30 military cadets hurt in West Point pillow fight

The benches must have been in shops on board some where during your time.
My bird was the EA-6B...4 seat version of the A-6 that did electronic counter measures...I am sure you had them on board, they helped protect the carrier group. The vans that were on board were not my squadrons...they stayed with the ship I believe. I used to go up to Norfolk and do work ups on the equipment on different carriers to get them ready for a Navy EA-6B squadron that would be doing the cruise...they were all stationed at NAS Whidbey Island, Wa...so it was easier to send up the jarheads from MCAS Cherry Point to do the work up...got to do the shake down cruise on the Teddy Ro when she was brand new...big damn ship...made the America look like a WW II carrier.

I think electronics upgrades on planes prompted the change. The ship only has so many spaces and in 1980 it was getting crowded enough LOL. The Vans make sense. Nothing would be back there in the way of parked aircraft etc to worry about. In 1980 I went to literally ever space easily accessible on the ship doing Fire Dept walk throughs. I've even walked underneath the old girl LOL and inside a boiler to the base of the stacks once. The permanent Fire Dept Division began in 1979 as we went into overhaul and was made permanent. But it was T.A.D. pooled from all departments except probably Air.

An opportunity for making upgrades aft electrically and electronically likely were happenstance events taken advantage of since an upgrade or replacement had to be made on an electrical switchboard down in # Main. The DFT line {feed water line] from the tank to boilers ruptured into #5 switchboard and literally melted it. That was before we went into overhaul. We were out qualifying some squadrons and she blew. We lost three main and that switchboard until overhaul. That would have been for power Aft as Three Main was the most aft Boiler room just past the offset in the passageway near the log room on second deck. With a new switchboard would probably come more capacity and power routed up to the Vans in a future three month yard period.

A light just went off in my brain. I think I know what you are talking about now. I do remember something :>} Private reply in a few minutes.

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