Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche
"A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke
“You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”--General Sir Charles Napier
"Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas
"Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex
So, when was the last time you did a round of handshaking with the deck crew saying “Thanks for passing gas?”
And not to mention, I give credit where credit is due: This began because a really fine writer began a really fine tale of the sea…only his has been finished.
Not sexy, but a bit of what it took to keep Lex and the aviators in JP5 and autodog.
So true.
I can almost smell the bread baking and the stack gasses. Same as it ever was…
PS; I can’t wait to mess with the dude who took this picture.
Really enjoyed xformed tale of life in the REAL Navy. Hope to see the rest some time.
Let us never forget the very junior enlisted folks on deck heaving on lines and pushing pallets and manning the phones that actually get all the glamorous UNREP stuff done. Usually after standing long watches, with none of that sissy “crew rest” rack time.
Before the airdales get to go flying off the bird farm, the sailors have to get that big gray beast underway and keep it working and ready to turn into the wind. And that takes a lot of own ship’s company, plus escorts, support and logistics tail. And, even some crusty old yardbirds who can call up decades of experience to keep ancient gear working.
Team effort.
John;
There’s always room for guest authors, particularly those with views others never had. Actually, I heard once, a formerly Marine SGT did assist in making a great tale a better one…lending his “down in the mud view to a chapter about some CAS work.
I have clung to the thought of a “group novel” since “Rhythms” appeared. The possibilities of tangents, interwoven and parallel “parts” is huge. Depart from a common point, with a common theme and lay on the many facets connected. It could end up being quite a jewel over time.
Caption should read: “On the USS Neversail, there are enough guys to have some standing around doing nothing. On the USNS Underway,…..no so much…
Hey! That’s my husband’s photo that you’ve grabbed extremely quickly. He thinks it’s funny.
One of your readers (Darryl Currie) spotted Jeff’s name, passed it along to our neighbor in Jacksonville, who let us know that you picked it up.
We enjoy the blogosphere, and he’ll get his blog running again when the IKE deploys in January. There may be some other photos of real-life Navy that you’d enjoy.
Susan
Hey, watch the 1st LT jokes, I was one, twice! JO job on a DDG, and Dept head job on an AE. Another detailer story, when I got orders to be 1st LT on an AE homeported in sunny Earle, NJ. It was a LCDR LDO job, and I was a straight stick SWO. Detailer had the BA!!S to tell me I should be “honored.” “We have such faith in you that we think you can handle it!’
Gee, thanks. I never looked at it that way…
BTW, my dream sheet said, “Any job, on any amphib, homeported anywhere in the world.”
BTW, seas in that shot are pretty snotty. Nothing compared to the time we were alongside USNS Bighorn trying to keep station, while both ships were pitching so much that their screws were coming out of the water. That’s snotty, and we didn’t break anything or lose anyone. Training, skill, and expert supervision…
I thought those were just normal running seas in the North Atlantic. I still see that DE being refueled from the America during a North Atlantic jaunt in November 1974. The oiler would transfer fuel to the America then the carrier provided enough lee protection that the DE could get gas. Otherwise, that cork just kept disappearing under the seas only to pop up again like some child’s toy. Makes me wonder how they ate on that thing…. bagged cookies and chips maybe? I also saw those waves washing the oiler’s decks from bow to stern. At times like that it made me glad I was AIMD and not deck crew on their ship! Ice cold saltwater baths were never my aim in life….. I’m just glad somebody volunteered to do it.
Somewhere in a box are pics my OSC took of the RL PAGE (FFG-5) Coming alongside to starboard. Sort of a time lapse sequence, with the SQS-26 dome out of the water to all by the flying bridge aft being covered by the sea…and you can see the bridge watch cringing as it heads their way.
Ah, those were the days!
Not enough bagged for any length of time, and even saltines begin to run short. Think fried. Fried meat, fried potatoes, fried bread.
mmm. Mmmm. Fried potatoes. Mmmm greasy fried potatoes. With carmelized onions. Mmmm greasy fried potatoes dripping oil…swimming with the carmelized onions….sloshing back and forth. Back and forth. Sliding back and forth over the plate. mmmmm … errrr…. eeerrrRRRRPPPP!
There was an AT1 in my shop that was seasick EVERY TIME we pulled out of port. Fair weather or foul. Always the first day. In port for three days? Sick the day we leave. Why? He didn’t know, it was just the way it was and after 14 years he got used to it. After the first day, no matter how much we rolled (OK, rolling is relative. I hung a string from the overhead with a washer on the end for a weight, and it swung maybe a foot total). That cruise where the DE played fishing bobber we did maybe 5 degree rolls. He was fine except for that first day. A few of the more susceptible to suggestion turned green watching the string swing. And in a sailor’s boredom, it was great fun for those who were immune to the roll.
Ahh, but payback has come with age. I can’t do roundy-round rides at the fair anymore, and I haven’t been on a cruise to test my sea legs, but I’d be suspecting that my sea legs left with my youth and I’ll be calling Ralph for help on the big white telephone. ErrrrrrPPP!
Sorry, during these events every self respecting aviator is deep in the ORP training cycle. Except when you have the obligatory conning alongside training session which was actually kind of fun, especially the turns.
Susan – tell Jeff “congrats” on making the big time!
Nice pic you selected…Glad I could provide. Nice blog you have here. You made the 1st LT a minor celeb around here.
Cheers,
JBM
Can we get autographed copies?
Great picture; however it only shows the situation from the pretty side. tToo bad there is not an accompanying photo from the other side/ship. Been on both; repeat offender on IKE.
OK, Sea Story time…. Third Class ROTC training cruise, summer of 1970. I was one of about 50 or 60 3c midshipman flown over to Rota via charter flight from McGuire AFB. Land in the middle of the night and transported to the dock where we ALL are loaded aboard the USS Chukawan (AO-100) for tranport out to our ships which are somewhere in the Atlantic. Middies are jammed into every available space – my rack was the deck in a small office. After a beautiful first day a major storm blew in – waves crashing over the main deck, really heavy rolls for a fully loaded oiler. About 50% of the mids are heaving also, a couple make the mistake of heaving over the windward side to great amusement of their peers who aren’t seasick. Seas are too heavy to unrep so we spend 3 days on the oiler, which had it’s cool aspects.
This ship had a rudder controlled by a three cylinder reciprocating steam engine. Three massive shiny brass cylinders connected to a shaft that drove a pinion gear that in turn drove a huge gear quadrant attached to the rudder. With an experienced hand at the helm, the engine would turn a few revs one way and then the other as the helmsman fought these huge waves. It was fascinating to watch. Sometimes they let a mid take the helm (for maybe 30 seconds!) and the steam engine nearly beat itself apart whooshing one way and then the other.
But I digress…. The reeeallly exciting part was after the seas calmed enough to unrep which is as described in “life-in-the-fat-ship-Navy”. I say, calmed down enough – not calmed down. We were still pitching and rolling during the refueling of several destroyers and the USS Intrepid. (I think this was one of the last “HUK group” task forces) The tin cans were taking water over the bow at times.
The following morning, when it was light enough to see the waves were still running high, the transport of the middies to their ships began – via highline and bosun’s chair. Of course we were told the tales of the hapless sailor who got dunked when the ships rolled toward each other and the crew on the line could not keep it taut. In the tale, the ships rolled away, the sailor rose from the sea like a soggy homesick angel, the went taut, the sailor flipped around the line like paper clip on a string, and was dunked back in the drink.
Oh, now we are all suitably pumped for our little thrill ride – watching the seas churn between the ships which are rolling toward and away from each other at what seems an every increasing amount. The deck crews manning the line to keep tension on it are having a time of it. OK, a destroyer is alongside, my turn – into the chair, fasten the belt, sea bag stowed under the chair and awayyy we go. Sure enough about half way across I get this sinking feeling as the sea rises toward me.. and falls away about 2 feet from getting wet. The crew did their job well – and they were working those lines hard. At the time I was not smart enough to know just what it takes to pull off such an evolution.
I made it safe and sound, as did everyone else. I got a fine Welcome Aboard handshake from the captain of the USS Joseph P. Kennedy (DD-850) and started a 6 week time of life that was, shall we say… enlightening. But that’s another story…
George V.
Same experience, ‘cept I’d gotten the brief ahead of time and made sure I went over with the canisters containing new movies. Arrived onboard my FF (nee DE) dry as a bone…
- SJS
What can ya Cap’n, Deck Apes rule!
That one is just too cool for words. And yes, I have seen that same thing in the course of my career. I was still amazed with the last one I saw. Right there with the first one…………..so long ago.
You’re getting to be like a fine wine, better with age, Shipmate.