"Mike Weeks" wrote in news:1134869758.758012.317070
@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:


Dave in San Diego wrote:

the stealth transit - don't leave out the man overboard that made it
into Approach some time later. That kid was SO lucky!

What's the basic outline?

He and a couple of buddies were horsing around on the flight deck in the
dark aft of El 3 and he got too close to the edge and went over. Not sure
why he missed any nets. And when I say dark, there were only the deceptive
nav lights on and a few well guarded red flashlights for the little work
that could be done on the flight deck. Starlight was the major light
source, and little of that.

Somebody saw him go into the water and immediately got the man overboard
going. Other folks started dropping flares into the water to attempt to
track him. The boat lit up like the Fourth of July, they launched the helo
and did the other standard MOB stuff. The kid was an outstanding swimmer
and saved his bacon by swimming from flare to flare so he could be seen. A
boat from a small boy ended up picking him up. This whole evolution lasted
about 45 minutes.

After all this, we still managed to successfully complete the deceptive
transit and surprise the Russians up by the Aleutians. They were too busy
watching the "E" coming out of a long yard period.

I can't find the catchy Approach article name in the 80s index, but the
incident happened in late '82, and IIRC, the article was published after I
got to my next duty station in July '83.

Dave in San Diego