Posted on 11/06/2017 6:49:06 PM PST by blam
From Wiki
In the US Navy or US Coast Guard, the billet of first lieutenant describes the officer in charge of the deck department or division, depending on the size of the ship. In smaller ships that have only a single deck division, the billet is typically filled by an ensign; while in larger ships, with a deck department consisting of multiple subordinate divisions, the billet may be filled by a lieutenant commander.
My grandfather was a lieutenant commander at the time. He was the oldest man on the ship, was in his forties. He had retired from the Navy in the Twenties. Volunteered the night of Pearl Harbor and the Navy had him teaching ROTC due to his age. He requested combat posting since he was an academy graduate.
I’ve been on an Iowa class (USS New Jersey) during the Vietnam conflict when she came into Subic, and being an altar boy, I went aboard with a chaplain to perform Mass.
Those guys treated me like gold (sailors always seemed to treat kids well) and I remember after mass we went down to the mess deck, and they said I could have anything I wanted...I said I wanted jelly donuts...:)
The cook brought me out a plate with about a dozen piled high...and I ate all of them!
They gave me a tour of the ship, and I remember going into that exact compartment...the hatch to the outside was probably two feet thick, and I gaped at it...I had never seen anything like that...a big, wedge shaped hatch two feet thick (I think!)
I remember going with a friend down to the pier where she was tied up, and there was a Marine with a weapon (M14 or M1 maybe) standing at parade rest at the bottom of the gangway.
Being the wise guys we were, we tried to get him to break his stare and respond, even ran up and poked him in the belly, but no dice...he refused to even blink!
I think we were lucky not to get a gun butt...:)
Maybe little Kimmy Un won the toss and elected to receive?
5.56mm
ah yes, the perks of being an AB... i lived a block from the church so always got called when somebody dint show up, but i always got first call on weddings!
from the depth of the lookout ports, it prolly was two feet thick
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