At 17, I was off to make my fortune and see the world. So I decided to join the Navy. I received my Boot Camp training at the Naval Training Center in Great Lakes, Illinois. Afterwards I was sent to the Radarman Class "A" School at Treasure Island, California, where I learned the trade that would carry me through the next 20 years. There were many Ships and stations that I served on and I will dwell on each with only the most memorable moments.
USS Cabildo (LSD-16) - Onboard 1955-57
The USS Cabildo was a Landing Ship Dock, whose primary purpose was amphibious operations. I spent 2 1/2 uneventful years aboard, however their were a couple of memorable shipmates. One was the first class Radarman that I worked for, a guy by the name of Ross. Now Ross was about 5 foot two inches tall and his favorite saying was "I'm little, but I'm loud, I'm small, but I'm proud". He made first class in four years and got out. It was the Navy's loss. The other shipmate that I remember, was a second class that got seasick as soon as they set the "Sea and Anchor detail". He would sit there on the radar with a bucket between his legs the entire time. Funny though, after a couple of hours he was OK and continued that way for the entire trip.
The USS Munsee was a Fleet Tug, its primary purpose was to tow things from place to another. Now as uninteresting as that sounds, there were times that are worth mentioning. After having been aboard for a few months, doing exciting things like pulling targets for warships, we were told we had to fill out paper work to get a secret clearance for an upcoming deployment. This created a lot of excitement and the rumors were plentiful. When the time came our task was to pull a mothballed destroyer to the Eniwetok Atomic Proving Grounds and participate in operations. After we arrived with about six other ATF's and dropped off our tows, we were ready for liberty(time off). We were then told that the local Navy people on the main island didn't want us to pull liberty on their island because of space and the Air Force personnel on another island also didn't want us on their island because of security. We were told that a deserted island had been setup for our enjoyment and softball equipment would be provided. They promised that within a month they would have power at the island to cool the beer. The vision of playing softball and drinking warm beer still looked good after a month at sea. The LCVP's picked us up and as we approached the island we could see a large sign that had been erected. It said "Welcome to Japtan Island - Don't kill the lizards, they're prehistoric - Don't eat the coconuts they're radioactive." That was our welcome to seven months of hot, hard work.
The USS Dixie was a destroyer tender, whose primary purpose was to perform repairs as needed on destroyers. The entire time I was aboard we were moored to a buoy off the 32nd Street pier in San Diego, Ca. The ship had a pretty good softball team who had an All Navy pitcher by the name of Brown. I was their catcher and the team as a whole gave a good account of itself. Other than that my time onboard was uneventful.
After leaving the Dixie, I went to Air Control "A" school and Ground Control Approach "C" school in Olathe, Kansas and then on to the Naval Air Station in Seattle, Washington. A GCA Unit is a self contained unit that sits out in the far side of the runways and controls the aircraft during landings in inclement weather. One of the funny things that happened there was to our Officer in Charge. He had traded his car in on a brand new Volkswagon Bug. He drove it to the unit the next day and of course had everyone come out and look at it. He bragged that the salesman had told him that it would get great gas mileage. Well a bunch of us were a little envious and thought we would pull a joke on him. So for the first month every morning we would add a little gas to his tank. He would brag that the car was getting over 80 miles to the gallon. The second month, we siphoned a little out each morning. He took it to the dealer and raised hell. He said the dealer didn't believe him when he told them that the gas mileage dropped from 80 Miles per gallon to 20. From the third month on we left it alone, but he never was really satisfied with the car after that.
The day I left GCA-34 enroute to my new ship the USS Midway, was the day that President Kennedy was shot. My entire trip to San Francisco, I listened to the happenings in Dallas, what a terrible day for all. Upon arriving in San Francisco, I learned the ship had deployed to WESTPAC. So I ended up going to Travis Air Force base and catching a ride on a KC-135 enroute to Clark Air Force base in the Philippines. Arriving in late afternoon their time and in dress blues, which was the traveling uniform, I was put on a non air conditioned bus enroute to Subic Bay. It was a very hot, sweaty ride to Subic Bay, only to find out the ship was making a port call in Hong Kong. So my journey continued as I rode a Fleet Oiler to Hong Kong to meet my ship. I made two WESTPAC Cruises on the Midway. The first cruise was the one where I joined the ship in Hong Kong, and for the most part was a normal uneventful cruise. My second cruise aboard was a Vietnam cruise and was no way uneventful. One event that I will never forget, was a time when we were in the Tonkin Gulf off Vietnam. I was performing my duties as Strike Controller and received a radio message from an inbound A-4 aircraft that it was heavily damaged and losing fuel rapidly. The pilot said he thought he would have to eject and wanted me to keep track of him on my radar. I immediately vectored the overhead tanker in his direction. I persuaded the pilot to stay with the aircraft while I directed the tanker to a successful intercept with the A-4. The A-4 took on fuel all the way to the ship, as it was losing fuel almost as fast as it could take it on. The A-4 landed successfully and upon inspection of the aircraft later, it was shown that the wing had a hole in it large enough for a person to stick his head through.
I made two cruises while onboard the Conyngham. The first being one to the North Atlantic, where we visited Malmo, Sweden. The second being to Marin, Spain, where the Spanish Naval Academy is located. We were there so the Spanish Naval Cadets could tour the ship. The Spanish Officers were afraid that the American sailors might cause trouble in their town, so they paid to have us bused to a nearby larger town. The town of Vega was about an hour away and when the first group of us arrived, the local beer sold for the equivalent of $.15. When we left about a week later, that same beer cost $1.00.
USS Topeka (CLG-8) - Onboard 1967-68I reported aboard the Topeka in Long Beach, Ca. expecting the ship to be deployed to Vietnam. Well as things turned the Navy decided that since we were not a computer equipped ship, we would swap deployments with an East Coast ship. So we were ordered to deploy to the Mediterranean Sea and while we were gone our Home Port was changed to Jacksonville, Florida. A funny event happened during a port call to Marseilles, France. A local Lingerie manufacturer came aboard and gave a lingerie show right on the fantail of the ship. You have to picture, half naked women prancing around on the deck of a ship with 500 or so sailors all trying to get a look. We had guys falling off the missile mounts and stepping on each other during the entire show. We later made a port of call in Majorca, which is a small island off the coast of Spain. In Majorca a group of us that were a little short on money took a tour on which Special Services had given us free tickets. This bus tour had about 8 sailors and a lot of tourists on it. We were good for a while, but during a stop to see a Spanish show we decided to do a little shopping for snacks. We had spotted a bakery and wine shop, so we secured some wine and a large pinwheel of hot bread. We shared the goodies with the other tourists and had a great time on the bus trip to the next stop. The next stop wouldn't you know it was a winery. In the cellar of this winery was about 50 barrels of different wines. They furnished us small glasses when we entered and invited us to sample the wines. We had one of our guys that sampled every wine and stated that he didn't find one bad wine. We were a wobbly bunch when we returned to the ship. I was promoted to Chief Petty Officer during this cruise and had to go over to the Carrier that was in port when we got to Naples, Italy to get my uniforms. Unfortunately they didn't have any brown shoes that would fit, so I had to go over in Naples to the local shoe store to get the brown shoes. They were brown, but didn't go with my uniform very well. I really took a ribbing over that. But life in the Navy was a whole lot nicer as a Chief.
USS W.C. Lawe (DD-763) - Onboard 1969When the Topeka returned to Mayport, we were told she was to be put out of commission. I was then transferred to the Destroyer Lawe, which was tied up just down the pier. This was during a time that the Navy was a little short on money and the Lawe was in what was called ROS. Now ROS is Restricted Operating Status, which means that it stayed in port most of the time because of a lack of fuel oil. We did make one short cruise to Gitmo Bay, Cuba for training.
Fleet Anti-Air Warfare Training Center Dam NeckAfter over 6 years at sea, I finally received orders to shore duty. I was to proceed to Norfolk,Va. for Instructor school and then on to Dam Neck,Va to teach NTDS. NTDS is Naval Tactical Data System, which for Radarman was the ships operational computers. I taught both the Officers and Enlisted courses for about 2 1/2 years. While there I completed the Navy's programming course, to broaden my knowledge on computers.
USS Forrestal (CVA-59) - Onboard 1972-74After leaving Dam Neck I reported for duty on the USS Forrestal, which was to be my last duty station. Upon arriving, I found the ship alongside the pier at Norfolk, and she was on fire. I was told to go home and report on the telephone each day until I was told to return. It was found later that the fire had been started by an Admiral's Aide that didn't want to have to go overseas. So instead of the ship deploying, it was towed to the Naval Shipyard at Portsmouth, Va. for repairs. After she was repaired I did make one Mediterranean cruise. I retired shortly after the ship returned to the US.
Return to Ron's Home Page
Supertest@Aol.com