October Islander Mothership Trip Just Announced!

[FISHIONADO]

Originally Posted by Zed

I've almost reached the yakrider, babbling incoherently stage. There's been some great reports from the Tanner (justa 10-15mi jog from Cortez) of big hg yt and even bft on the anchor...

Little trivia:
Anyone reading aboard the USS Enterprise in '85? I'm sure they might have something to say about the Cortez.



From this link:
http://navysite.de/cvn/cvn65.html

Rumor is she knocked off a chunk, so Bishop's rock no longer breaks water at mean low tide --more like Bishop's reef now.

I was a radar technician in Squadron VAW-117 on the Enterprise in 1985. I was in our repair shop on the forward hangar deck when we hit the rock. I never felt a thing. I noticed we were leaning to one side for over an hour but expected we were just going in a big circle, that wasn't unusual when hanging out waiting for aircraft to return. Finally the captain came on the P.A. and told us we had hit a rock, we never had a general quarters. I had heard that we were landing aircraft, they need the ship to be moving into the wind, and that the navigator had warned the captain about Bishops Point. They calculated we could land the last aircraft and then make the turn in deep water. From what I understood we had a 10' tall gash 60' long below the water line. We stayed at sea for several more days and conducted more flight ops, then the ship was sent to Hunters Point for repair. I was surprised when the captain, Leuschner, was promoted to fleet admiral a few years later.

Good luck to all on this trip, wish I could make it.

[bajadog]

Thanks for your service FISHIONADO.

[Zed]

Fishionado, that is EXACTLY what I was looking for. I knew there was someone. Thanks for retelling, and thank you for serving!

"I noticed we were leaning to one side for over an hour but expected we were just going in a big circle, that wasn't unusual when hanging out waiting for aircraft to return."

That is a testament to how huge that ship was. I understand you were on duty, but just how often would you actually see the light of day?

[FISHIONADO]

I don't remember looking oustside that day but I am sure I wouldn't have seen anything, we didn't hang up on the rock, just a glancing blow. The only kelp I ever saw at sea was small floating paddies. I doubt we were in the thick of it, obvious shallow water hazard. There was something about that last aircraft, maybe it had mechanical problems, the ship had to be going into the wind with 30mph wind over the top to land aircraft typically.

I was fortunate and got outside often. My primary job was like a maytag repairman, during a 7 month westpac I had 36 repair jobs where someone from the flight deck would determine which radar box had failed and send it to me to repair. Most would take 1 hour or less. With high power radar you could often smell your way to the failure. The other Hawkeye radar tech got busted for weed in Hawaii so I was the only one for 6 months, they couldn't send me off to work in the mess halls or toilet repair like most new sailors on the ship. I filled my time by volunteering to work with the flight deck electronic techs, supporting ship-to-ship material transfers, watching betamax movies , and playing guitar. Embarrassing duty compared to the folks serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Much respect to them.

[Handymansd]

Dave.....!


No Pun Intended!

[Zed]

Yarrr, maybe we can plunder some wenches, while we're in the area.

[dgax65]

Originally Posted by FISHIONADO

I was a radar technician in Squadron VAW-117 on the Enterprise in 1985.
I was surprised when the captain, Leuschner, was promoted to fleet admiral a few years later.

Enterprise was the Teflon ship. Rocky Spane's career also survived an Enterprise grounding (he retired as VADM)

My division's (RC-11) berthing compartment was directly over one of the voids that flooded because of the grounding. I heard stories of them sounding the void and never hitting bottom

She's a tough ship. If she could survive multiple MK-82 detonations on the flight deck

a little thing like hitting an undersea mountain wasn't going to stop her.

[Zed]

When was that, dgax?

I saw something else pre/during ('63 guess) Vietnam where one of the F4 turbine blower's --AKA Huffer-- (a mobile starter to get the plane's turbine moving) exhaust cooked one of the F4's rockets causing a chain reaction, including 500#bombs going off on deck.

The planes in your pic seem to be F14's and maybe an A8, definitely post F4.

[dgax65]

Those are A-7 Corsair with their wingtips folded. It makes them look a little like a twin tail F-14. The Enterprise flight deck fire (the big one) was in January 1969. More info: http://navysite.de/cvn/cvn65.html

I think the Forrestal fire is the one you are referring to. A start cart set off a Zuni which hit fueled and armed A-4 Skyhawks on the opposite side of the deck.

The Navy suffered three major carrier fires in the late sixties: Oriskany in '66, Forrestal in '67 and the Enterprise in '69. Lessons learned from those fires were incorporated into new damage control procedures, equipment and training. All of the subsequent flight deck fires have been extinguished much more rapidly and with far fewer casualties.

[Zed]

Yeah, my bad.

But thanks for the great info. RIP to those lost in the fires.

[bajadog]

McCain almost cashed his chips in on the Forrestal.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?...2C%20forrestal

[Holy Mackerel]

Who is on this trip? I just signed up!

ROLL CALL!!!!!!!