Sea story for Applestar

[Charlie MV]

Many of the best times of my life have been spent on ships or boats. In December of '74 aboard the USS Blandy DD943, we were returning to Norfolk from the top of the world. We had been in the Sea of Murmansk. It was cold. I didn't have a camera on the ship.


Storms at sea come in many forms. They can be violent , noisey and wet with lightening and thunder or they can happen on a cold clear November day. The one in this story was the latter. My ship was one of 5 destroyers in DESRON 26 which is navy speak for Destroyer Squadron 26. Usually a squadron was tasked to travel with an array of ships that orbited in support of a carrier. Our duties ranged from carrier defense to picking up navy pilots who didn't quite stick the landing.

This was a very routine cruise until the exact conditions arose and we hit rolling seas. I was a helmsman on my ship. I was lucky because during my first foul weather I was at the helm. I was scared shirtless for a while but after a bit I watched the con officer sitting in his little pedestal chair. As we pitched and rolled and struggled to keep our footing, this guy sat in his chair and the biggest worry he had was making sure he didn't spill a drop of his coffee. I just decided then that the navy had done this before and I was never scared of sea conditions again.

When we hit the storm I started this yarn over it was very undramatic. The sky was clear, the wind was heavy and we just slipped into continuously heavier rollers. It was such a gradual build up it wasn't noticeable. I got to the bridge for my 4 hour stand on the helm. Looking out port and starboard windows all I could see was green water. The officer of the deck said we were in 70 or 80 foot seas. It wasn't a violent thing as I said. It's the 30 and 40 foot chop that tosses you all over and makes you fall down. The task force had aligned it's heading almost parallel to the rollers with a slight quarter into them. The effect was that we would slip down into a deep valley and see nothing but ocean. Then we'd slide up the wave to it's peak. As we rode the crest , we could see the scores of other ships in the task force and as we slid down , they would disappear and it got really lonely.

About 25 years later a couple moved into the house across the street from my parents on Addison drive. The man was Roy Bell. He was a career naval officer who had retired as a Lt. Commander. We became friends and swapped occasional sea stories. It was a thrill for me a buck E5 nothing to talk with this guy who actually captained a few ships. One day we were swapping stories. I mentioned this particular storm. Captain Bell was the skipper of a destroyer called the USS Effingham. Turns out we were on two different ships in the same storm. On board our ship we had heard that a destroyer had sustained some storm damage and made for a Scottish port for repairs. Captain Bell told me that the ship was actually the Effingham. A rogue wave actually knocked the aft stack clean off the upper deck.

It still strikes me as amazing that two people can end up in the same living room after living through a thing so awesome and memorable.

Another remarkable encounter was with a guy who worked with my wife. She was a VP as was he. We went on these corporate retreats for 8 years before we made an amazing discovery. On one of these things at Hilton Head, Tom, the other VP, and I were swapping sea stories. We had known each other for 8 years. Somehow, neither of us ever asked what ship we were on. This night after dinner one of us did. Turns out that we served on the same ship but ten years apart. My service was uneventful but Toms, not so much. My mouth hung open as he told me that he had been aboard my ship during the Cuban missile crisis. He was head to head with the Soviet navy.

No point in going into the details. It's not the point. To me the odds of becoming friends with a guy who may have slept in my bed ten years previous is kind of amazing.

I reminisce because we sold our boat Saturday. Since 1985 we have owned a boat. Since 1999 we owned boats that we could live on. I gave up my masters license 4 years ago when we moved the boat to an inland lake. I no longer own the title of captain. The only thing I captain is a 14 year old town car and a gaggle of remotes. We moved mom in with us and my services are needed elsewhere. No regrets, it was time. Maybe we'll learn to dance.

[applestar]

I love it! So amazing and soulful on so many levels. Thanks Charlie
Tell us more sea stories from time to time, won't you?

[Charlie MV]

Do you want navy stories or stories that involve me down in the engine room repairing a high pressure leak blasting my face with my britches and drawers around my ankles with my wife laughing hysterically and asking me where I put the camera?

[Dillbert]

I'm with Charlie - I was a Snipe.

USS Franklin D Roosevelt - CVA 42 - 12 boilers, 8 generators, 4 main Engines; more than enough steam to go around. recently toured the USS North Carolina - I was _dumb struck_ at the difference in size from that class to the FDR.

we got in a storm off Bay of Biscayne (Spain area . . .) with waves breaking over the flight deck - basically a 100 feet over the waterline. the "little ships" were having a much better roller coaster ride than the carrier!

then new commissioning duty on Jesse L Brown (DE-1089) - 1200 psi, single screw. it was later modified with a "hurricane bow" - anyone wondering about water over the bow,,, that explains all of it . . . .

then Chief Materiel Officer for Desron 30 - a reserve squadron out of Philadelphia. with a fleet of destroyers a hundred hull numbers smaller. we'd stock up on quick setting cement so we could plug the holes that cropped up in the keel & plating . . . Steinaker (863), Ellison (864), Rich (820), Corry (817), Johnston (821), Fiske (842)

I always pay attention to the hats - the ones with the ship's name/hull number. many many interesting encounters.

[Charlie MV]

Dilbert, it's difficult to explain the feeling when you first see green water breaking on the bridge windows.

Sounds like you were in at the same time I was judging by the numbers on those tin cans.

[DoubleDogFarm]

Ensign Harold John Ellison was classified as "presumed dead" on 5 June 1942

When I see my father on Thursday, I'll be asking if this is a relative.

Eric

[Charlie MV]

You lost me Eric.

[DoubleDogFarm]

Ellison (864) Is this not a destroyer number?? and named after Harold J Ellison.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Harold ... n_(DD-864)


Eric

[Charlie MV]

Got it. Sorry, my ship was named for an admiral and many are. My destroyer was a Sherman class destroyer . Admiral William Henry Pernell Blandy was my ship's namesake. Let me know if Ensign Ellison is a relative.

[Dillbert]

there's lots of interesting history.

for example the USS Corry is three USN ships.
DD-334
DD-463
DD / DDR - 817

"USS Enterprise" is another "famous" example.
hull number 6 / 65 through NCC-1701 (fictional)

[Charlie MV]

My can was commissioned in '43. Those numbers go way back. Ships get confusing. The naval archives say the keel to my ship was laid in 1954. The plaque on the ship said 1943. Shipmates told me the ship was 'frammed' twice meaning that she was scraped down to the main deck and rebuilt. I know our superstructure was aluminum for the most part except for gun and director mounts.

I have noticed that the WW2 ships from destroyer to heavy cruiser class actually had working portholes along the hull and superstructure. I have some great photos of my father's, uncle's grandfather's and my wife's father's and grandfather's ships. I had problems with photobucket so I deleted that account and can't post here anymore.

[Charlie MV]

[quote="DoubleDogFarm"]Ellison (864) Is this not a destroyer number?? and named after Harold J Ellison.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Harold ... n_(DD-864)


Eric[/quote]

You are correct. One of my C school buddies served on the USS Richard E Kraus DD 849. She was named for Marine Private First Class Richard E. Kraus, who was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for his "conspicuous gallantry" during the Battle of Peleliu.


Live and learn.