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Seajay · 08-31-2011, 09:04 PM

I read another story on her posted by a sailor that also went to the island of Palma. It is a small island in the Med off the coast of Spain and a darn good liberty port for sailors.

Palma is a small town on the island where the booze was cheap and the coffee was cheep and the ladies were very friendly to sailors if you happen to have a couple dollars that you wanted to spend carelessly. Over in the ''old part'' of the town the streets were about the width of our sidewalks and they were lined with buildings with doorways that opened directly out on the street. Ladies would stand in these door ways ''hawking'' their wears to the sailors that may go staggering by. It was kinda like a ''reverse auction'' with the product person and the ''bidder'' haggling over the price of said ''wears'' concerning the length of the rental period and exactly what is included in the terms of the rental agreement with ''offers'' and ''refusals'' on both sides until a satisfactory agreement is reached between both parties concerning the ''product'' offered for use to the buyer as it were. The price usually was around two dollars American. The fun really started when another prospective ''buyer'' stepped up and got into the bidding. I saw it happen to a buddy of mine and while he was ''haggling'' another sailor stepped up and became the second man in the ''haggle''. My friend turned to the second sailor and invited him to remove himself from the ''haggle'' or suffer the consequences of a ''bidding interruption process'' in which he was the party of the first part. It should be understood right now that both participants in said ''auction''(?) had been in more than one shot of the fine burbon available over there for about 25 cents a hit. The second sailor told my friend that he should go fly a kite and my friend smacked him in the mouth at which point the second sailors friend hit my friend and I hit the second sailor in the back of the head while he was helping his friend off the cobble stones in the street. The lady of the evening had disappeared back into the door where she was promoting her personal business and me and my friend went fist and skull with the two other sailors for several rounds. No one was ''winning'' because we were all drunk to the nines and the fight broke up when the shore patrol hit the whistles and we all broke and ran like rabbits. After several turns into allies and finally wound up hiding in a bar and we managed to get away from the Shore Patrol. Personally I believe they blew the whistles just to watch us run because I saw that happen again while we were there.
Anyhow, me and my buddy decided to split up because we knew they would be looking for two guys so he went one way and I went another.

Note .... To read the rest of this it would be better for you to go to my blog because it gets kinda detailed in the rest of the sea story. this is true to my memory as we lived it back in 59 in my first foreign port of call. see Palma the toilet story...

see my blog at .... My Life as I remember it and other boaring stuff

God bless this great nation and the men and women that defend it....

Seajay the sailor man ….

pkunk1 · 09-01-2011, 06:01 PM

Vinh Long, Vietnam-1965
Scene: My Cobra UH 1B had had too many hot starts and the turbine need replacement.
Ship was Cobra lead and could not afford to be grounded for any extended period of time.
Pilot was a ranking officer and demanded (requisitioned) a replacement but there were none available for our unit.
We flew one night to Saigon equipped with an engine crane (standard field issue) and (midnight) requisitioned our 'new' engine sans paperwork from another outfit that we knew had very lax security.
Safely secured inside, we got back to base, red X'd the aircraft and locked her up.
Next evening, our maintenance crew & I replace the engine and by morning were ready for new missions.
I thought it was sooo cool to have a ranking officer trust me (a lowly E-4) in such a blatant theft.(think midnight auto supply)
No names or outfits were mentioned to protect the guilty.

Seajay · 09-03-2011, 06:46 AM

We were over in England I think, in the winter time. January as I recall. We went over on a ''Good Will Tour'' and visited several of the Scandinavian Countries.
On a Navy pier there is no hand rail or guard rail of any kind. There is however a ''kick rail'' attached to the pier. There are ''bolards'' that the ship is tied to when in port but no types of safety devises to keep you from falling off the pier...... Here in lies the sea story.....

I had the dirty duty and when I secured from the eve watch (about eleven thirty at night) I wandered up on the after brow. (rear quarterdeck) to watch the guys come back from liberty. England is famous for two things. Good Scotch and friendly people. The ''friendly people'' want you to try their Scotch so it is fairly easy to get totally plastered with little effort on your part. They also love to hear someone from ''down south'' talk. If you have a southern accent they will buy you drinks just to hear you talk. (there is another sea story here but that is for later. It concerns two lovely ladies. nuff said right now)
Anyhow, our gangway (access to the ship) went out from the ship to a landing and then down to the pier. The taxies would pull up to the base of the gangway and the sailors would ''ooze'' out and amble up the gangway and ''request permission to come aboard Sir''..... So many of the guys were having trouble climbing the gangway , or even finding it, that they had placed guards on the pier to help these guys ''find the gangway''. As I leaned on the lifeline watching the show a taxi pulled up and a sailor backed out of the rear door of the cab. Obviously, he was drunk as a skunk.. He handed the cabbie some money, kissed a red headed lady good night, and stood there for a few seconds trying to get himself presentable so he might come aboard. He came to attention, straightened his hat, hitched up his tie, brushed off his uniform and turned to come up to the end of the gangway. He was doing real good until he stumped his toe on something on the pier. With that he totally lost his balance, stumbled sideways, tripped on the ''kick rail'' and promptly tumbled into the bay, head first. The guards at the foot of the gangway was on him like a flash. The ''guards'' dropped a life ring over him and the sailor latched on to it like a snake. Three guys dragged him back up on the pier. All the drunk sailor could say was ''' Can you guys find my bottle of Scotch?? I think I dropped it when somebody pushed me off the ship''. They escorted his dripping body up to the quarter deck and escorted him down to his quarters and to bed.

So it went onboard the Norton in England.....
Seajay the sailor man.....

9/11 is comin soon.... DO YOU REMEMBER??????

JimM68 · 09-05-2011, 07:40 PM

I was one of them Wes-Pac sailors mentioned in a previous post... This was maybe like 1976? And I was maybe like.... 18, just.

My first ship, the USS Worden, was drydocked in Yokosuka, Japan, homeport of the sixth fleet when I arrived courtesy of a midnight MAC flight filled with dependants and screaming runny nosed kids. About 6 months later, she was finally afloat and tied to a real dock, we'd finished our sea trials, and after replacing the bearings in the turbines 3 more times, it looked like we were gonna soon be on our way to the PI for our weapons load and qualification. We couldn't do that in Japan, becuase the US Navy still to this day will not confirm nor deny the existance on nuclear weapons aboard it's ships based in Japan.

While the Japanese were rebuilding our ship, we thought of all sorts of fun things to do, one of which was talking to "older" WesPac sailors about the "delights" of the Philipine Islands, particularly the towns of Alongapo and Subic City.

Another thing many of did was buy motorcycles.

Tomorrow we were scheduled to set sail for the Western Pacific Paradise known as The PI.

Tnoight we were gonna stretch our legs on our bikes, about a dozen of us. Now it takes almost an act of God for a "foreigner" to get a drivers license in Japan, and they didn't recognize one from Illinois. And of course you had to have a japanese drivers license before you could get japanese insurance and be legal to ride your japenses motorcylcle around japan.... But we were young and didn't care much. And we were leaving in the morning and I wouldn't see that old Kawasaki for about 4 months.

So off we went, screaming down the highway that bordered Tokyo Bay. We went out to a bar we knew, and had some dinner and perhaps imbibed in some adult beverages. Heading back on that same highway, twisting and turning along the waterfront. Well, I'd kinda forgot that that old Kawi 650 twin wouldn't turn for nuttin, and heaved her into this left hand sweeper at a hundred and eighty clicks (110 mph) Well I'm about hanging off the left side of this machine trying to make her turn, the footpeg and exhaust pipe are throwing a shower of sparks, and the curb at the medium is getting closer and closer. Then the right side of the bike went into the curb, showering sparks off the footpeg and pipe on that side...

Thinking there was no way this could end well, I got off. Tucked in as tight as I could, and just kinda kissed my ass goodbye. After about 30 seconds rolling and bouncing down the medium, the world stopped spinning and I came to rest in the soft grass.

My bike was a twisted smoking hulk about 50 feet further down the road.

I got up, said SHUX (hehe or something like that) and sat back down. My left ankle hurt. Bad. The others had spun around and were merging with me now. One of my buddies helped me up, and walked me around a little, and we decided I was OK except for myy left ankle. The Kawi however was trashed. We had a little pow-wow and it was decided that since I had no license or insurance, and was sailing in the morning and would be gone for 4 months, it was best to dispose of the evidence and get me back on the ship as quietly as possible.

So 2 of my good friends tossed that old Kawi into Tokyo bay, I got on the back of one of the bikes, and we made our way back through the maingate and over to the base hospital. The medics thought I might have a broken ankle, he could kinda see it on the Xray. Since there wasn't a real doctor on duty at that time on a Sunday night, and the Worden was pulling out in the morning anyway, the corpsman put a plaster cast on it, and sent us on our way.

The mid to 4 quarterdeck watch found nothing unusual about one sailor needing 2 others to help him up the brow. My buddies got me to my rack, and covered for me during sea detail the next morning. By the time I got out of my rack, Yokusuka was a spec on the horizon and we were almost out of Tokyo Bay. The Senior Chief about flipped when he saw me hobbling around the ship in a cast. He sent me to see the luitenant, and the luitenant took me to see the weapons officer, a lt commander. Weps took me to see the XO, where I told the story for the third time that day, emphasising how there was just no way I was going to let my shipmates down, that I was needed in Forward Control to run the missile radar when we went through our qualifications in subic... yada yada yada. They bought it, told me to be careful, lay low, and try not to run into the captain. I kept kicking the knee knockers with the cast, and sawed it off after about a week.

A couple weeks later, the Worden docked at the Subic Bay Naval Station, AKA Heaven in WestPac. Lots of sea stories there...

rmmpe · 09-06-2011, 12:00 PM

You West-Pac guys are pretty tame compared to we Med-Cruise Submariners.

We had a non-Qualified Ensign aboard that was a really decent guy and recognized he could learn a little from us more experienced "Bubbleheads".

To pay us back for being such gracious 'Old Salts', he organized a sailing trip near Cannes, France by renting 5 little 2-person sailboats.

What fun we had. 2 boats crashed into each other and capsized, 1 boat ran square into the side of an ammunition ship and promptly sunk. A fourth boat ran under a large Catamaran, dismasting itself and just thrilling the bejeesus out of the 4 young ladies topless sun bathing in the net of the Cat's bow.

The last boat (with the Ensign who learned how to sail at the Academy) was assigned the duty of towing the dismasted boat back to the Marina.

Imagine, if you will, a small sailboat towing another small, mastless, sailboat having all 8 guys from the other sailboats aboard. There was absolutely no room for the large beer cooler so the Ensign volunteered to place it in his boat. Unfortunately, the 8 guys in the towed boat were a little handicapped by seeing double and couldn't catch all the beer bottles thrown to them for refreshment purposes. This little procession, leaving a bread-crumb trail of semi-floating beer bottles, caught the attention of the local Gendarmerie, who greeted us with the renter of the sailboats when we finally hit land.

Fortunately, our Recreation Fund had enough money in it to compensate the sailboat owner for his troubles and we were allowed to head for the local bar, to which, lo and behold, the beauties from the Catamaran later came.

The story continues but that's for another time.

Usnret05 · 09-06-2011, 05:03 PM

Listen ... If you haven't experienced a Wes PAC ... Cruise .. Your all in the category as the coast guard ... Shallow water sailors.... lol
Old boats
Marc

codgerbill · 09-06-2011, 05:47 PM

It was 1963 and we visited a port in I think Jamaca..a town named Lucy [pronounced lucia). The town had not seen a US ship since WWII and so they threw us a sorta party on the beach. The water was crystal clear and you could go out a hundred yards or so before it was over your head. We brought sh#t cans full of beer and the locals gave us some beer too. Some local brought his donky and was trying to sell donkey rides. After emptying several Sh#t cans full of beer the guys decided they dint want to pay for the donky rides any more and absconded with the donkey....and meanwuile back at the beach the ball game between the divisions was really "heating"up. The end result was that we got kicked out of the port the next morning, and had a lot of money to pay from the ships rec fund to pay for ...ummmm damages to the civilian property....but I cant remember all the details as it was really fuzzy,

USS Abbott DD629. No air conditioning, fire control had no hope of hitting a fast jet, no gee dunk, crummy little ships store, great baker,racks piled 4 high, compartment above the props and next to the after steering (rudder), but one of the fastest (at that time) ships on the east coast (41 knots on a full power run out of the yards). I believe it is a bunch of razor blades now.

Seajay · 09-06-2011, 05:49 PM

Now wait just a gosh darn minute. I did a NATO/Scandinavian cruise including England and Palma and that aint no ''shallow water'','' school boy cruise'' where everybody came home a virgin by a long shot. Them ''blond beauties'' in the great frozen North can take the ''chrome off a trailer hitch ball'' and never leave a rust mark on the bumper. And them beautiful ''Scotland Lassies'' can show you things your ''big brother'' never even dreamed of much less ''lied to you about''. And them ''Scottish Lassies'' speak ENGLISH and sometimes you dont even need ''money''. Just a cute southern drawl like ''Yesssssss Mmmam'', ''AAAahhhhhhaaa Shuxxxx'' and ''Yaaaaaallllll Commmmmme''....
They just ''eat that up''. Been there and done that ....

Seriously guys .... ALL IN FUN SHIPMATES. Where would we be without our memories. God help me to keep my memories till I die. I guess it is all different now with so many ''GOTCHAS'' out there that will ''gitcha'' and there aint no way to ''fixxxya'' for some of them.
Keep the sea stories coming guys and you Jarheads and Ground pounders and even the ''sissy'' fly boys can join in if you got somethin' interesting to write.
Dont forget we gotta keep it ''G'' rated or we will get busted but most of us can figure out what you are sayin' with you actually ''Sayin' it''.......
May God bless each and all of you for your service to this nation......

ps here is the ''Snortin Norten'' in all her pride and glory somewhere between nothin and nothin.....lol...

rmmpe · 09-06-2011, 06:17 PM

Hey Marc, just because the Pacific has the Marianas Trench doesn't mean you're the only deep-water Sailors around. Only having been to the bottom of it is qualification to laugh at us.

As a matter of fact, we 'Bubbleheads' have been deeper than any of you 'Skimmer' Squids can claim, regardless of where.

But, we 'Smokeboat' Sailors really like Tin Cans. Used 'em for target practice all the time.

Usnret05 · 09-07-2011, 06:46 AM

Good morning shipmates
Listen being in the gator navy riding on a LPD the USS VANCOUVER LPD2... in a typhoon . Thats what we call them in the real navy not a hurricane ... Light sea breezes on the east coast . Anyway riding along in the bungo straits I called to my exec mr Bledsoe ... Wait a minute that's run silent run deep ... Anyway in the gator navy we were part SS ... We spent so much time diving in the storms and popping back up and sliding around like a well greased egg on the ships grill damn the only thing missing on bridge watch was the victory at sea music .... Our bridge was at least 40' or so up and we took blue water up there was funny watching everything fly all over .... Listening to the conn officer yell out more rudder more rudder ... Yeah like that was going help .... Well the ladies in Subic Bay ... Now that was fantasy island ... After a weekend of liberty in olongapo or Subic city you would come back washed and waxed...(not your clothes) I thought I was at the miss universe pageant omg I was 17 at the time. But honestly we all had fun and have great memories .... All of us .... My father in law served on board SUBLANT USS Becuna SS319 50-53, he was a RM radioman. He told me a few good sea stories.. One time while in the med his boat got caught on the surface by the Russians and had to radio the either the coral seas or franklin(sister ship) for air escort ... His boat is now a museum in Philly at Pennsylvania landing next to the USS Olympia.
when I was dating his daughter at the time and he found out I was in the navy I was in graces of course with concerns with his little girl lol ... Anyway moving along here ... On my many travels to and from my reserve center in jersey I was a recruiter for veterans programs... To Philly naval base( navsta) I would always pass this sub 319... Finally it hit me ... It was his boat ...he had this big picture of it in his office ... He had no idea it was still around so for his 60th birthday I took him there ... But I didn't tell him ... Lol well as it turned out that day it was raining very heavy as we got there I asked him to close his eyes of course he argued a bit but finally gave in I pulled right up in front of the sail (conning tower) I told him now open your eyes and he saw this big 319 ... smack in front of him ... He was really shocked speechless really before we went on board he told me exactly where he slept now this was 1985 and he served on her in 1950 where he slept and right above his top rack was this fly wheel and every time the hit the crash dive alarm (oooga oooga)he would crack his head lol anyway when we went aboard I went there I saw his rack and that fly wheel... It was amazing after all those years how a person remembers .. We walked all over the boat he was very happy to say the least we went out for dinner that evening as well...
Anyway ... Everyone enjoy their day and if anyone's ever in Philly at Penns landing go see the Becuna and the Olympia...
Marc

mick · 09-08-2011, 04:04 AM

Back in the early 60s, while shooting stop and gos on the U.S.S. Hornet
we Marines observed something strange to us.

The Captain of the ship called a meeting one day, and we were invited to attend.

The Captain made the following annoucement telling the first mate that his men smelled bad..
(Marines had seperate quarters then)

The Captain suggested perhaps it would help if the sailors
would change underwear occasionally. The first mate responded, "Aye, aye sir, I'll see to it immediately!"

The first mate went straight to the sailors berth deck and announced, "The Captain thinks you guys smell bad and wants you to change your underwear."
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He continued, "Pittman, you change with Jones, McCartney, you change with Witkowski, and Brown, you change with Schultz."

Seajay · 10-16-2011, 07:19 AM

Bermuda.....1960 I think

The Norton stopped at Bermuda for about a week as I remember and we of course were granted liberty. As I recall we had to ride the liberty boats to shore because they did not have dock space for us.

Bermuda is a beautiful island and is a province of the British empire. As I recall the island is about 21 miles long and shaped like a fish hook. Over there you drive on the ''wrong side of the road'' which can lead to some difficulties if you are on a motor bike and you have had a few drinks. More on that later.....
Several of us in the radio gang decided to hit the beach and rent motor bikes. These bikes are just one step above a bicycle with a lawn mower motor attached to the sprocket and most of them had bad brakes and worn out tires. We formed up in our ''gang'' and all rented from the same dealership and we all insisted on having the ''fastest bike'' in the bunch which amounted to a bike that would do maybe 30 mph going down hill with a tail wind, maybe. Uphill was a whole different story. We were each issued a helmet and told to buckle them under our chins so that when we had a wreck we would at least save the top of our heads. It was soon discovered that the chin strap made you sweat so it was taken loose to prevent over heating. We roared out of the shop and pulled into the first bar we saw and jumped into some island beer. We had been given a map of the island with strict instructions as to where we could ride and where we definitely should not ride and one of these ''Do Not Ride'' places was the golf courses............ Hummmmmm?
We eased out of the tavern, just cruising along enjoying the view when Moon Mullins spotted a smooth, manicured, grassier area with a sand trap and a flag sticking out of a hole. We decided it would be fun to ''do the sand trap'' so we each in turn made flying leaps over the side of the sand trap edge leaving snake like tracks thru the sand. Fun was being had when some person started waving a nine iron at us and speaking in an unknown tongue (Proper English) and saying something about ''Police'' so we decided to find another bar immediately. We ambled on and soon found another watering hole and commenced to drink our fill. By now some of the guys were getting pretty well drunk and our group started to dwindle down to the hard core riders. A few of us ambled out and took what we considered the ''fastest bikes'' regardless of the one that we had rented. As I recall there was about four of us left in the ''gang''. Everyone took ''beers to go'' shoved into our belts and we rode along singing and sipping beer and did not notice that we were on the ''wrong side of the road'' until a car made a panic right turn in front of us. We headed down to toward the light house and found a place where we could get access to the beach. Hummmmmm? The beach was another ''Do Not Ride'' place but since there was no one around we figured that meant not to ride in a crowd of people so we ''Hit the beach''.... Literally......
It took about an instant to figure out that skinny tires and soft sand dont mix well and we did a lot of pushing and shoving to get the bikes over the soft sand and down to the beach for our ''race''...... We laid out a course on the hard sand very close to the water, lined up, someone said GO and we ran for the first marker.
When you have a mixture of sand, salt spray, underpowered bicycles and drunk sailors havin' fun and beer it is a dangerous combination. Moon swung wide on the first turn, hit an incoming wave and went head first into the water that was about 3 inched deep. The bike went one way, the helmet another and Moon plunged forward like a torpedo finishing up on his fanny in 3 inch deep water. Moon was ok but the bike had bent handle bars and a front tire that left a track shaped like an ''S''.... Much fun was being had until the police arrived...... OOOPS....
We were read a list of infractions that we had done including the golf course thing and the ''beach racing'' and several incidences where we had been on the ''wrong side of the road'' forcing the locals to dodge us or risk a head on collision. Another slight infraction included driving while intoxicated and shouting obscenities at the Lord Mayor who just happened to be the person with the nine iron back on the golf course. We stood at ''swaying'' attention during the reading of the charges and my friend Bruce threw up on his shoes while Moon turned his back to the police and ''tinkled'' in the ocean after saying ''Scuse me Sir, I gotta GO''. Then he ''passed gass'' real loud after raising his right foot off the sand and kinda giggled. Here is a little note about Moon Mullins. It looked like his head was kinda crooked. One eye seemed to be slightly higher that the other and he had ''buck teeth'' that all showed when he grinned, and he ''grinned a lot'' when he had been drinking. You could not help but love the guy because he was always happy.
The police gave us a ''choice''. Surrender all beers immediately and turn in the bikes immediately, they would escort us back to the rental agency and drop all the charges so long as we agreed to rent no more motorbikes. ''DONE and DONE AGAIN OSSIFER''..........
The next day there was a notice in the Plan of the Day that any person renting and or riding any motor bike/motorcycle would be brought up on charges and face a Captains Mast ….....
The next day some of the guys found out it was also against the law to go ''skinny dippin'' in the pool behind the Blue Beard's Castle Resort and Bar.....
So much for Bermuda............

God bless our troops and keep them safe ….

rmmpe · 10-19-2011, 11:01 AM

Ohmigosh, do I remember Bermuda.

Renting Zundapp scoots was a big fun deal until you got tanked and forgot what side to drive on. Especially in the 'round-abouts'.

I was in a chug-a-lug contest with some Brit Sailors assigned to a Frigate moored in Hamilton. Although I lost track of a few hours I clearly remember waking to the 'Whoop-whoop-whoop' sound the Royal Navy ships make when leaving port.

Fortunately, the Skipper was a good guy and maneauvered back close enough to the quay I could get back ashore.

Who was it that said "A Sailor and salt water could screw up a soup sandwich"?

mick · 10-20-2011, 07:25 AM

Lets get this one out there.........................

USS NORTON
9000
Sor 520

From: Commanding Officer, U.S.S.NORTON
To: Chief, Bureau of Ships
Subj: Urinals; height of
1. In a recent exchange of correspondence between Commander, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Chief, Bureau of Ships, the Commander, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard on the basis of complaints by U.S.S. NORTON and U.S.S. REEVES (DLG-24) concerning ship sanitation, recommended that in future ship construction the urinals be installed at a height of 26 inches above the deck rather than the specified 23 inches. In response to the recommendation, the Chief, Bureau of Ships stated that the evidence cited did not justify a departure from the approved specifications on the height of urinal installation.
2. Since the original recommendation was made partly on the basis of complaints by NORTON personnel and since there is an indication that NORTON'S complaint was not adequately justified, NORTON has caused a more thorough inquiry into the facts.
3. A survey of ship's company has revealed that the tallest man in the crew is 6'6" and the shortest is 5'4". In a dry run, these two men have been posed at the urinals, at their present height of 23," and it has been determined that the tallest man has 15 inches clearance and the shortest 4 inches. Although NORTON completely concurs in the desirability of fully documenting its recommendations it is considered that photographs may be, in this instance, omitted. At any rate, it may be seen from the above figures that even the shortest man in the crew would still have one inch clearance if the urinals were mounted 3 inches higher. Let there be no thought that there is anything wrong with NORTON'S marksmanship. We can hit them, but it must be realized that the longer the drop in flow, the higher the head and consequently the greater the splash. Splash is the nemesis of sanitation.
4. From NORTON'S measurements and from information gleaned from the almanac that the average height of the American male is increasing, it is clear to NORTON that the urinals are too low and should be raised. It appears that the fault lies in the change in the type urinal and possibly the change in height of the average man since the specifications were written, and that there is no truth to the rumor that the man in BUSHIPS in charge of writing specifications for urinal heights is a midget and short coupled at that.
5. A change in specifications for future ships is earnestly recommended.
/S/
P.A. LILLY, Jr.
Copy to: PSNS, Brem. Wash.
CO, USS NORTON