. Every time we headed back out the ship was loaded with stereos, TV's and Hondas.
We did a few interesting things to break the boredom of being on station. I'll cull my memory and see what I can recall.
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One of the high points (I use the term loosely) of OWS duty was the standard manila highline drill between relieving and relieved - mail, movies, etc. This particular time, The Taney had a "little trouble" with their steering gear, and all hell broke loose. Much excitement.
If I remember correctly, by the time this picture was taken I was down on the fantail of Bibb still cutting away... of course, a few minutes later I was looking for a clean pair of skivvys.
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.................... but if they didn't pitch like that, the fantail hopping wouldn't have been HALF as good as it was... Now there's a sport that has gone by the wayside in the New Guard....
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Yokuska had a bar they called the Atom Bomb! I never got over the sense of humor they had by calling the bar that, you almost wanted to cringe. You literally walked through a mushroom cloud shaped doorway to get in. Then met up with the "tour guides" and always thought you were smarter then they were. How did they get the side zip on your jumper up so fast? I guess they wanted to validate the dragon embroidery. Or how about checking to see if you still had all 13 buttons.
A little trouble with their steering gear, that's funny.
Fantail hopping..........was a sport indeed
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Excellent point about the sport of fantail jumping. We had an ET on one of the 311's I was on that exceled at jumping. Unfortunately one day he got a LOT of height on his jump. When he came down the ship had moved.
We went to man overboard stations. By the time the boat was in the water he was back on board. When he dropped he managed to grab onto a line we were using to tow some swabs and he used that to climb back on board. Kinda gave up on his jumping after that!
When underway you could always throw your white hats into a nylon laundry bag and tow them behind the ship to get them sparkling white. Only thing was if you left them too long all you pulled back were threads.
Guys on the helm during the mid watch used to relieve their boredom by trying to turn the ship a full 360 degrees without the OOD noticing. Worked fairly often with one particular junior officer
That was fun... OOD says "whats that clicking noise", QM, dont know sir I'll check.. (walks around wheel house like he is serious)... Nothing here sir I'll have the BMOW check around the weather decks.... (tap .. tap.. tap.. on the 1MC).. S/P phone rings... What!!! says the BMOW who had to leave his anatomy instructional magazine in lower berthing...
QM reports there's a "clicking sound, OOD wants to know what it is...??? Tell him it's usually a halyard slapping against the foremast says the wiley BMOW... By the time they get done talking the ship has come about or is within 10 or 15 degrees on original base and the helmsman says with alarm... "10 degrees right of course and correcting Sir"
Very Well... and mind your helm son... Aye Aye Sir... Another wasted 10 minutes of our exciting lives....
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I remember the shipriders at GTMO telling us that an "Emergency Breakaway" is just a regular breakaway, done a little faster, Horsepuckey!!! Those guys apparently never had the other ship have a "little problem" with the steering gear. Cut It, Throw it, do anything you can to get it over the side. Even a T/D line could drag a shipmate over the side before it broke. Remember those tough guys who would wrap it around their hands (both of them) when tending them... Ouch that could hurt...
Had an emergency Breakaway from an AO once. It was their casulty (tensioning device) but of course we had to make the move, The spool piece on the fuel probe was hit with the sledge, when directed by the AO, Oh Oh, the line was not blown down nor' had they taken a back suction. What a freakin mess... Bunker 6 everywhere. Thank God it was pretty cold out and we could scrape most of it up. The BT's "volunteered" to Oxyalic the decks (wood) as soon as it warmed up a little.
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Fantail "jumping", how about the way you "float" through a WTD from about five or six feet away on the right pitch. Now I know that did not always work and sometimes the sudden side slip would drive you into the frame or bulkhead with little warning. But it looked so cool when it worked...
Or standing in front of the urinals in the forward head on 327 in a good little head sea. Of course in the windlass room, you could stand on the deck and float up onto the windlass motor without moving... Damn I miss that stuff...
Any of you O-7's and above out looking for a good gnarley old Boatswain??? I'll take any big red or white and gone!!!!!
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I used to give my brother a bad time. He was in for nearly 30 years and was only on one white one....the Escanaba. I used to tell him I managed to get more sea time in in my 10 years than he did in his 30. he kept trying to say the 125 he was on was a "white one"......
Other time wasters.....begging leather or canvas from the Bos'n hole to make knife sheaths and ditty bags.
Had some creative EM's on one ship. They made a small raft, rigged a couple battery operated lights on a small mast, one red and one green. Launched it at night when our favorite junior officer had the conn. After it drifted a bit the lookout, who was in on the deal, reported the "running lights".
OOD went nuts....."Why isn't it on radar?" Made a sudden turn to evade. C.O. came up.....looked, figured out what we had done and went back to his cabin muttering to himself.
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Dozing on the towin' bit of 311 while water rushed about it. It was like havin' your own island. Now that's good sleepin'.
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I always thank God the CO's had a sense of Humor. Most time as long as no one was hurt seriously it was let to pass. The JO's by and large took it well. There were a couple... Suffice to say we survived them... Most of them considered it a part of the "learning process". I know I worried a lot more about being "piped" to the CPO mess than to the Wardroom or Ships Office. Of course if you were in the Cabin for an appointment, say...Yes Sir, No Sir, My mistake Sir, Thank You Sir... Almost put a zipper on my second class crow, 'til I saw what happened to the BT1 who tried it. Skipper didn't think it was funny, asked if the next one had a zipper too. (actually it was doubled over tape), He said No Sir, Skipper said, "too Bad that one has to come off too..." Ouch..
The Naugatuck. Now there was a bunch of Pirates who were as crazy as the day is long but would go anywhere any time For Capt. Robbins. I learned more in my time with him than any other single CO I served under. The Coast Guard was really FUN as well as hard then!!! Doesn't seem like 25 yeras ago... That means the Katmi Bay is over 20 yeras old. He double hockey sticks I remember when it was the newest ship in the CG
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When I sailed in Bibb we used to enjoy slapping the final dog off the porthole right next to the urinal - when it was being used by some unsuspecting shipmate – as the bow was downbound for green water.. deep green water. That column of water would usually chuck the poor dope across the room.
Also liked to shut off the head lights, and sneak up the forward hatch (forward of the 5”38) and scurry up to the stem at night when we were taking green water. You can't buy a better ride at Coney Island... nor a more dangerous one.
Me and a few of my mates were members of the “360 club”. Funniest attempt I ever saw was when a bored helmsman tried it on the midwatch - with a full moon. (Not the sharpest knife in the drawer.) When the OOD noticed the moon crossing the fo’c’sle at a pretty good clip he tore up the guy’s quals and put him back on port & starboard as a break-in.
I was never a big fan of OWS duty unless the weather got exciting… but I still have a lot of the “traditional stuff” I used to make in the Boatswain's Hole to pass the time… fancywork, knotboards, duck lace, boats in bottles (somehow my buds in Black Gang always had a supply of bottles… hmmmm). I guess this stuff went by the wayside when movies got better. (You can only watch “Return of the Ninja Part 19” so many times.) I know fancy marlinespike seamanship originally died when sailors learned to read; it is suffering another setback with decent movies and electronic games - I don’t see hardly any of it going on nowadays. Shame
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I did my "fair share" of fancy work. Mostly Little stuff like knife/spike sheathes and ditty bag handles. The coxcombin' on ladder rails, turks heads on anything that would stay still long enough.
But when I got to EDISTO with that huge bos'n hole back aft Mike Scanlon and Joey bayko started to show me what it was like on the Winds. Those guys had some beautiful McNamara's lace and sennits wide enough to go across a mantle piece. The hole had at least three jobs going at any time. We had two big sewing machines and a little one. About the only thing the Navy had taken good care of was the Bosn' Hole. The Navy BM3 who was still there when the Coasties got there was a real pro (he had over 8 for sure) He took us around all the Boats (2 LCVP, one 26 ft "surfboat" and a Greenland Cruiser) told us what might be wrong with each.
Any way, working the canvas and cotton cord was a part of your recreation, also part of what you left behind. My personal contributions were a McNamara lace around the stern sheets of the Greenland Cruiser and a set of coasters with the ships logo in the middle for the CO's cabin.
Yep it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.... To the day I left the CG, I would still trade my time in any Cutter for the best shore job I ever had, hands down. If I had not wanted to be in Ships I would have joined the Army or Air Force...
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Reported on the Morgenthou (1972)as part of the relief crew (the ship just came back from Nam). The "oldtimers" were actually happy to do OS again! First time U/W was OS Charlie hit a storm with 55+ seas and 90 kt winds. learned how to walk down the passageway bulkhead. First bar fight was in the Stardust Lounge in St. Johns, also remember the 1st class having a Hog contest with the Goofy Nouffy women the one with the ugliest WON.
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We were leaving Boston for "another Charlie" and the weather was nasty. A NorEaster was just pulling away and the seas were pretty good as soon as we left the Harbor.
It was normal to "dip" an anchor and have it ride the stopper at special sea detail. This time the Conn (probably the OPS Boss) forgot to give the order to "hawse the anchor" before securing Special Sea detail. Just a small oversight. I had the first watch and on my first round I heard the Anchor slamming against the hull. I reported it. The OOD (our most experienced LTJG) looked at the spray and wind over the bow and said, too rough to send guys out. The CO came up and asked about the banging and the OOD had second thoughts. The BMC was called to the bridge and says.. No Problem Capt.. I'll get the "boats" here (meaning me) and we will go fix it...
The Captain suggested we might want more than the two of us (thank you so much Captain). So we rounded up the "deck force dayworkers" and told the bridge we were ready to go. She was a "poundin" by now as we drove further and further off shore (and closer and closer to the departing storm). The OOD later told me he "thought about" asking to come about but figured the CO wouldn't want to since we were already one day behind schedule. So off we went to the starboard air castle. We burst out the door all 5 of us and ran like hell to the back of the mount. The "Cheeps" (you have to a mid 60's BIBB deckie) says lets go mens... we started around the mount. The bow dropped... Fast!! we looked up and muttered those words made famous by all pilots just before they bore in. "oh $hit.." A wall of grey hit us, I could only see one guy when I pulled my self to my feet back behind the gun mount. Three guys were missing. Now remember this 1965, were we wearing lifejackets???... hell no...you only wore a lifejacket to abandon ship... Well we were all still aboard. Two were still forward having grabbed hold of the windlass brake and the anchor chain, the BM2 was next to me, the Chief had been washed back to the aircastle door. The Cheeps, came back to the mount, the two guys from forward came back and the BM2 says Ok here we go again... This time before we could "go" the bow dropped again, The Mount pretty well protected us this time as we hung on to each other and the ladder rungs on the mount. The was a god awful crashing noise as we took the wave. As we peeked around the mount, there was the stbd. anchor, its' flukes hung over the forward gunwale. We retreated from our mission. As we got back in the aircastle, the other SNBM looks at me and says...That was fun!!! The anchor stayed there until we returned to Beantown and an industrial crane could pluck it off the gunwale. I am sure the Officers took a good bit of ribbing at the Base "O" club about that one.
Yessir that was fun if you were 19 and dumb as a rock!!!!
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Want to hear about the wave that stove in the ships office about 6 or 8 inches... Or the one that left about 10 pounds of wood hanging in two pieces from what had been a set of Boat Falls.. Another "tale from the Deep"...
Yessiree... you guys don't know what you missed!!!
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Cheep - as in "Hey Cheep canna barra da buppa?" (I heard the SDs say this time and time again - it became a good laugh) I'll translate for those who have never had the experience of international diversity on a ship. The steward's mate was trying to say, "Hey Chief can I borrow the buffer?"
Rule 2 never play poker with the stewards if they are in a group.
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Thanks for the insight - Always wondered why they acted so strange
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It sure has been a while since I thought about Ocean Stations!!! This is a good topic and thank you for reminding me about a special time in my career, the part when I didn't know it was going to be a career.
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I remember them well. I met the Duane in Portland, Me. and headed out the next for O/S Hotel. The chief I worked for always made it a point to train engineers underway in the small boat only during bad weather. Can't say I enjoyed all of them I made, but I got my sea legs really fast.
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Chief would put a SNBM or one of the new BMs and a couple of guys in the pulling boat and let you ride the "painter "for a hour or so. "Good training he would say" Wasn't too bad unless the OD caught you BSing with the stern hook and the "sweep" tucked under your arm, he would then turn into you. When you realized you were about to fetch up hard alongside you would really bear down on the sweep, then he would turn away hard. Now at that time I weighed about 110 with a big shackle in my pocket and if the stern hook didn't grab my legs the "sweep "would flip me like a pancake. Wonder why the bridge and the 01 deck would always be full of laughing faces?
Another thing we would do when drifting to save fuel (water hours) and in the trough (a 255 can roll when it is dead calm) was to stand "athwartship" on the fantail and see how far you could lean into the roll and not fall or move your feet.
On "Victor" the goony birds stay with the ship all the time for the garbage and I am postive I talked to the same bird for 4 1/2 doubles.
Kids now are being deprived of a lot of seasoning.
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Left Taney and back to back to back Hotels to attend A school. Reported to Bibb and relieved Taney.
It was a different world
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Ah the 255's, now there was an interesting ride, course that was my first deep sea cutter after a coastal buoy snatcher, so I didn't really know what was a good ride or a bad ride. However, we relieved a 311 up on Delta in late November, kind of blowing like snot and the relief highline for movies just ended up as a transfer between ships with all sealed tight, heaved overboard and picked up with a grapnel on the float line. Anyway, BSing with the departing QM's on the flashing light, I mentioned that I'll bet they were glad to be heading to Argentia and out of this slop, as I thought they were getting the snot walloped out of them. The QM passed that they were doing fine, having a great ride, but looking at us, they all felt bad that we were stuck out here in the small ship.
We had just returned from Vietnam about two months earlier, most of the WestPac crew was still aboard, and the next thing that hit us was the cold. Most of us would find an excuse to visit Radio for a bit, because it had A/C and would be at least 65 degrees in there, The other was hanging above the hatch in the stbd mess deck above the control flat for the engineers and holding the nightly bull session.
For you Boston guys, that was my first run in with a Mr. Muldoon from the weather service. If memory serves correctly, They CIC gang would crank up the 29 airsearch radar, and shortly over the *****box would come " Bwidge fwom Wedder, get weddy to waunch a wedder bawoon" I swear the guy sounded just like Elmer Fudd. Hell of a character. Those weather guys would sometimes do two or three trips before heading in.
Lastly, those wonderful ladies from the eastbound PanAm Clippers, who would call in with the nicest (nudge nudge wink wink) voices and offer to send post cards home from London or Paris .
It all comes back and could go on, but will give it a rest. Course then there was the fuel stops in Bermuda before and after ECHO, but that's another story for Hells Vespa's scooters
Oh yeah, how many gangway watchstanders will be putting the first log entry of the new year in poetry form?? or has that been forgotten.
Happy New Year Coasties, to all ashore or at sea, be safe
Keep the red side down.
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Wife ( the new one) often asks about us going on one of those commerical cruises to nowhere. I made her sit and watch the old super 8's of some of my ocean station stuff. She had to admit it would be boring for me on a commercial cruise. I told those cruises were handicapped people only, real Coasties have to suffer to enjoy it.
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Based on what I read in the paper a cruise on one of those Miami based ship's might fill the bill. With everybody puking it would seem just like the port aircastle on a 327.
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Short story on how to torture a BT3 who was seasick a lot (he is still alive and may read this, so no names.)
We stood the mid watch in the engine room and after about ten days at sea, the BT3 began to get his color back. When he did, that was my cue to act. I would draw a half cup of coffee with a lot of milk in it, add some mustard and some pop corn if available and go stand beside him. Draw a good bit of the solution into my mouth, grab my belly and moan loudly. Then I let the solution fly all over the place. It was an ugly site and the BT3 would start puking all over again. I think it was the corpsman that had him changed to another watch to safe guard his health. We have been great friends for many years now, but he won't go to sea with me.
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Seems the first meal at sea, especially after an extended in port, was always incredibly greasy pork chops. Always resulted in any new guys rushing for the head. We also delighted in smoking cigars and munching on sardines to help the newbies find their sea legs.
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I just wanted to chime in and voice my appreciation for all those having contributed to this post. It's a joy to read, and shows that we all still have a lot to learn.
Amazing the kind of mischief that can be brewed up...
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One shipmate mentioned how comfortable the towing bitts were on a 311. Those bitts were the same on all the ships I was on and were the most desired seating when just hanging out on the fantail watching the mast swing against the stars on Ocean Station.
Someone else mentioned high lining movies and mail. There was one movie, I think it was White Christmas with Bing Crosby, that never made it to port. Every ship departing OSN dumped it on the new arrival. Heck, it may still be floating out there somewhere.
The flight crews were nice about sending postcards for us too. Nearly ended my relationship with a girl I was dating at the time. I had told her (poor me) that I would be bobbing around out in the middle of the ocean for a month. When I came back into port she was furious with me. Wanted to know why I had lied to her. I was completely baffled until she showed me the postcard she had received from me......sent from Hawaii!
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Yes the seemingly most popular location in BIBB when the rock n' rollin' first started. For those who are too young to remember we used to throw our garbage over the side once we were clear of port. (far enough out to sell sea stores, far enough to dump trash...) Now back in those days we didn't have "glad bags" the galley garbage was collected in $hit cans, (that's refuse cans for the politically correct.) These would be assembled in the port side aircastle on the day of departure until the last meal, then if we were selling sea stores, they were dumped down the slop chute and rinsed (with sea water) by the mess cooks as the last part of the days duties.
On my first Ocean Station I was of course the new guy and was mess cooking. The other deckie mess cooking with me was also on his first trip. Now I had done OK so far. My tummy was a little queasy, I had eaten the pork adobo and rice and was managing to hold it down. My shipmate was not having a good day. We were all done inside and were getting ready to dump the garbage in the slop chute (located in the port aircastle hence the area's popularity) The can reeked to say the least. As we "hefted" it HE got a wiff, and puked, right in my face!!! Now as I said I had made it so far... No More. I immediately donated my pork adobo to "Ralph" the great sea god, all over him, and all over me.
The next thing I remember is three or four guys laughing and spraying me down with the water hose connected to the potato peeler. The $hit can was upside down on the deck and I faced the prospect of cleaning it up, my shipmate was gone!!!
That was the first and last time I was sea sick... I was one of the lucky ones, some guys lived through hell the first couple days every patrol.
If I can get my thoughts together I'll post a hilarious story about a weatherman and a dark balloon shelter.
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First day out, Screamin' Gene Davis would have all of the new deckies tidying up the paint locker, which gave everyone a fume-filled elevator ride. Almost all of them got sick as dogs. Next day he would let them work on deck, out in the fresh air. He told them that if they got sick again they would have to go back in the paint locker.
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For the 7th and 8th district 255's, Bermuda was the fuel stop going and coming from OS Echo. If the navigator had his ship in one sock, the ETA at the sea buoy was about 0815, just after breakfast, all fast at the Hamilton Navy base by 1000 and fueling completed by 1400-1500. Just enough time to go ashore and attempt to find out if the natives were friendly. One old definition of an optimist was, "a Coastguardsman who went ashore in Bermuda with a pack of rubbers in his wallet", but thats another story. One of the modes of transportation available were the rental Vespa motor scooters and they were, at one time, available to Coasties. One long gone cutter's shore party managed to get hold of a few and had an enjoyable liberty but neglected to return the scooters to the local vendor as agreed on. Perked up with copious amounts of truth serum the made their way back to Hamilton, onto the base, down to the dock and a nearly flawless parking of the scooters. It is my guess that it was faulty depth perception and not the "alfluence of incohol," because six or seven of those scooters made a perfect arc off the end of the pier and a great splash in the harbor. The soggy party made it up the ladder, turned in their liberty cards and trundled off into oblivion. Early the next morning with the help of the diver at the Navy docks, the scooters were retrieved, rinsed down and left in a neat line on the dock, hoping that the rental agency would figure out where they were AFTER we left.
But then, there was the Seaman who went ashore with the "pack" and ended up on the cruise ship bound to NY, but thats another story.
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Them little motor bikes were fun but dangerous.. I much preferred to steal them two horse surry and wild west it back to the ship when tied up downtown. Most places required a tie in the evening. Two black socks tied together make an excellent bow tie.
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How about dressing the boot fireman in foul weather gear boots, gloves and gas mask. Giving him a jar of bilge water marked with the radioactive decal holding it with bilge thongs going into the cabin at 2 am to show the CO the latest sample. What did you guys do at sea to amuse yourself.
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Without fail, everytime we got underway on the Dexter for a reserve cruise, at muster on the fantail, the reserves would form-up on the starboard side. As we cleared the Golden Gate, and first began to feel the ground swells, some reserve, usually the one up-wind, would spray everyone around him, this set off a chain reaction of about 50 reserves manning the rails. After everything was under control, the EN1 would conduct lessons on biting the heads off fish, and swallowing bacon strips tied on a string, when he pulled it back up, they usually manned the rails again. I had many fun days watching.
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Now don't tell me you never put carbon on the looking glasses or pee down the lookout voice tube?
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Did dump a tube of BB's into the ducting above the wardroom once. They sure made an annoying sound as they rolled back and forth, back and forth......
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Remember the TWO Beers on Saturday Nite! Sold one can for three dollors back in 73! Beer in the wardroom and 1st class quarters, hard liquor in the CPO Mess, fire flies on the fantail.
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I pulled twenty three patrols on a 255, from the Atlantic and the Pacific.This time fifty three years ago we were in Jamica and getting ready to shove off to pass through the "Big Ditch" to Acapulco..
How many of you remember when the 255s has K-guns, quad forties aft of the five inch 38 hedghogs, twin 20's on each wing of the bridge, one port and starboard on the main deck. On the fantail there were two racks of depth charges.
In 48,49,50,51,52 we did not have Cuttermans pins, or coxwain pins. Most of the coxswains aboard at that time earned them on Higgins Boats. We also did not have a float time, most of the second class,first class and the old chiefs were veterans of WW-2.
Ocean station sugar was the best as we were the second ship to pull in Yokosuka in 1950. At this time we had Military Script as money. The yen was 360 to one. This was when Mac-Arthur was the King. of Japan and G.H.Q.
We were the first to get R&R at Tashima, we all died and went to heaven for one week.
Also there were three DE's that were used for weather patrols in the Pacific. I was also selected by Harry S Truman to have my enlistment extended for a extra year. I was not by my self in this endeavor.
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Way back when (but not too far back), I had the 16 to 20 on the bridge while MK2 Scott Hazen was down guarding the bilges. We had chow relief together and grabbed a few cigars to smoke while we finished up the watch. I foolishly suggested to Scott that he blow a little smoke in the voice tube, to see if it makes it all the way to the bridge. (Never trust an engineer!) Well, a short while later I'm back on watch and a steady stream of smoke starts billowing out of the voice tube. It just happened that the CO was making his evening trip to the bridge. I don't know what was happening in the Engine Room, but in short order, the entire bridge was full of smoke. (As luck had it, no wind to help me out of my uncomfortable situation!) Well, the CO finally had enough and told me to call down and tell them to keep the smoke out of the tube. I called down on the SPP and notified the Engine Room of the Captains order. "Blow the smoke out of the voice tube? Aye, aye!" was the reply. Scott puts high pressure air to the voice tube and it was like Mardi Gras day on the bridge! Smoke and dust and dirt everywhere!
I hope the Captain had a laugh about it all later. It was funny as hell to the rest of us (once he regained his composure).
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On the 255's, the engine room gang was glad to help load food supplies. They were passed down the hatch by the ladder leading to the engine room and we had a longshoreman's attitude about it. One for the ship and one for the engine room. Pull up a wire attached to a deck plate in the ER and there could be a 25 pound ham on it. The baker would always send us down a couple of loaves of fresh baked bread each night. We ate them then, by noon they were hard as a rock. Hey, maybe being a snipe is why I am overweight.
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On a 327 if you were baking bread. As soon as it came out of the oven you would turn the exhaust vent back on, it had been secured to allow the galley to warm up so the bread would rise. The vent exhausted directly into the fireroom.
Within minutes a couple of little FA fingers would appear in the expanded metal door with a statement like: "The BT Chief wants a loaf of bread" The answer was always "Tell the Chief to send a couple of guys up here to clean the galley and he can have one"
Minutes later 2 FA's would appear and the baker would go to the fireroom with a couple of loaves of bread and a pound of butter to share with the watch.
The FA's got theirs when the galley was clean.
Best way there ever was to clean the galley.
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On the Taney you could just reach through the porthole and snag a fresh loaf while it sat on the cooling rack. Didn't even have to enter the galley, much less clean it.
Course us GM's were always smarter then those snipes.
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I reported aboard the Chautauqua during underway training at Pearl straight from boot. As I didn't know anything and wasn't placed on the WQ and SB during "GQ", Chief put me on the "hedgehog rack" which is directly behind and above the 5"-38 mount. He told me to get into battledress, put on a life jacket, put on the sound powered phones, sit down in front of the projectile lockers and not do or say anything.
Well everthing was going great, I had a wonderful view, watched the 5 inch mount traverse back and forth and could here the commands from the bridge, most of which were "Greek to me". The one command that I recall was "fire when ready" and as my brain was processing that information the 5-38 let go.
When GQ was secured the Chief came up and said."Damn ,I forgot about you" all I could say was "HUH"
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Being a snipe (who are smart ex-GM) had a great advantage on Mondays at sea. That when the BT went to sick bay to draw a pint of that great sick bay alcohol to mix his test chemicals. The good thing was it only took 5 or 10 drops to do it. Great influx of people into the engine room carrying cokes at about the same time every Monday morning. Now who shines the brighter?,
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Ah yeah, the medical alcohol. My first Ocean Station, having just turned 18, was over New Year's. We were in the Bos'n Locker and drank everything that had been smuggled on board. Somehow or other someone showed up with some of that medical alcohol. We mixed it with grapefruit juice and drank that too. I ended up sicker than a dog!
So I wasn't THAT smart then.....as I recall we also tried drinking some Aqua Velva strained through a loaf of bread. Damn, that was HORRIBLE. Fresh smelling breath though!
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We had to transfer the 1st LT to a merchant vessel to get back home because his dad had to have brain surgery. Seas were about 16 ft got him on the merchyie OK but what a time getting the motor surfboat back up. I was the Crewman and got the seapainter attached and hooked the forward fall. The MK3 got knocked unconscious and I ran back and hooked aft. We were hoisted up and got shock loaded. Everyone was down and thought this was the end. Once on deck we were taken to the mess deck and the MK3 to sick bay. The HMC gave as all a shot of Medicinal Rum. IT DID THE TRICK! Calmed as all down and got us warm. In the early eighties all the rum was taken off the Cutters The start of the PC or political correctness.
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I think I was on the Chat when the quick release boat falls came out. Remember they were blanks and had to cut the hole for the D ring to fit into from the boat falls. Took days after first cut with a file to smooth them out around 1958.
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‘Course, we never had illegal alcohol in Bibb… unless you count the guy (who shall remain nameless) who put a ½ gallon of vodka in the orange bug juice machine one night… or the Chief who used to bring 3-½ gallon bottles of “Listerine” on every OWS trip…
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Amazing what one could conceal in the safes located in the ship's radio room. And it could go on undetected until the next district inspection especially if the Comm's Officer decided to remain clueless and had a lackadaisical attitude.
Sometimes, it was good to be a Radioman!
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All this talk of booze is making me dizzy. The Goat Locker never seemed to be "completely dry". As a CPO mess Cook I was often offered a "little nip" when going back late at night on weekends to clean up after movies or card games.
One "creative" method the Chiefs came up with on station was to "inject" several cases of fresh fruit with vodka or gin just prior to patrol. The Jack O' Dust was responsible to ensure this "special" fruit was reserved in the chill box for the CPO Mess only. On occasion the mess cook would ask the Jack O'Dust for the "jelly" when picking up the reefer goods. Of course jelly was in dry stores so the cook knew what the Chiefs wanted. The plan worked for three patrols that I know of, until....... The "Jack" was sick and the Wardroom Steward went to draw his supplies unescorted. The SD1 saw the partial cases of fresh fruit, (the rest of the supply was long gone) he took a couple grapefruits and sliced them up nice for breakfast. Well you have to have known Commander Walter Franklin Guy to believe the explosion that morning. The XO was doing everything in his power to courts martial every Chief on the BIBB, the mess cook, (yours truly) the Jack O' Dust, The CSC, The Supply Warrant, and everybody else he could think of. He was livid to say the least. End result. The Jack took a bust to SNCS (he had been there a couple times before) and the fresh fruits were subjected to "random inspection" during every ships material inspection for at least as long as I was in BIBB (late 65)
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Did you know BTC Charley Savoy? When I was the oil and water King on the Sebago, Charley would have me draw the quart of alcohol from sick bay, but instead of miximg the reagent to test for hardness (Charley said the hardness was always 0, so there was no need to check it) just dump the contents into the reagent bottle. This I did, and old Charley would come down in the fireroom, get a cup of coffee, and go check the test cabinet ( he said to make sure we had plenty of test chemicals??) nevertheless BT2 Campbell and I noticed that the level of reagents in the hardness solution was going down. We decided that old Charley was spiking his coffee.. So we decided to try a little ourselves, but neglected to tell him. To keep him from knowing what we were doing, we added water each time, so the level stayed up.. That worked for a while, until it was so diluted that old Charley wasn't getting his buzz, so he came to me, and wanted to know if someone was messing with the chemicals, of course I didn't know a thing.
When you remember the old times it is easy to remember the good times, and forget the bad ones...like port/stb fireroom watches on Campeche Patrols where the fireroom temp ranged from 130 deg in the cool places to 150 deg in the warm ones, or leaking gage glass to change on your watch, or the EO coming down to play games with the forced draft blowers, or feed pumps, or GQ all afternoon when you have the 6/12 watch. It was good that I was young and thick headed them, or it would have hurt much worse. I totally believe that the engineers job on a 255 was the toughest I had in my 22 years.
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Seems like the steam ships I was on went south in the summer and north in the winter. I understand its a good thing that the male sperm dies on air contact or the shaft alleys and motor rooms on the weather ships would have overpopulated the world. I beginning to lose my vision.
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Back when I was a SN I was the boat swimmer on Taney. In those days you had to provide your own swim suit. No dry suits, no wet suits, no flippers just whatever you owned.
The CO of Taney liked doing boat drills and liked getting me wet. Of course the benefit was that when you got back aboard you had to report to Sick Bay where the HMC would give you a shot of medicinal brandy, oftentimes the CO would join you so you were not drinking alone. Not the best stuff I ever drank but it sure was better than what the snipes were drinking.
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My goodness does this bring back memories. I made 16 OSN’s , and a double Victor all on a 255, as others pointed out the worst riding ship in the white fleet. I thought it was the worst riding ever until I went on an 82 in the monsoon season. Fantail jumping now there is a lost art, I am surprised more of us did not end up with torn ligaments and cartilages from that “sport”.
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Not arguing the merits (or rather the negative merits) of the 255' but I would argue that the converted 180' buoy tender converted to oceanographic research vessel USCGC Evergreen, on Internatonal Ice Patrol between Greenland and Newfoundland, in early spring might have given the 255 a run for it's money as far as "unnecessary roughness." The 180 class while classified as a "sea going buoy tender" still had an awfully rounded hull bottom and the superstructure fabricated for the Evergreen after the fire in Boston made it more unstable (read top heavy).
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Coming off a rough Victor we were steaming up Tokyo Bay toward Yokosuka one morning . The sun was shining on Mt Fugi, fishing sampans all around and the old sow wasn't rocking and rolling, as was customery when coming in off patrol we were having a fresh water washdown. I had had the 4-8 BMOW and the Chief sent me and my relief forward to open up the paint locker to allow it to vent out the paint fumes. When we undogged the hatch and opened it , "lord what a shock" there were paint cans floating around about a foot below the hatch and the paint locker was totally flooded.
Now as it had been pretty rough and wet until we made the lee of Japan I had not been forward to check out the paint locker on my watch so I asked Max if he had checked it after he had relieved me , he hadn't. Well we knew for sure that we were in serious trouble, Max said " Fred you have got to go tell the Chief"!!!! . I looked at Max and said "Man you've got the watch"
As it turned out the DCs had lined up the pump wrong and caused the flooding, but for a while there were two mighty scared SNBMs on board the old Chat.
Claude Grout was the DC that lined up the pump wrong and his 10 day Yokosuska inport was spent cleaning up the mess.
I never failed to make my complete round after that.
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One of my favorite OSN stories was the time some one jammed a potato in the steam horn and as you may remember when were relieved on station you would blow the horn as you were departing to the ship that became OSN. Well as we were leaving and the Gresham had taken over OSN the old man blew the horn and watched as the potato looked like a torpedo shooting across the bridge and 5-inch mount. He was not pleased but the XO and the Chief QM had to run into the chart room they were laughing so hard.
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Station Echo was east of Bermuda out a bit in the pond, and SUPPOSED to be a nice calm and quiet break from a Delta, Bravo or Charlie. About a week into the drift, wallowing through a 04-0800 watch, the weather was moderately sloppy, the BMOW had pillaged fresh bread and butter from the night baker and most of the topside watch was settling in to the last couple of hours before the morning watch showed up. About 0600 something the 2182 Kcs, we called them kilocycles then, blurted to life and damn near give everyone in the pilothouse a heart attack. Usually all we ever heard was the Portuguese fishing fleet whistling into the radio trying to raise Vigo Radio. Anyway, this very proper sounding British accented voice calls out " Hello, the United States of America Coast Guard North Atlantic Ocean Weather Station Vessel Echo this is the Dutch Motor Vessel Stella Nova" . Shocked that someone was actually out here, we answered back, "Stella Nova this is Ocean Station Echo". He came back with something to the effect, "bloody good, that could be a mouthful going thru that other lot, I say, if it is not too much of a imposition, we are approximately 25 miles to the northeast of you, have snapped the main shaft, are drifting broadside to the seas, close to capsizing, and may have to abandon ship."
Thought we'd pass this along to you and if you wouldn't mind could we have a bit of help. Needless to say the 04-0800 perked right up, after a bit of consultation with the old man and the engineers, the BT's changed out boiler tips from drift mode to steaming mode and away we went. Ended up taking her in tow, holding her head into the seas for a couple of days till a Dutch tug, about 90' long showed up, relieved the tow, and a nice boring routine settled in again.
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In 1957 I was on the Cutter Chincoteague and was on a pulling boat crew launched on OS Charlie in very rough weather. The waves appeared to be mountains. to row over to a ship and remove four very serious injured guys from Sweden/Finland? All died later. When I asked BMC Red Shaw why we took the pulling boat instead of the three with motors. " Boats with motors can only do so much, a boat powered by men will do what's necessary" I have never forgotten that. If I remember correctly, I had the most important job, as an FA on the pulling boat. #5 man who was to put in the boat plug while lowering away. Lord, the seas I have been put in with Coast Guard surfboats, makes me thankful for ever day I live.
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Coming into Pearl during underway training we were to moor at the Able Docks, just inside the harbor. My mooring station was on number one line and the anchor detail along with the Chief, a couple of DC's and a couple more SN's. As we approached the pier the usual commands for mooring were given on the sound powered phone "put over two, put over four etc" then a loud command came from the bridge "LET GO PORT AND STARBOARD ANCHORS" . The Chief shouted "LET GO BOTH ANCHORS" !!!, I grabbed the maul, flipped up the chain pall ,and raised the maul to strike the chain stopper release to let go the port anchor. Well before I made contact with the stopper we rammed head on into the concrete bulkhead at the head of the pier knocking everyone on the fo'csle flat. I immediately jumped up and struck the stopper release letting go the anchor. Well when the Chief looked over the side there lay the anchor and about two shots of chain neatly piled up on the pierI I caught lots of flak about that.
I understand that the collision was caused by the loss of
excitation or something to that effect.
Sadly we had plenty of spectators as there were two Navy ships moored on the other side of the pier and the base fire truck came roaring up.
It knocked about a four foot mouth in the stem into the paint locker, the paint locker man wanted to put a picture window in. It sure was a touchy subject on the old Chat for awhile, bridge blaming the snipes and the snipes blaming the bridge.
It caused us to cut short underway training as we had to drydock the next day, so it wasn't all bad.
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You can always tell what ports a 255 had visited. There will be a big V in the dock. They had a terrible time going astern due to an automatic system that was way ahead of its time and hardly maintained by the Coast Guard. If the switchboard didn't synchronize the main generator with the main motor, it kicked off and you lost power. Seems like when they were 2/3 ahead for steerage, it made for back fulls and the Westinghouse plant on 255's didn't like that and would make an a$$ out of a CO in a heartbeat. Every time we got that bell in they engine room, we all prayed. I'm guessing they went astern when they were supposed to 95% of the time. It was the other 5% of the time that got all the attention. Lost of shaft power was usually accompanied by the boilers safety's lifting and really scaring an already amazed bridge crew. Hey, a little yard time was a sought after item, the mighty snipes and Westinghouse did their part in seeing we make it more often than most ships.
The switchboard on the Androscoggin blew up on a backing. Never saw so much sparks and smoke. Took Westinghouse three or four months to put it back together.
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Do you recall the time at Midway when refueling and the tanks overflowed? (just one of several times that it happened while I was aboard) I remember all the snipes including the EO were soogying the starboard side and weather deck. We drove DC plugs in all the scuppers to keep the oil on board. Old boat had one white and one black side.The port captain was very unhappy with us for messing up his pristine harbor, said something like "Damn Coast Guard always screwing up" Midway is where the Iroquois went aground a couple years earlier.
I had to stay on board to rig stages and bosun chairs for the snipes but most all the other crew went ashore and got drunk on the ten cent beer which caused another mess when we finally got underway.
Continued
