Tradition
Boarding or leaving ship
Some ship and flight deck announcements
Using one's head
Domiciling and General Quarters (Red Alert)
In search of Oscar
Pay day
Underway replenishments (unreps)
Tradition—
The Navy is nothing if not a vast system of rituals, regimens, regulations
and evolutions. Nearly every course of action or conduct has a prescribed
regimen that must be followed. Even
announcements over the ship's address systems are seldom ad-libbed
but come from a list of exact announcements
requiring specific results.
Each step and its place in an evolution were learned at some point, and
often at some cost, during hundreds of years of seafaring experience and
affixed to a swelling number of naval
traditions. Though some aspects have become
archaic, for the most part these traditions could be
said to be tried and true, part of a system of
"ingrained common sense." Well defined and refined evolutions meant a
taut, efficient ship with reduced chances of injury to personnel or damage to
ship or planes.
On the lighter side, there is a story about
Winston Churchill when he was First Lord of the British Admiralty. One of his
admirals accused him of scuttling naval tradition by
scrapping the fleet's dreadnoughts. Winston countered that the three traditions
of the Navy were "rum, sodomy and the lash."
Return to the index at top of page
Following are examples of some minor evolutions. I apologize for use of
masculine pronouns. However, at the time I was on active duty, women did not
serve onboard ships.
—Man coming aboard
or going ashore—
If an officer leaves or board ship, he goes
to the forward gangway. Enlisted men use the one aft. After choosing the proper
ramp, the boarder walks across the gangway
with military ID ready for inspection by the
duty officer. Just before reaching the ship he
stops, makes a half turn aft until facing the direction of the ship's ensign
(US flag) and salutes. Finally, he faces the duty officer, salutes, presents
military ID, and says "Request permission to come aboard,
sir." Leaving the ship is basically the
opposite. When leaving he presents military ID, says "Request permission
to go ashore, sir," then stops at the top of the gangway, faces the
direction of the ensign and salutes before
continuing off the ship. In either case the duty officer has the authority to
deny exit or entry, and even may detain a fellow for infractions of
regulations, e.g., improper hair length, improper dress, etc.
Return to the index at top of page
—Some 1MC
(ship) and 5MC (flight deck)
address system announcements—
"U.S.S. Midway, departing" means the Captain is leaving
ship. "U.S.S. Midway, arriving" means he is back.
"Now here this. All arriving crew will stow their gear, police their cubicles
or report to their department heads. If you do not know who your department
head is, check with the Personnel Office." "All personal possessions
must be stowed on or near your locker or under
your bunk. Whatever does not fit must be
off the ship by ________" (time).
"For all duty section sweepers. Man your brooms
to begin a clean sweep down of hangar deck
from fore to aft." "The ship is underway."
These were just a few of the many formal announcements. Others included mail
call, when each duty section's mail petty officer would obtain
their department's mail bag from the ship's
post office. "(A meal) is now being
served on the (fore or aft) mess deck." "Church services are being
held in the ship's chapel." "Tonight's movie is now being
shown on the forward mess deck." Announcements also were made for
departmental musters, colors (raising or lowering of ship's ensign done at
sunrise and sunset, respectively), assorted drills and actual emergencies. Each
announcement would be preceded by
a whistle from a Boatswain's pipe to get our attention. There were a variety of
toots used depending on the type of message to be
conveyed.
I was a mail petty officer for Communications Department. After retrieving
the mail bag I would take it to the berthing
compartment and distribute there before
taking the remainder up to Radio I. Something else that came in a bag
was our return clothing from the ship's laundry plant. Laundry would be
delivered to the plant, and later retrieved, by
the duty laundry petty officer. Once retrieved, the duty section (and whoever
else happened to be handy) would help distribute
the clean, if dingy, gear to respective bunks.
Just like in boot camp, our names were to be
stenciled on every piece of military clothing. Non-stenciled gear became
additions to our burgeoning collection of rags
unless recognized and claimed by their owner.
Return to the index at top of page
—Using one's head—
Hygienic evolutions were carried out in our "head." Achieving the
nearest one to the Radiomen/Signalmen's berthing
compartment required a sailor to climb the
ladder out of our rabbit
hole and then walk a few feet in the direction of ship's port side. A right
tack, a short distance in the direction of ship's bow,
then a left tack across the passageway, again to port, would gain entrance. (Be
sure to be decently covered, at least with a
towel, in case officers or civilians happen by.
In 1972 we had a young fellow assigned to our division who formerly had been
a Navy Seal. He was a nudist, and some of the men complained because
he refused to wear clothes when in the berthing
compartment. Eventually he compromised and wore skivvy shorts.)
This "head" contained the usual sinks with mirrors, toilets,
urinals and showers. Though all showers had curtains, toilets were rooms with a
view. The showers were provided lavishly with fresh hot and cold water from the
ship's salt water distillation plants. Daily they produced 120,000 gallons.
Pipefitters were kept busy unclogging drains,
especially whenever the sewage system backed
up.
"Heads" were inspected very closely and frequently by
departmental officers for reasons of sanitation and morale, so they became
a sore spot in the crew's interpersonal relations. PPOs (police petty officers)
practically had to stand guard so as to monitor activities of
"guests" from other departments. They also watched their own people
to ensure unnecessary messes were not left. Besides, guarding protected against
vandalism. Some departments even went so far as to refuse admittance by
personnel from other departments.
Everyday each "head" was secured (removed from use) for cleaning.
Of course, not all of them were secured at once. Each "head" had its
own cleaning schedule. Still, there were times when a fellow might have to look
in all directions for an unsecured "head." Understandably,
"head anxiety" became a common
neurosis and led some men to stopping at every open "head" on their
route similar to dogs stopping at every fire plug.
Return to the index at top of page
—Domiciling and
General Quarters—
Domiciling was done in our respective cubicles
or bunks. A cubicle
was a semi-enclosed area consisting of two sets of bunks,
each three levels high, which were parallel with each other at a distance of about
four feet. There were lockers at the bulkhead
end. The other end was open to the rest of the compartment. The bunks
in the middle of the compartment were attached to each other end to end in a
row, an arrangement that made for much less privacy.
Each set of bunks consisted of three racks.
The bottom one practically rested on the deck,
hinged on one side to allow for propping up when swabbing.
Access to it was not easy, but it afforded the
greatest privacy. The middle rack had easiest access and convenience. The upper
rack was the least desirable of the three. It
was the most difficult to access and provided slight privacy. Each had a small,
built-in reading lamp plus curtains that could
be drawn to increase privacy. Mine was a lower
bunk in a cubicle.
Besides a small, upright locker we had a larger-capacity one directly under,
and built-in as part of our bunk
unit. Access to this locker was gained by
removing a padlock and lifting the hinged tray holding the approximately
four-inch high mattress. This locker was somewhat shallow, but
its length and width were those of the mattress tray. The interior divided into
sections, and a drawer was accessible, without
necessarily lifting the tray/lid, by sliding
it out from the locker's side after removing the lock. Otherwise, the entire
content of the drawer was visible with the lid
open. Although the cubicles and bunks
were efficiently designed, all hell would break
loose if everybody had to move at once. This
happened during general quarters and man overboard
evolutions/drills.
When general quarters sounded, every man who was assigned to be
in Faccon, MPC, TTY, or a transmitter room according to the posted "Watch
Quarter and Station Bill" would rapidly walk (not run) to their respective
station even if they had just gotten off watch. A fellow only had a few minutes
in which to move through passageways and up or down ladders unencumbered
except by the flow of humanity. The rule was
that a sailor moved forward and up only on the starboard
side, aft and down only on the port side. This rule or tradition assisted the
movement of personnel, eliminating most unnecessary counter-flow.
Both exits from Communications enlisted men's berthing
compartment would be sealed within minutes.
Each exit had two hatches. The larger one allowed for unrestricted passage and
remained open during all battle conditions
except GQ. A smaller, circular hatch was cut into the center of the larger,
rectangular one and allowed more grudging passage. To get out, a fellow finding
himself in the compartment a few minutes after GQ sounded would find the larger
hatch dogged down and would have to squeeze through the smaller hatch opening. He
also would find other barriers between
his location and where he needed to go. If he were even later, the small hatch
would be dogged, and special permission would be
required for him to proceed anywhere.
For clarification, "dogs" were metal levers located around the
inside perimeters of "hatches," or doors used to ensure the
watertight integrity of compartments. Most dogs attached to their hatch on a
pivoting axis. Such dogs were secured by
turning them on their axis against a tapered wedge extending out from the
adjacent bulkhead. They were adjusted until
each section of the hatch perimeter was tight against the bulkhead's
metal frame. Only then was the hatch considered watertight. On some hatches,
all dogs were secured simultaneously by using
a single lever or wheel mechanism. Most required each dog to be
secured individually using a steel pipe located nearby
on the bulkhead. The pipe was slid onto the
grip end of a dog to extend, and thus increase, the leverage enough to properly
dog the hatch.
I believe we all had a terror of being
caught in the shower when GQ sounded. Fortunately, they normally did not last
more than an hour or two. Afterward we would stand down, and the duty watch
section would again take over. Also, all but
one general quarters were drills. In that one exception a MIG-17
had flown into our radar perimeter and disappeared late one evening. However,
neither it nor its radar blip was seen by
us again. The ship didn't relax the battle
condition for a couple of hours just in case.
Return to the index at top of page
—In search of Oscar—
The Executive Officer might pull a fellow out of a passageway at almost any
time and have him stay hidden while the ship conducted a "man overboard"
drill. Then Oscar, a real dummy, would be
thrown over the side. An announcement would be
made over the address systems something like this: [Boatswain's pipe toots]
"This is a drill, this is a drill. Man overboard.
Man overboard (starboard
or port) side. Muster all hands . . . ," etc.
The Executive Officer's stopwatch would begin
timing from the moment of announcement until Oscar was located and retrieved.
Every man who was not standing watch would go immediately to a pre-assigned
area for his department's muster. Our area was on the hangar deck directly above
our berthing compartment. Men on watch would
muster at a pre-arranged location within their watch area. Department heads
then sent muster reports to the Executive Officer. He decided whether Oscar's
identity was accurately discovered. Meanwhile, a helicopter would be
launched and a rescue boat readied for launch
if needed. Once Oscar was sighted the helicopter and/or boat
would attempt rescue.
Usually by the time Oscar was brought
in the Executive Officer had received confirmation as to the identity of the
missing shipmate. Occasionally, a real man overboard
exercise took place when a fellow failed to show up at a regular daily muster.
Woe was heaped on him when he wandered out, sleepy from a nap in a gear locker
or such, woke by the ship's alarm and
wondering what the fuss was about.
Fortunately, all of our man overboard
evolutions were either drills or false alarms.
Return to the index at top of page
—$Pay day$—
One thing we looked forward to almost as much as liberty
was the day we collected our thirty pieces of silver. It arrived every two
weeks. Paymasters set up in a variety of locations that were announced in
advanced. The ship experimented with several systems, but
generally a sailor would get in the pay line handling the alphabetical
range that included his last name. The lines would get quite long, snaking
through passageways, up and down ladders, and across the hangar deck.
Fortunately, the lines moved rapidly.
A fellow would present his military picture ID when he finally reached the beginning
of his respective line. The disbursing officer
would locate the name on his list and find the amount to be
paid. Then he would count out usually new bills
for the sailor to re-count and sign for receipt. If a fellow were smart he
would take a good portion of this money, go down to the ship's post office and buy
mail orders to pay bills, send home or send to
a savings account stateside. Enough for Savings Bonds came out of my pay before
I ever saw it. The money from their sale came in very handy shortly after I
left the service.
The ship disbursed more than $1 million per
month during the 1971 cruise alone. Of this, the ship's stores reeled in
approximately $300,000 per month. No telling how much was spent on liberties,
stereo equipment (my weakness), civilian clothes, and gambling
debts. Whenever we were in the war zone our
pay was augmented by "hazardous duty
pay." Pilots also received "combat
pay" for their missions over Vietnam.
Every perquisite helped!
Return to the index at top of page
—Unreps—
Underway replenishment evolutions were interesting to watch. Ideally, we
should have been able
to be completely stocked and self sufficient.
However, the mere fact that we had twelve engine boilers
to heat using conventional fuel meant in the least we had to receive regular
fuel supplies. Once on line at Yankee Station, unreps also allowed for the
replenishment of bombs
dropped, plus delivery of replacement parts for ship/planes and reasonably
fresh food.
The ship with which we were scheduled to unrep would send a message in
advance notifying us of their ETA. When they
were within line of sight range we would establish
visual communications through our Signalmen. Faccon would set up UHF radio and
Teletype communications for Message Processing
Center. With the supply ship
steaming ahead just fast enough to remain stable
in the water, the Midway would come in from behind
and pull up alongside, parallel and about
fifty or sixty feet away. In preparation the Midway would have lowered
its forward starboard elevator Number
One and its aft starboard elevator Number
Two to be used as cargo platforms. Number
Three port side remained at flight deck level to receive cargo set down by
helicopters.
Ship's rigging crew would shoot small lines from the Midway to the
supply ship using a special gun, with more than one attempt sometimes
necessary. When someone on the other ship retrieved a line, he and fellow crew
members would begin
pulling until the heavy, attached hawser extended across the expanse between
the two vessels. The hawsers then became
tracks across which the hanging cargo or flexible,
fuel transfer tubing would be
maneuvered tram-like. Working parties on both
ships either brought supplies to be
transported or carried away those received.
Pictures of a 1971 unrep
While the productive aspect of an unrep venture sweated away, the aesthetic
side was something to behold. Especially
magnificent was the turbulence stirred up between
the two vessels caused by their continuous
forward motions and the colliding interaction of the white-water wakes they
created. Upon the unrep's completion the hawsers were pulled back
to the Midway by her rigging crew. The
frigate or oiler then would pull forward and veer away as it headed for its
next rendezvous.
Return to the index at top of page
Copyright 1992, 1998 Charles W. Paige
Continue on to Radio
or Go back
to Storms and Crossings
Last modified: Tuesday September 10,
2019
Home or Return to the top or Go to table of contents (non-frame)
Free counters provided by
Honesty.com.