[Adama]

Wow, that ship is huge!

[coastie65]

Yeah, lots of leg room on that thing.

[rgreen4]

Actually both are. The USS Wisconsin (BB64) displaces 45,000 tons and is over 887' long, and had a crew of almost 2,000. She represented the ultimate and was the next to last Battleship built by the US. (USS Missouri (BB63) was lauched a few months later).

The carrier, the USS George Washington (CVN73) is a good example of the Nimitz class Air Craft Carrier. She is a good example of all the current carriers except the USS Enterprise (CVN65) which is the only non-Nimitz class carrier on duty. The GW has a flight deck that covers 4 1/2 acres, is 1,088 feet long and displaces 91,300 tons. She has a crew of over 5,600. The Navy will admit to a speed in excess of 35 knots (almost 40 MPH), but is not fastest carrier. That distinction belongs to the USS Enterprise who is actually 13' longer, but at 133' wide is one foot narrower than the GW. The Big E was built with an experimental speed hull and it works. However, the Navy only admits to 35 knots for her also. It seems hard to believe, but the Enterprise is now 48 years old having been launched in Sept, 1960.

[Adama]

A friend of mine took me on a tour of the USS Kearsarge, (am I spelling that right?) in Long Beach, CA.

There were about a hundred people visiting there as well, and I only saw them while we were waiting in line to get in... after that, I didn't see any of them again. We went out to sea and then went up top and looked out to the beautiful ocean. That thing was humoungous, it felt like a floating city.

I made the mistake of wearing a dress and high heels that day, and one of the heels got caught on a metal thingy, (a ramp, or flooring of some type) and had a little bit of a scare, but my friend caught me and after that, I hung on to his arm for dear life!

It was an amazing day and we had a wonderful time. It seems like it was another lifetime ago, but I'll never forget it.

[rgreen4]

Yes, you spelled it correctly. Your friend should have warned you about heels and grating. It is used for several reasons, weight for one, and draining water off for another. If you ever have occasion to visit a ship again, always wear low heels and slacks, you will be far more comfortable. He, probably didn't think of it, especially back then.

Unfortunately, the USS Kearsarge (CVS33) no longer exists, having been scrapped. The first carrier I was ever on the USS Randolph (CVS15) met a similar fate.

[coastie65]

Yeah, they aren't going to tell everything. Toward the end of my enlistment, the Coast Guard came out with a new "Secretary" Class ( named after Secretaries of the Treasury). The were the largest yet at 378 ' and compared to what I was on, they were a cruise ship. Enlisted had 4-6 to a cabin and the mess deck was on the main deck with good sized windows. It was powered at low sped by Fairbanks Morris Diesel on each shaft. For High Speed they had Pratt Whitney turbines. When those things spooled up you would think you were on the apron at JFK. As I said, compared to what I was on, that thing was a cruise ship. The ship I was on was Commissioned in 1943 as a Navy AVP ( originally designated as a PT boat Tender but changed during construction to a small seaplane tender). It was decommissioned in 1946 and recommissioned by the Coast Guard in 1948. The Coast Guard reconfigured the superstruture and added a balloon shack on the 01 deck for weather balloons. They also removed the 5" mount on the 01 deck forward of the bridge and added Hedgehogs and an over/under mortar ( 60mm & 81mm). They did leave the three torpedo tubes on the port side of the 01 deck. I wouldn't want to be onboard if they actually fired those things, as someone drank all the juice in the guidance system ( yep, it was alcohol), or so I heard. They also removed the crane on the fantail that was used to lift the seaplanes out of the water.

[mjd420nova]

Coastie: That's a real coincidence, I had the same Golden Dragon liberty cuffs, they were pretty popular. The dress jumper was the gov issue, I just had a tailor put the zipper in to make it easier to put on. I also had my dad's old WWII jumper that had a pocket inside, in the back, beneath the flap. I only wore it when we were required to wear dress uniforms on liberty as it was a good place to put my wallet and no one knew it was there. I spent many a night riding the ferry escorting visitors out to the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor while on shore patrol duty, being that that was our home port. I was ordered to the USS Rathburne (DE-1057) while she was still at Lockheed in Seattle. Went through sea trials and commissioning and soaped the boat for the rest of the crew. She was 438 feet long and 48 feet wide. Actually of the OE class (ocean escort) with one screw and one rudder. We could maintain a max speed of 35 knots and when the war ended in February 1973, we made it to Subic Bay and off loaded weapons and some radio equipment a day ahead of the Enterprise, but she caught and passed us and left us in the dust before we could get back to Pearl. When we finally got in, she'd been there and left already, the day before, so I know she'll go way more than 35 knots. My youngest son served aboard the USS Carl Vinson CVN-70 for 4 years when they were home ported in Bremerton and then moved to Norfolk after a round the world cruise in support of Iraqi Freedom. He has some great pictures of the memorial and they have now added the USS Missouri to the anchoage off Ford Island in Pearl. It only seems fitting, the the Arizona was the beginning and the Missouri the end of the war in the Pacific. My oldest son was born at Tripler Army Hospital in Honolulu and the others at Eden Medical in Castro Valley. The new uniform went into use three days before my discharge so I never had to wear it. They didn't even issue me a set and I was glad as I didn't really care for the new one, stupid tie and hat with white shirt and coat. Now they have gone back to the old uniform as an optional. The youngest has now left the Navy and has joined the California National Guard. They let him keep his E-4 rank and rating. Was in the group of Nat. Guard called up to fight the fires in Northern Cal. when Gov. Schwartzenmuscles called out the troops to fight over 1,000 fires burning in the state. I don't envy that type of duty, got to be the hottest, dirtiest work ever.

[coastie65]

mjd, You guys did better with that single screw than we did with two. We could maybe squeeze out 21 or 22 Knots with a following sea. I believe the screws on that thing were pitched more for power than speed. Those new ships that the CG came out with, with the Pratt Whitneys, when I asked what they would do, I didn't really get answer. The best answer I could get was "in excess of 40 knots". Now they are coming out with yet another class at 418'. I would to go on board and check one of those out. The first one is being Home ported in Alameda and is probably there now. !http://forums.pcworld.com/legacyimages/
1! It is the USCGC Berthoff. He was the first Coast Guard Commandant. That thing carries all sorts of stuff including a Helicopter. The 378's had a Helipad as well. It also has a small boat well at the fantail that opens for those things. They aren't giving out a lot of info on that thing either. I think there are 5 more under construction.

[Adama]

rgreen4 said:

Yes, you spelled it correctly. Your friend should have warned you about heels and grating. It is used for several reasons, weight for one, and draining water off for another. If you ever have occasion to visit a ship again, always wear low heels and slacks, you will be far more comfortable. He, probably didn't think of it, especially back then.

Unfortunately, the USS Kearsarge (CVS33) no longer exists, having been scrapped. The first carrier I was ever on the USS Randolph (CVS15) met a similar fate.

I know, I remember reading about the USS Kearsarge when it was going to be scrapped. I thought it was a shame, but I was glad that I had been a part of one very, very teeny tiny moment in her illustrious history.

[coastie65]

Hi Adama, you got to experience a little of something most people don't. It's good you enjoyed the experience, even with the heels.

[mjd420nova]

Coastie: Yes, they just had the commissioning a few weeks ago. Looks pretty sleek. We had a small hanger and a helicopter too, but the helo wouldn't fit completely inside so it had to be tied down on the deck. It really took a beating during one storm and was out of action for a week. For the life of me I can't imagine trying to move about on any ship in heels. We were allowed to wear wellington boots that came above the ankles. They sure saved me a lot of greif, I've got enough scars on my shins from the hatches so the boots really were a big benefit. We had a propulsion system that ran on high pressure steam and used a forced draft blower, kind of like adding a supercharger to the input of the air and water injected into the boiler. Originally ran on NSFO (navy standard fuel oil) but was then modified to use a fifty fifty mixture of NSFO and JP-5. Kind of like a highly explosive kerosene that gave new meaning to lighting off a boiler. More like a sonic boom you could hear for miles around. The mixture allowed you to run longer between tube cleanings. We were kicked out of Hong Kong Harbor one year after a visit for blowing tubes before getting under way. We'd been anchored out for six days as we weren't allowed peir side due to the weapons we carried and the security required. The captain had a picture in his cabin of us achored out with a huge cloud of black smoke overhead. After running the boilers for six days we couldn't get up a big enough head of steam and had to clean the tubes to get rid of the soot and get underway. The Berthoff looks really fast but like most military craft,either airborne, underwater or surface craft, they never really tell you how fast or how far they can go. Just like our DE, we were nuclear capable but would never tell if we were actually carrying any. They wouldn't say yes and they wouldn't say no. The ones who really knew were the gunners mates and the security force as they were the only ones around when the weapons came aboard or were handled and shipped off. The biggest feature for us was that the hull from the main deck down was laminated steel but everything above was aluminum. The joke was that an armor peircing shell would got right through without stopping. We also had a huge sonar dome that meant we needed at least 25 feet of water to float. It could put out 40 kilowatts of audio power into the water, up to seven tones depending on the mode and up to one second long notes. You could hear it for five miles above the water and had documented contacts below of up to fourty miles. Really loud but you got used to it and didn't interupt your sleep unless they changes modes and the tone pattern. The dome was not very water aerodynamic, in rough seas it acted like a nickel tossed into the water, shook the hell out of everything. It also had fin stabilizers that were supposed to smooth things out but they never worked right so they just locked them down so it was more like a pair of skifs sticking out the sides. I'm sure there's some more advanced methods these days that actually work.

[coastie65]

We used to refer to then as steam jennies. The only ones in the Coast Guard were the 327's. We were Diesel, two Fairbanks Morse 381/2 D 10 Cylinder Opposed piston engines on each shaft. We converted the systen to JP5 before getting to Nam. It amounted to changing the filtration. We had to anchor out in Hong Kong as well and take the launch to the dock. Macau was out of bounds. I started as an Engineman and lateraled to BT as it was a skate job on the ship, until it it came to punching tubes or cleaning the fire box and using steam to clean the tubes in the firebox. Now that was a downright nasty job. We only had two B&W 150 lb donkey boilers. We only needed steam for heat, hot water,the steamline on the mess deck, and to run the Evap. We had a brand spanking new out the box 378 tied up across the pier from us at our home port. One night some nitwit blew tubes and that big beautiful white ship was down wind. Needless to say, the next day, the deck force was over there scrubbing. The worst part was that I was duty BT at the time and didn't even know that he had done that. Two things that were NEVER done in port was blowing tubes and pumping bilges. The guy that did it was a Fireman deuce and was transfered to the engine crew and we got someone else. Being duty BT didn't mean I was in B-2 engineroom, it just mean't that I was on call in case something went south. The "BT GANG" had a racket as we ran or own liberty schedule, which the others didn't like. The crew was getting 3 days on and 2 off and we were running 1 on and 4 off, but we had to keep our PM and other work load up to date. All that nearly disappeared because of that incident. We had worked hard to get to the point where we could pretty much set our own liberty schedule. I was also one of a very few that could squeeze in to the steam drum to punch tubes. I knew one BT that had a run in with High Pressure Super heated steam. He was lucky as he only lost some muscle on his forearm that was cut off. You can't even see that stuff, but it will definately strip the meat from the bone.

[rgreen4]

MJD -
Those turbines sure caused some consternation as they made their way into the fleet. When we went on our Med Cruise from Sept, '67 to Dec, '67 we had one of the new DLG's with us - USS MacDonough. All the way across the Atlantic our aircraft kept a moving screen looking for Subs. Before we crossed into the Med, we turned over the screen to Patrol Squadrons out of the Azores. Less than 12 hours later we go word that our Fleet was being shadowed by a Soviet Nuclear Sub. We turned around and took over the screen and - Nothing. So after a few more days, we turned it back over to the Patrol guys, and whammo, once again they said we were being shadowed by that Soviet Sub. We sent our Aircrews to the Azores with our sound recordings to meet with their guys. They laid down their strips on the table, point to a line and said that's the Sub. Our guys said. No, that's the MacDonough with her turbine. Since she had been with us since Norfork, we knew her sound.
Coastie -
I have always liked the white paint job with the orange slash. It also helps set them off from those dull gray things. B-) All these new vessels sure do look different. There's even a stealth aspect to them. While it is impossible to make them disappear, the shape makes them look smaller and a little harder to find.

[mjd420nova]

Certainly sounds like there are some "old salts" around here. Sea stories abound when you get a bunch of them together.

[rgreen4]

Prowling through the photos on the NavSource website, I came across this one. It is interesting because the caption credits Rear Admiral Russell Wilson relieving Rear Admiral Chester Nimitz as he was being transferred to Washington in May, 1938. The Flag Ship? The USS Arizona (BB39). I am glad that those silly hats and coats were long gone by the time I got into the Navy.



Not a ship story, but I thought it was an interesting historical confluence.

[coastie65]

Those things have to date back to the Revolutionary War. Course, you gotthat Army unit up in Ft. Myers that are in the Revolutionary Uniforms complete with the Tri Corner hats, but the is a show thing.

[Knifeblade]

Of course, they are squids ;) {ABSOLUTELY NO DISRESPECT INTENDED OR IMPLIED}. Merely an inter-branch term used. We were flyrods, flyboys, skyrods, etc., and some others that I can't mention, of the USAF.

[coastie65]

Try being a Coastie on a Navy base. It never lets up. The "BIG" one was the shallow water sailor thing and all that went with that. I'm 5'7" and have been asked many times how I got in as they thought you had to be 6' in order to wade ashore when the ship sank. I always said I was a good swimmer. I remember being on one of "Cattle Cars" at the Philly Navy Yard. Those guys started in on us in a big way. They started talking about Blue water and being out of sight of land and something to the effect we never lost sight of land. One of my shipmates piped up and said that someone had to take care of the ladies while they were gone. We reached a stop about that time and this coastie bailed as all heck was about to break loose and did. The upside is, we got support from the Marines in those situations. :D Never had any problems from the Army or Air Force. My Dad was a Navy Airdale but did get some unerway time when he sailed from San Fransisco to New Caledonia in 1943 to his new assignment. My brother who was two years younger than me, was also a Navy Airdale and the only Haze Gray ship he saw, was in Pensacola Fla. when he was TDY for test cell school. My baby brother had the same rate as other brother and Dad an was a reserve and never got afloat either. Here I am and have rolled up a ton of sea miles to say the least. Nothing like going for 35-40 days and see nothing but sea and sky. An occassional storm was good to break the monotony.

[rgreen4]

"Cattle Cars" - I had forgotten all about them. I never encountered on on the East Coast where I was, but then I never resorted to Base Transporation except on the West Coast (Cross Country to NAS North Island) and Rosy Roads in Puerto Rico. The squadron had deployed down there for several weeks between the loss of the Randolph to the scrap heap and the arrival of the Yorktown. For those who are not familiar with them, starting during WWII with the shortage of transportation, the Navy took trailers and modified them to haul passengers, they had bus seats and two sets of bus type doors on the side. They were pulled by the typical truck that pulls highway trailers, and a pull cord in the trailer dinged a bell in the truck. The driver of course could not see the passengers and the passengers could not see out the front. They were banned in the '70's.
I had a flight coming up patrolling shipping lanes, but as Power Plants Officer, we also had a bird undergoing an engine change. I left early to check on it before the briefing and rode the Cattle Car down to the line. The front door was broken and was stuck open. I stepped into the well and reached up to pull the cord when it took a sudden left turn. I was not aware of it as I was looking toward the back to pull the cord. As the vehicle made the sharp left turn, I went out sideways, facing back, but with forward momentum. The line crew saw it happen and from their sheepish admissions thought it was funny, until they realized I was not moving. !http://forums.pcworld.com/legacyimages/
1!
I woke up sometime later, face down on the emergency room table feeling pulling at my scalp. Of course I started to reach up, but my hand was grabbed and and a voice said "Relax, your OK." I was apparently "out" for about 30 minutes, so was grounded until future notice and spent the night under observation. Periodically a Corpsman would come in and just talk to me. Of course he was interested in my responses. I don't think I was restored to flying status until we got back home to NAS Norfolk. To this day, I can find the scar on the back of my head right on the upper back part.
It does pay to have a hard head. !http://forums.pcworld.com/legacyimages/
1!

[coastie65]

Those things were the primary mode of transportation around the Base in Philly as well as Gitmo as I remember. Another thing I didn't care for in Philly was that the Mess Hall was in the brig. We only ate the noon meal there. I ate there twice, and then started paying for lunch at the Geedunk. They check your ID three times going in and five coming out. Course the Officers had the prisoners waiting on them and it was a do it yourself thing for us enlisted types. Being a Naval aviator, you of all people should know you need to be aware of your surroundings and prevailing conditions. :D . Yeah,one of the other favorites of the Navy was refering to us as Houligan's Navy. It really didn't bother most of us, but we had this big Apache Indian that when he got to drinking, all bets were off and usually mean't a donnybrook was coming and it was time to vamoose. He would come back to the ship mad ( if he managed to avoid the SP's) and wonder why he was abandoned. Two shipmates and I did get thrown off of Bainbridge Navy Base in Maryland. We were drinking and having a good time and then some Wave CPO who was the MAA cmae and told us we had to leave and escorted us to the door. When we walked out the SP's were there and told us to get in our vehicle and follow them and proceeded to escort us to the Gate and we were told not to come back. To this day I don't know what happened to bring that on. We had left New York on the way home to Richmond with a case of Beer we had gotten at the club on the base. We ran out in Southern New Jersey. I told the guys there was a Navy Base in Maryland that we could stop at ( my uncle had been stationed there years earlier). I think it may have been a wave boot camp at that time and may have played a part in our departure. This was after our return from Vietnam and we were pretty well decorated at that time. My guess is that the EN3 that was in our group of 3 had something to do with it. Anyway, we ended up back on I-95 heading South to Richmond after having been declared Personna Non Grata at the Navy Base.