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Carrier Hornet, pt 3 - Gun Director.JPG (1/1)
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Message from a friend on the Hornet in the 60's
I visited the Hornet last year and took a 65 year old Navy Helo swimmer that
was based on the Hornet and he took me to some really cool areas on the ship and the guys let us in some areas not allowed for most..I really got a good history tour by this guy..Here's what he wrote to me later about his experience on the Hornet: Great Stuff! This brings back memories. We were in a task force February of 1964 we went through the edge of a typhoon near the Sea of Japan. We had green water on the flight deck 84' above the water line and white water on the 07 level about 116' above the water line. We lost two aircraft that would not fit below decks in the Hangar bay. A helicopter and a Grumman S-2 tracker. Both of these were double chained down aft of the island but were carried away by heavy seas. We also had 50 feet of catwalk along the starboard side from the bow aft damaged. Numerous antennae and other parts of the ship were damaged. It took four weeks 24/7 in port at Yokosuka, Japan in order to fix the damage. We also saw destroyers at times almost completely submerged with just the radar mast and stacks sticking up out of a waves as they plowed through. Some of the Destroyers took heavy damage and had injured crewman. They could not serve food for the duration of the storm and we had to eat cold rations since the galleys had to be shut down. We heard the Destroyer guys joking after we got into port that they were going to draw submarine hazardous duty pay for the duration of that crossing. Those guys had it tough. On our way to Australia from Japan on a Good will tour I did exchange duty on the USS John S McCain, a Fletcher class Destroyer, and we hit another storm. While this one was not as bad as the typhoon we had to wear safety belt while operating the sonar gear and life jackets with carabiners that hooked onto safety lines throughout the ship whenever we went about our duties. The oceans of the world are an amazing, beautiful and treacherous place. I will never forget my adventures at sea. There are times when I actually miss it. Thanks. JJC He also talked about a Skyraider that landed and the arresting cables were set to a much higher weight aircraft and it tore in two on landing due to the tension on the wires...Crazy times and a crazy business! Marty "Mitchell Holman" wrote in message . 130... |
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