Having your ship sunk is probably the worst thing that can happen at sea. The next worst things are being in a collision and running aground. I’ve experienced both of those. Here is how one of the incidents occurred. USS Nantahala was in here home port of Newport, Rhode Island. She had been undergoing some … More A Strange Way to Run Aground
The Elokomin wasn’t the happiest of ships. At one time I thought that because of the Vietnam War the best officers were sent to the Pacific fleet and the Atlantic had to make do with what was left. Discipline wasn’t exactly one of the areas where the crew of the Elokomin stood out. Fortunately, my … More Decommissioning
cked the rendezvous locationThe US Navy used to have a stadard career pattern plan for officers. Aviation officers needed a shipboard tour of duty between flight squadron assignments in order to understand how the surface navy worked and qualify as a ship driver. When they reached higher rank and were considered still available for advancement … More Driving under the Influence
ships are organized around functional duties of the crew. Some are seamen and handle mooring lines and anchors. Others deal with propulsion, food, navigation, and so on. The Navy groups these functions into departments. The senior officer in each is the department head. When I was administrative assistant to the executive officer I … More Acting Department Head
I am an observant Jew. I never concealed it. We always kept a Kosher home. But it is not possible to follow all the rules of keeping Kosher on board an American warship. Even so, I did always avoid eating items that are specifically forbidden in the Old Testament. That’s how the following story came … More Keeping Kosher at sea (well, sort of)
The salute is an centuries old custom that is rendered, and returned, as a form of greeting. The regulation salute is rendered by an enlisted sailor to any officer when they meet. The participants are normally in uniform, and in the Navy, a salute is only given while wearing a hat. To keep from wasting … More A Much Appreciated Salute
When I was transferred to a new ship, The USS Elokomin, she was just finishing a tour of duty with the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. I flew from Norfolk, VA to Athens/Piraeus. After passing through Greek immigration control I checked when the ship was due to leave. I had an extra 3 days. I … More Do the Authorities Think I’m still in Greece?
In an earlier post I told about losing power, briefly, while leaving San Diego. This story occurred several thousand miles further West, and was just as unpleasant, if not worse. The ship, USS Okinawa, was a helicopter carrier. We carried most of a Marine battalion and delivered them ashore to do ‘Marine things’. While they … More Powerless
Danang is located in a bay that is open on one end. The other three sides are land. We had entered the bay and anchored. Now it was time to leave. In most cases that’s a fairly simple evolution; you just pick up the anchor and head out to sea. Well, not this time. The … More Leaving Danang – not so easy.
Wetherhorn 