I did a lot of things during my years in the military. One of them was collecting Intelligence. The US Navy Office of Naval Intelligence had a standardized program for having ships submit items that might have some intelligence value. During one tour of duty with the US Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean I ran … More Amateur Spy
I am clearing out my extra model shelves. This offer is for my remaining German WWI models. Many are items that are out of production and hard to find. Prices are in US dollars. The entire lot, including postage, for $315, payable via Paypal. For selected separate items there is an additional postage and packing … More Special Offer – German WWI 1250 Models.
My father was the youngest of 8 children. Both his parents died before I was born. I don’t remember him talking a lot about his siblings. That may be one reason why I got into genealogical research. This week I found something interesting about my fathers’ brother, Raymond. Raymond was about 12 years older. I … More My Uncle Raymond
Israeli MTB Action off Port Said, July 1967 Israel emerged from the six day war of 1967 with a much longer coastline to protect. The land borders were shorter, but the sea now included the entire Sinai coast. The actual fighting was over, but the state of war was not ended. Egypt sent intelligence operatives … More Israeli MTB Action off Port Said
There are several Merchant Marine Academies in the US. Graduates of these institutions can accept a naval reserve officers commission if they so choose. When I was on active duty around 1970 my ship played host to a pair of midshipmen from the Maine Maritime Academy. The idea was to have them serve aboard a … More The Maine Midshipmen Caper
When I was in the US Navy there was considerable worry about potential conflict with the Soviet Union. The Red Fleet had the largest number of submarines of any power in the world at that time. It’s not surprising to find that the USN devoted a lot of time and training to fighting submarines. One … More A Visit to Norway
While assigned to the service force support group for the Sixth Fleet we had only a few opportunities to work with other supply ships. Usually, our tanker might team up with a stores ship. While we pumped fuel oil to other ships they would send over loads of food and similar items by high line … More A Near Miss
I did not get along well with the Captain of the Nantahala. There were probably a few others who also suffered as I did. But I thought that he reserved his worst for me because I was Jewish. This is an example from when we were assigned to the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. The … More Because I Say So.
When a naval officer is transferred to a new ship or station there is a social protocol for making a formal call on the captain and the next senior officer in the chain of command. It is a formality, but it has roots in a very practical approach to making the newly arrived officer and … More Formal Calls – made and returned
In a previous post I told about being aground because of the captain/ This time there was some damage, but no one was hurt. It was also purely the fault of the captain, and no one else. The story started with our ship being one of two oilers supporting combined exercises between the US Navy … More A Collission!
Wetherhorn 