Amphib decks commanded by SWOs ?

"Yofuri" wrote...

Did you have a "McGrail's Navy" sundeck above the bridge, with chaise lounge,
patio carpet, potted palm, SP phone to the bridge and the SPS radar shut down
when in use? Tripoli did.

Never saw it... Then again, I seldom went near the bridge...

Yofuri wrote in
:

John Weiss wrote:
"Dave in San Diego" wrote...

McGrail was my skipper on the Midway after his Tripoli tour. Great guy.


'Good evening, this is the Captain speaking. The sky is clear, and
sunset coming up soon -- a great day to come up and watch the "green
flash"! Come on up and join me for a FOD walkdown'! [or words to that
effect]

...not to mention the "stealth transit" from Japan to NorPac to join
Enterprise and Coral Maru...


Did you have a "McGrail's Navy" sundeck above the bridge, with chaise
lounge, patio carpet, potted palm, SP phone to the bridge and the SPS
radar shut down when in use? Tripoli did.

Rick

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

McGrail's Navy - no, we didn't have one of those.

green flash - loved those. I must have seen several dozen of them.

Dave

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?

"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

Thanks.

Indeed, he sure kept his cool. And I assume that the water temperature
wasn't "tropicals" given this was in transit north out of Japan.

"Dave in San Diego" wrote in message
. 30...
Yofuri wrote in
:

John Weiss wrote:
"Dave in San Diego" wrote...

McGrail was my skipper on the Midway after his Tripoli tour. Great
guy.


'Good evening, this is the Captain speaking. The sky is clear,
and
sunset coming up soon -- a great day to come up and watch the
"green
flash"!

snip

green flash - loved those. I must have seen several dozen of
them.

Dave

Many years ago, I took a flight from Oslo to LHR.
The day was 'gin-clear' and the aircraft departed Oslo
about local sunset. On attaining cruising altitude the sun had
just set with its upper limb right on the horizon. The flight
tracked westwards at about the same rate the earth
turned east-wards so the sun seemed to hang just below
the horizon. I could clearly see the horizon, a band of black
then a further band of green light- about a quarter of the
remembered sun's diameter - with black sky above.
The flight just happened, due to a combination of heading
and time of year, to almost track down the terminator.
The phenomena was visible for about twenty minutes
before the sun dropped too far below the horizon.
It was the first time I was the green 'flash' as a green
presence.

--

Brian

"Mike Weeks" wrote in news:1134940299.384586.65110
@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Thanks.

Indeed, he sure kept his cool. And I assume that the water temperature
wasn't "tropicals" given this was in transit north out of Japan.

Correct-a-mundo. It was late September, north of Hokkaido. I'm not so sure it
was cool, so much as sheer trror and desperation.

Dave in San Diego

"Brian Sharrock" wrote:


"Dave in San Diego" wrote in message
.30...
Yofuri wrote in
:

John Weiss wrote:
"Dave in San Diego" wrote...

McGrail was my skipper on the Midway after his Tripoli tour. Great
guy.


'Good evening, this is the Captain speaking. The sky is clear,
and
sunset coming up soon -- a great day to come up and watch the
"green
flash"!

snip

green flash - loved those. I must have seen several dozen of
them.

Dave

Many years ago, I took a flight from Oslo to LHR.
The day was 'gin-clear' and the aircraft departed Oslo
about local sunset. On attaining cruising altitude the sun had
just set with its upper limb right on the horizon. The flight
tracked westwards at about the same rate the earth
turned east-wards so the sun seemed to hang just below
the horizon. I could clearly see the horizon, a band of black
then a further band of green light- about a quarter of the
remembered sun's diameter - with black sky above.
The flight just happened, due to a combination of heading
and time of year, to almost track down the terminator.
The phenomena was visible for about twenty minutes
before the sun dropped too far below the horizon.
It was the first time I was the green 'flash' as a green
presence.

Interesting!...you must have been trucking along at just under
1000 MPH ground speed then,...what a/c type?
--

-Gord.
(use gordon in email)

"Gord Beaman" wrote in message
...
"Brian Sharrock" wrote:


"Dave in San Diego" wrote in message
3.30...
Yofuri wrote in
:

John Weiss wrote:
"Dave in San Diego" wrote...

McGrail was my skipper on the Midway after his Tripoli tour. Great
guy.


'Good evening, this is the Captain speaking. The sky is clear,
and
sunset coming up soon -- a great day to come up and watch the
"green
flash"!

snip

green flash - loved those. I must have seen several dozen of
them.

Dave

Many years ago, I took a flight from Oslo to LHR.
The day was 'gin-clear' and the aircraft departed Oslo
about local sunset. On attaining cruising altitude the sun had
just set with its upper limb right on the horizon. The flight
tracked westwards at about the same rate the earth
turned east-wards so the sun seemed to hang just below
the horizon. I could clearly see the horizon, a band of black
then a further band of green light- about a quarter of the
remembered sun's diameter - with black sky above.
The flight just happened, due to a combination of heading
and time of year, to almost track down the terminator.
The phenomena was visible for about twenty minutes
before the sun dropped too far below the horizon.
It was the first time I was the green 'flash' as a green
presence.

Interesting!...you must have been trucking along at just under
1000 MPH ground speed then,...what a/c type?
--

Remember, Gord, time zones are a lot smaller up North - they shrink in the
cold. And OSLO is definitely North!

Bob McKellar

Mike Weeks @

Does anyone have any knowledge (general or otherwise) as to when the
USN changed its policy regarding authorizing surface warfare officers
to command the large amphib decks (the LPHs/LHAs/LHDs) ??
I'm thinking it didn't happen until after the 1970s. TIA.

But, but... We didn't HAVE the Surface Warfare Program in the Sixties...
--
Cliologist, Philanthropologist, Prothonotary Wibbler,
Paleoconservative, Surface Warrior Squid; There are three kinds of
lies: Lies, Statistics & Benchmarks