Sea Stories....USCG, USN, and USMC

BoomerCPO cracks me up and one of his comments in the Publix thread got me thinking......I served 5 years in the Coast Guard, 3.5 of which were at sea. Best time of my life. I miss it everyday. The one thing I regret the most about not doing a career is not being a Chief (E-7). For anyone in the military, being a Senior Enlisted is an Honor to never be taken lightly.

Anyhow, who has sea stories? I love to hear them and will start with one that happened to me.....

My first night underway on the USCGC DALLAS, I was approached about getting the "mail bouy". Supposedly this buoy had out personal mail on it and was put there by another CG Station for us to pick up. ( I should have thought "HELLO THIS IS THE FIRST NIGHT" but....I didn't) Anyhow, after decking me out in all the gear to be dropped over the side of a 378 foot ship I was told to go ask permission to retrieve the mail buoy from the Captain in his cabin. I was granted permission then had to ask permission from the Conning Officer (a crusty Chief Warrant Officer) who also said it was about time someone got the cookies his mother had sent. I was hooked up to the J-Bar Davit and ready to go over the side when EVERYONE disappeared. I stood there for a minute a little scared when about 75 people rushed over to the side of the ship I was on and screamed "Welcome to the Coast Guard". It was a great feeling to feel apart of the crew. I will never forget it. Although the written version doesn't really do it justice. I was called "Mail Buoy" for the entire 2 month cruise.

http://www.jeffhead.com/georgia/dallas.JPG

I was out in my row boat once.......

A long time ago, I reported for duty to my new ship that was in dry dock. Being the new guy, I was allowed to clean the long wire insulators. These are two ceramic insulators, one on each mast of the ship. In dry dock, it's done from a bucket hoisted by a crane. The thing is, I get nervous on the second step of a three step ladder. I was 'bound up' for a week.

Later, during field day, I was sent for the preverbial bucket of blue steam. After more trips up and down the stack than I can count, went to radio shack and stayed there for three weeks.

That ship, the USS Muliphen (a credit to the women that built it), is now a reef off the coast of Florida.

We wrapped a new guy in about 15 rolls of tin foil and had him jumping up and down on the bow. We told him we had to calibrate the radar and needed to pick up a contact so we could track it. XO got pissed about that one, called it hazing, and I almost had to go before the Captain.

Ben

Almost got sunk from the wake of a Boomer Sub (George Washington Class) while I was fishing, just off the coast of Charleston, SC. They leave one heck of a wake.

Glenn

I just have to many sea stories to relate....

I have sent people for sound powered phone batteries, buckets of steam, 100 feet of shore line, an HT punch (regrettably there were no BTs on any of the gas turbine powered ships I served on so no BT punches were on-board), buckets of steam, manning up the mail buoy watch, going to observe a captured Sea Bat, etc.

Here is one of my favorite Sea Stories.

We were underway going to Charleston Naval Station on a FFG and as the ship is taller than the bridge we had to transit under we had to send one of the guys to lower the mast....

There is a 5MC system on-board that has a directional speaker mounted under the mast, so the Officer of the Deck can give verbal directions to ships or boats that are near by.

We sent one of my guys up to spin the hand wheel as fast as he could in an effort to "lower the mast" before we would hit the bridge.................

When you stand on the deck of a ship you cant tell how close the mast will come to the bottom of a bridge........ HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!

After "A" school I was assigned to the USS Franklin D Roosevelt. Once I got through mess duty I showed up in the fire room along with another new guy. We went about learning and doing our daily routine. One day the First Class sent the other fellow after the keys to the firebox. I looked over at the boiler and noted that all it took to take it apart were a couple of the wrenches that we had in our tool locker. The guy who got sent after the keys was run around the whole ship looking for those keys. "Sorry, 4 Bravo just picked 'em up." "Nope, just sent them to 1 Alpha." Eventually he made it back, saying he couldn't find them. Everybody who wasn't new had a good laugh. I thought "Hmmmmmmm..."

Eventually it was my turn. The First Class said, "Bummer, go to tool issue and get me some Monkey S..."

I argued. "I'm not going to get Monkey S..., I'm not going after the keys to the firebox, and I'm not bringing you fifty feet of water line." He was insistent. I finally told him "No problem, I'm certainly not going to disobey an order, but when they send me to another space to get it, I'm going to a weather deck and I'll be back at the end of shift."

He said ok and I left smiling about my impending day of goofing off.

I got to tool issue and made my request. Much to my surprise the guy whips a gallon can up onto the counter and asks, "How much?" This was a question I was in no way prepared for. Turns out Monkey S... is a fiber filled putty that's used to pack gaps in the outer metal sheeting of marine boilers (and probably anything else somebody can think of - it makes a fairly adequate modeling clay - yet another sea story).

I showed up with my dixie cup of monkey s..., everyone had a good laugh, and I got to pack some gaps in the firebox seams.

Ben, funny you mentioned the USCGC Dallas. My oldest son did five years in the Coast Guard. His first station was St. Ignace, MI and then he was sent down to Charleston for duty on the Dallas from 1999 to 2001. Of course this is not my personal story but one of his....on returning to port with the Dallas, they pulled up to the pier and tied up. Everyone was excited about going on leave but when they got the clearance to go and started to go ashore they heard an "all hands" sounded. Apparently, the ship hit the pier when they docked and put a big gash in the side. The ship was sinking!! It had to be drydocked and repaired. I did have to ask him if he was the newbie in aluminum foil but he assured me it was not but they did send him for some MK punch.

I, like Kite, have too many stories to pick from.

I think some of my favorites had to do with being a young Sailor onboard my first ship. An old Destroyer. While on deployment in 1990, I was on watch from 1900-0700 daily (7pm to 7am for you civilians). Had a tendacy to get bored. One night I took an old 6 foot piece of electrical cable that had metal braiding on the outside. I cut it in half and charred the ends with my lighter. I then fed the clean ends into a cable run in the overhead in my space leaving the charred ends just dangling near each other. When Chief came in the next morning and saw it, I thought he would have kittens right there in the shop. He demanded that we call the electricians to check the cable. Told him we didn't need the electricians, that we could test it. He got really pissed when I reached up to "test" the ends with my bare hand and pulled one of the 3 foot sections out. The shop had a good laugh, even Chief when he calmed down. He wouldn't let me put the cable in the main passageway though, party pooper... Anyway, one of my favorite memories and stories. Still get a kick out of it today, although, it wasn't as funny after I made Chief... hehehe:hihi:

Ben, funny you mentioned the USCGC Dallas. My oldest son did five years in the Coast Guard. His first station was St. Ignace, MI and then he was sent down to Charleston for duty on the Dallas from 1999 to 2001. Of course this is not my personal story but one of his....on returning to port with the Dallas, they pulled up to the pier and tied up. Everyone was excited about going on leave but when they got the clearance to go and started to go ashore they heard an "all hands" sounded. Apparently, the ship hit the pier when they docked and put a big gash in the side. The ship was sinking!! It had to be drydocked and repaired. I did have to ask him if he was the newbie in aluminum foil but he assured me it was not but they did send him for some MK punch.

Oh yes, the infamous Pier Scrape. The scars were still very much visable when I reported in May 2002. What was your son's name. I may not have been there when he was, but people's names stick around for awhile.

I spent 6 months on thr DALLAS, then A School, followed by 3 years on on the sister ship GALLATIN. Oh, how I miss those Vietnam Era ships!

Ben

For you Chief's, I am sure you will get this life or death situation......

I got a new SNOS in our shop who had to pull Mess duty. He was assigned to the Chief's Mess. He asked us "Salty" OS2's what he should do with the MCPO's coffee cup because it looked dirty. We told him to wash it and make it shine. Well he did, and it was the 1st time in 4 years that cup had been washed. Supposedly, all the dry, stained, nastiness in side a Chief's coffee cup makes the coffee taste better. I thought the MCPO was gonna throw him overboard. You wanna talk about a PISSED OFFED Master Chief?!?!? I think the XO had to have a talk with him as he went on the 1MC and blessed this SN out. The Capt'n just laughed! Sea stories. HILARIOUS!!

Ben

Also, NEVER, and I mean NEVER, hide a Chief's coffee cup.......unless you wish to spend the entire port call field daying a 12 x 12 office space.....SAW IT

One of my more or less interesting days when stationed aboard the USS Okinawa LPH-3 was sitting on top of the mast for about four hours to do a 15 minute oil change on an SPS-10 surface search RADAR. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lph3_3.jpg

I was an E-5, senior NCO in the RADAR division.. (our one E-6 and one Chief were considered over both divisions, RADAR and COMM) One of the techs under me was assigned to do the oil change but for safety reasons carrying all the stuff up there was a two man job. Everyone else was busy and I tried to never assign a job to someone under me that I wouldn't do myself, so I offered to help.

It took us about 15 minutes to get up the mast with all the gear. It was a beautiful sunny day about 75 degrees and the view of San Diego from up there was very nice. We drained the old oil into a container and sealed it. As we finished pouring in the new oil, a gust of wind blew a good sized stream away from the intended fill hole and off toward the flight deck. We didn't think much of it, the flight deck is always getting something spilled on it and cleaned up, so no one would probably even notice.

We watched the oil break into smaller and smaller droplets as it fell. About half way down the entire deck crew ran out on deck for a dress whites inspection. The bulk of the oil rain down on their Master Chief, but I'm sure we got most of them. We couldn't actually hear what he was saying when he looked up, but we could tell he wasn't thanking us. We decided to sit there for several hours after we finished, just to enjoy the beautiful weather of course.

For you Chief's, I am sure you will get this life or death situation......

 

 

I got a new SNOS in our shop who had to pull Mess duty. He was assigned to the Chief's Mess. He asked us "Salty" OS2's what he should do with the MCPO's coffee cup because it looked dirty. We told him to wash it and make it shine. Well he did, and it was the 1st time in 4 years that cup had been washed. Supposedly, all the dry, stained, nastiness in side a Chief's coffee cup makes the coffee taste better. I thought the MCPO was gonna throw him overboard. You wanna talk about a PISSED OFFED Master Chief?!?!? I think the XO had to have a talk with him as he went on the 1MC and blessed this SN out. The Capt'n just laughed! Sea stories. HILARIOUS!!

 

 

Ben

 

 

Also, NEVER, and I mean NEVER, hide a Chief's coffee cup.......unless you wish to spend the entire port call field daying a 12 x 12 office space.....SAW IT

When I was mess-cranking, I did the exact same thing, and the Senior Chief whose mug I washed gave me a serious butt chewin' too.

Oh yeah all the sea stories, there is a million of them.

I also spent 5 years in the Navy as a Radioman. All you have to do is let a couple of guys sit around with nothing to do and they will fine a way to get into trouble.

I never was involved in any of the pranks but I seen plenty. I was on two different Aircraft Carriers--Randolph CVS 15 and Forrestal Cva 59--- guys spent endless hours looking for "Sea Bats" Seems they mostly live in the exhaust of jet planes.....

I think I could have stayed forever also but I didn't.... I'm still in contact with several guys I served with. Although I was only an RM2 I was friends with my Senior Chief and we have been fried every since 1969. Just got an email from him a couple of days ago.

BOO

"Someone" posted the USCGC GALLATIN for sale on Craigslist in Charleston, SC back in 2004. I think all they asked for it was towing it from the pier. We were in drydock at the time. The XO got word and was one pissed off Commander. No one ever did find out who did it.

Ben

For you Chief's, I am sure you will get this life or death situation......

 

 

I got a new SNOS in our shop who had to pull Mess duty. He was assigned to the Chief's Mess. He asked us "Salty" OS2's what he should do with the MCPO's coffee cup because it looked dirty. We told him to wash it and make it shine. Well he did, and it was the 1st time in 4 years that cup had been washed. Supposedly, all the dry, stained, nastiness in side a Chief's coffee cup makes the coffee taste better. I thought the MCPO was gonna throw him overboard. You wanna talk about a PISSED OFFED Master Chief?!?!? I think the XO had to have a talk with him as he went on the 1MC and blessed this SN out. The Capt'n just laughed! Sea stories. HILARIOUS!!

 

 

Ben

 

 

Also, NEVER, and I mean NEVER, hide a Chief's coffee cup.......unless you wish to spend the entire port call field daying a 12 x 12 office space.....SAW IT

Yer damn right!! We are not called the Khaki Mafia fer nothing!!

Boomer.....who went through a REAL CPO Initiation....and spent 4 days in the rack recuperating from that 1 day of Special Honor.....and has NO REGRETS whatsoever!

When it came time for my re-enlistment, they gave me what was I'm sure was the standard speech. Prestige, money, grade, - and I'd never have to worry about shore duty. There wouldn't be any. And me with a new wife and horns the size of south Georgia. I failed to re-up. But I did enjoy my job while there. Radio Shack. Wire cage that nobody wanted to come in.

It was the "lack" of sea duty that made me get out. I hated being a paper pusher in the CG.

Ben

as with others here i have many sea stories too. but i was lucky to be sparied a lot of the "games " that are played on new boots coming into the fleet. i had a master chief who liked me, but then again i was a few years older than the regular boot. but i remember the deck apes coming down in engine room asking for a cup of relative bearing grease, or fire men recruits looking for 100 foot of water line. gunboat who rembembers his service with great pride. who would do it again in a heart beat.

reguards

don c.

Just found this old thread and also have many sea stories. I'll probably be thinking about them all day today. Served on the USS Kitty Hawk, M div, 63-64, east pac cruise. 64-67 USS Randolph, A div, med cruise, north atlantic cruise, and several caribean cruises.

As this is a MC site, my bad memory is having my first bike (1965 Triumph Bonneville) stolen at the Boston shipyard in Nov of 66 while we were in drydock.

I hope to have another one soon.

Other than that, I always say that it was the best time of my life.

I enjoyed my Navy Career and still miss it some times, I retired just as all of the old traditions started being called hazing so I got my share of fun pulled on me. I remember once I was getting ready to go aloft and the guys in the shop thought it would be funny to suspend me from the overhead. After I had been up there a couple minutes the Chief walked in and fussed at me for just hanging around doing nothing.

Ok, here is a navy story:

Yokosuka Japan, 01/01/1964,

So on new years eve me and a buddy borrowed money from someones slush fund to to on the beach to the EM club to celebrate the new year. Drinks were .10 each so we ordered a number of them at a time. Sometime before midnight, my buddy kept falling off of his chair and causing a problem, (as I remember it) which got us kicked out of the club. We made it back to the ship and I remember sitting on the edge of the flight deck at midnight, fireworks going off.

That's how I celebrated turning 18

I was aboard the USCGC Midgett, WHEC-726 for 2-1/2 years, 76-78. Made 5 ALPATS, was medevaced once, made 3 REFTRA's and a few other missions. Greatest days of my life. Went onboard as FA straight out of Alameda and struck MK. Left ship as MK3 for a ANT station in Dempololis, AL where I made MK2 before getting out in 1979. Wish I would have stayed in.

Had the great opportunity of visiting the Midgett this past June in Seattle and they let me go onboard and even below decks to the engine room and other areas.

Wouldn't trade my days of service for anything. Below pic was between the 2 main engines during my visit this past June. And yes, I have sea stories, just lack time in telling them this morning (at work).

I also have stories, but some should never be repeated. I served with VA-192 aboard the USS Bon Homme Richard CVA-31. I made 2 cruises, 62 and 64. It still exists, but as cars, pipe , maybe even my Yamaha. It was terribly disappointing to watch it being scrapped.

I was aboard the USCGC Midgett, WHEC-726 for 2-1/2 years, 76-78. Made 5 ALPATS, was medevaced once, made 3 REFTRA's and a few other missions. Greatest days of my life. Went onboard as FA straight out of Alameda and struck MK. Left ship as MK3 for a ANT station in Dempololis, AL where I made MK2 before getting out in 1979. Wish I would have stayed in.

 

Had the great opportunity of visiting the Midgett this past June in Seattle and they let me go onboard and even below decks to the engine room and other areas.

 

Wouldn't trade my days of service for anything. Below pic was between the 2 main engines during my visit this past June. And yes, I have sea stories, just lack time in telling them this morning (at work).

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Love all the stories and LOVE the pic Larry!!! Sure seems like a guy could have a LOT of fun (and maybe get into some trouble too) being surrounded by all those valves and pipes... Thanks to each of you for your service in maintaining our freedoms - you are all appreciated!!!