Wow to all of them.
Was it, or is it, common practice to setup a freaking zip line between 2 moving ships???
Pretty common, I think. First they would send across mail, some other odds and ends, and then they would send a guy over. Think about it, if you are cruising towards a mission or objective, you can’t stop two ships dead to put a boat between them if someone had to get over. Nobody slows down.
I think...that is my interpretation.
Bosun’s chair. It was the way people were transferred between ships then. I don’t believe it is common anymore.
absolutely. For mail.
I spent 20 years in the Navy, retiring in 1998. They still use a high line to transfer supplies between ships, and to hang hoses onto during underway refueling. But for personnel (and a lot of supplies) helicopters are used.
quite an ordinary occurance during vietnam. I was lucky enough to be transferred from USSChemung to the USS Hornet CVS12 my actual duty assignment after boot camp. Boarded the Chemung (oiler) in Subic Bay and rode it til the 2 ships met and replenished at sea. Damn cool experience. (at 18)
“Was it, or is it, common practice to setup a freaking zip line between 2 moving ships???”
LOL! Pard that’s called a “highline” and it’s an everyday special sea and anchor detail.
How else do you unrep or rearm? I know we sometimes used vertrep or vertarm where choppers shuttled the stores/arms tween the supply ship and us. But that was more dangerous but more easy on the ship’s company.
Same with personnel transfer.
No big deal. we did it in the dark under red working deck lights, we did it in storms, we did it in the heat we did it in the ice.
As long as the ships can make way and keep station and the decks are not completely awash we could and did do it.
Usually we HAD to. Don’t want to run out of arms, or beans, or fuel do we?
Sailor power pard, sailor power.
Did six active, four on a Seventh Fleet destroyer Vietnam.