Sea stories

[DenverTaco07]

This could be an ongoing thread or just stop with this one post - I wrote it specifically because I was reminiscing about how awesome the night sky was on a warship when in the middle of the ocean, no lights etc. but maybe it can be a sea story thread?

ok so here's what I was writing:

So I'm sitting outside tonight, its a great night for viewing the stars, new moon and all. Of course I live near a major city, so it isn't really great, but all things considered it was pretty good, saw a couple satellites roll by.

Got me thinking about my time on the ship, back then I smoked and would go topside to have one.

I remember how incredible it was to step outside, no lights, no moon, IDK couple thousand miles from anything; wow the sky was so incredible the stars saturated the sky like I've never seen before in my life. I mean, i've been to other isolated places since, camping etc., and don't get me wrong it is pretty spectacular too, but really I must say nothing has been as incredible as being topside on a warship in the middle of the ocean, at night.


Anyway - share your stories if you choose - I have a few other pretty good ones, some really good ones that I probably can't post without getting banned, but some good fun ones too.

[Mr Twisty]

... or a planet thread? No warship experience, but I've seen some amazing shows in the Mojave desert, south Arizona and southwest Texas.

If there is life on Pluto, will they be called Plutoniums?

[Jay_LHD3]

I remember doing this at least a hundred thousand times! Plus the green primer and grey paint!



We flew almost every night when we were out to sea. If we couldn't smoke in Crash we would have to run all over the ship trying to find a place.

Also, being on a amphibious assault ship we did all our night ops with NVGs on, which are a hundred times better than what you can buy off the shelf. So every now and then some dumb-ass would open a cat walk door to go out to smoke and the interior light (even red) would bleed outside, blinding the pilots. The pilots would call it in and the Air Boss would yell out a few words you wouldn't say in front of your momma over the 5MC. Then he would send the master-at-arms to the location the pilots said the light was coming from to find the culprits.



The story I'll never forget is our rescue of Capt. Scott O'Grady. We carried about 5,000 Marines on-board and all their gear, so that they could do a beach invasion and setup a post. Hoover crasfts, amphibious tanks, trucks, Harriers, and helicopters to name some of the gear we carried. Well this story starts just after we unloaded everything (~6hrs) in Italy for a training mission. Without reason given the Marines were called back and we were underway. Everything was back on-board in under 3 hours which is extremely fast!

We had to be pushing close to the speed the ship could go when finally the Captain came over the 1MC to say that a pilot was shot down over Bosnia and we were on a rescue mission.

Probably halfway across the Adriatic sea we came upon a large white triangle in the sea. It wasn't till we got close that we could tell it was the bow of a yacht floating in the water and debris floating everywhere. Well we ended up rescuing an Italian family and were back on our way to Bosnia. Only slowing down shortly later to let an Italian coast guard helicopter land to pick up their citizens. Also as we left the yacht one of our smaller ships in the fleet took firing practice on it. I was told this is what you do so no other ship runs into it at night.

Once we got to Bosnia we were there for almost a week as Scott was only turning his radio on for a few seconds each night to let us know he was still out there. That being said each time he turned the radio on we went into manning Battle Stations and Flight Quarters.

On the third or fourth night Scott left the radio on and we were sent in. The rescue was a success. A couple of the helicopters had bullet holes in them from small ground fire. One of the Marines had on a water canteen at the back of his belt and one of the bullets ended up in his canteen. If not for the canteen the bullet would had gone in his back. One of the Ch-53Es belly was caved in. The pilot told us he used his blades to chop down a few small trees to land and ended up landing on a tree stump! You can read about Scott here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_O%27Grady

For the next week or so we flew out reporters and got to reenact the mission. I remember getting back to the States and my family was talking about how cool it was to see the mission on the news. I thought it was funny how the new channels led their viewers to believe they were watching mission footage!

[Muscle Car Lover]

You fellows that have served on warships, I thank you.

Over the last few years I have been infected with the Saltwater Fishing bug, and go as much as I can. I love the Ocean. Love the space and the sounds.

Last year out of Newburyport (looking for bluefish on the 180 line) my friend and I got the scare of a lifetime when an Ocean Sunfish surfaced and flashed his monster top fin right next to the boat. One of the prettiest things I have ever seen.

[bowtie98607]

Being on a small ship. U.S.S. Buchanan (a tin can to those that know). The seas can get quite rough! When my superiors got sick we would get the day off. We would go up to the signal bridge and watch the bow break through the waves. The ways were so big the ship would cut right through. When the waves were about to crash us we would duck behind a sea wall until the water would roll off then we would shake it off and prepare for the next one. Some waves were so big we would completely disappear. The U.S.S. Enterprise would call over " Buchanan are you still there? We can't see you"!

[DenverTaco07]

I was on a small boy too, couldn't have been better IMO, everyone knew each other.

USS Wadsworth FFG-9

Nothing like going thru a tropical storm - luckily in the 90's we had some pretty good weather forecasts so we could go around.

[Denis]

oh man....I can reminisce about nights on the boat for hours...

did 3 westpacs with VFA-113 aboard the Reagan and the Vinson. I also remember how dark it got up there at night. I was always surprised to see a lot of commercial air traffic.



this was Christmas morning 2010

[JamesMyBoy]

Bowtie98607, we ran with the "Big E" quite a bit back in the late 60's.
I was on the USS Ozbourn (DD846), and spent more than a couple years off the coast of Viet Nam.
I remember one time a storm was so bad, there were guys hanging over the deck of the Enterprise throwing up from watching us roll and pitch!
I've got lots of Sea Stories, but now days nobody wants to hear them!

[Bulldog3071]

I was an Infantry Marine on the U.S.S. Tripoli (LPH 10), some fun times on that boat, spent a little time on deck at night, never really took any time to look at the stars, wish I did.

[The Blue Angel]

I was a Quartermaster onboard the USS Spruance DD-963. The worst sea state was transiting the North Sea enroute to the English Channel. I was on watch when we were rolling 60 degrees to port then 45 to starboard!!!! During the transit a sailor onboard a FFG behind us was severely wounded. He was slammed into the bulkhead while transiting in a passageway. Our helo had to wait for us to get in calmer waters to airlift him to a base in England.

[Ragnar]

It was 1977 in Pascagoula, Mississippi and I was 16 years old. My father bought a 16' boat with a 1959 40 hp Evinrude motor. We cranked it at the house and it seemed to run ok. After we got the boat in the water, we warmed it up and everything was fine. Gave it some gas as we pulled from the dock and the motor backfired. As I looked back at the motor, it backfired again and the spark plug blew out and skipped across the water. We put the one oar we had to work and got the back to the dock. I'm glad the tide was coming in, that helped us! My father brought the motor to a shop and got it fixed, we thought!

A couple of weeks later, time for some fishing. This time we get away with no issues and headed to Round Island, that is about 5 miles in the Gulf of Mexico. After a few hours, we had a lot of speckled trout and was heading back in. The motor started slowing down and then died. Spent some time looking things over and my father realized that it was a fuel issue. The motor would run if he squeezed the bulb that was in the fuel line. I call it a bulb, cause I don't know what to call the thing you squeeze in the fuel line. Anyway, the boat would no go very fast so it wouldn't trim out and with the weight of my father in the back, the bow was pointing up! I had a hard time seeing. We were making progress, until I ran over a crab trap. Got the line and crab trap caught up in the prop. Another delay removing the debris. After that it cranked again and off we go.

The motor started running bad again and died. We were in trouble this time . The tide was going out and we still only have 1 oar! We had to to beach ourselves in a swamp by Ingalls shipyard and hope for a passing boat. It was getting late in the day, no boats around! Next idea, is to get out of the boat and walk through the swamp to Ingalls and get help. I forgot to say that the battery in our boat was out of our car, so my dad had to lug that thru the swamp! 1st mud hole that I hit, I sunk up to my waist and had to have help to free myself. My shoes came off and were gone. Then my father lost his shoes, but he still had the battery. We finally made it to an office building covered in muck and was able to use a phone to call my mom. She was so pissed off!!!!!!!!!! She picked us up bitchin, so she could bring us to our car and my dad could put the battery back in. Of course the battery was weak and we needed a jump. Called the coast guard and they towed our boat back to the dock.

Next weekend, my father bought a new Mercury motor, oar, and a dedicated battery for the boat. I have a lot more stories/adventures, but this was something else!

[Ragnar]

Originally Posted by The Blue Angel

I was a Quartermaster onboard the USS Spruance DD-963. The worst sea state was transiting the North Sea enroute to the English Channel. I was on watch when we were rolling 60 degrees to port then 45 to starboard!!!! During the transit a sailor onboard a FFG behind us was severely wounded. He was slammed into the bulkhead while transiting in a passageway. Our helo had to wait for us to get in calmer waters to airlift him to a base in England.

If memory serves DD-963 was the first one built at Ingalls in Pascagoula, Mississippi! That was an awesome destroyer at the time. I used to hang out at the old coast guard station, where a boat launch was, to watch the ships being built.

[DenverTaco07]

I want to tell you about the time I was in Jakarta Indonesia.

























But I can't - Its like trying to remember a hazy dream - I honestly don't know how I made it back to the ship.

[DenverTaco07]

Ok, next one...hmmmm

ok, ok, scene: Portland, Oregan - Rose Festival 2000.

I had previously been to the Rose Festival 2 years prior and had an important thing to attend to (a girl) back in Denver, though short, I took a 3 day leave and flew into Denver. Understandably I didn't need to take a bunch of clothes, I remember i had a garment bag and that's it.

That was a great three days with my French Girlfriend - I'm in the airport looking at the board the flight back got cancelled!!! oh crap, i'm going to "miss ships movement" - a big no no and can get you in some fairly deep sh.t. I'm on my cell phone in the airport calling my Division Officer etc. ok, I smoothed things over, it looks like I may make back just in time I catch the next flight out to portland, no - it must not have been portland cuz i remember renting a car, I lined everything up raced my ass to the river.....CRAP!!!! THERE GOES THE WADSWORTH. OK, shit! but wait, there's still a ship here, not mine, but a navy ship USS Antietam. - Request Permission to come aboard!

Ok, I made it! I'm heading back to San Diego, sure I have no uniform, I'm wearing a hawaiian shirt, board-shorts and sandals...yes, i'm walking around a US Navy Warship in this, but in three days I'm back in San Diego and back on my ship.

WRONG!!! THIS SHIP AINT GOING BACK TO SAN DIEGO, NO NO..ITS HEADED OUT FOR DEPLOYMENT, AHHHHH!!!!

Ok not problem, shoot we have these things called Helo's, and flight decks, no problem right...just fly me over to the Wadsworth yeah...WRONG...what kind of Helo you have Antietam oh...an SH-60 Seahawk, well crap, the USS Wadsworth can't land an SH-60, flight deck to small.

"No problem" says the captain of the Antietam, "We'll lower you down". Oh man..ok, this sounds fun "We'll do it in the morning".

lgith light light, heavy heavy heavy, light light light, heavy heavy heavy...yes, we are now in a Tropical Depresssion, the plan is still on, don't worry about the 30 foot swells - THANK GOD THEY CANCELLED THIS PLAN AT THE LAST MINUTE.

Ok, I'll wrap it up, the next day I flew over to the USS McClusky, not my ship, but one that was actually going back to San Diego.

I spent three or so days on a US Navy Warship, hanging out in CIC (I was an EW2) in beach clothes. It wasn't too bad cuz often civilians are on the ship, so I just pretended I was a contractor. But all the flight planning, the storm, the lowering me down plan (that got cancelled) - the whole situation was just hilarious. Because I kept my command informed and made every effort to get back - and was in good standing after 4 years onboard, there were no consequences except a story to tell.

P.S. sure i could have probably just flown to San Diego, however I was part of the Navigation team, and navigating a long river is no easy task, so they wanted me back for that.