#14. Exactly. Obama’s “Queens Navy”. Can’t remember the SecyNav who was under Obama but he was so bent he couldn’t walk up a gangplank without falling off of it.
Shit. I used to have lunch with Arleigh Burke, Radford, Dan Galley (U505), and one other from WW2/Korea. These were real men, not Ken Barbie Dolls.
Met Middendorf and Adm. John McCain II (CINCOMPAC)and SecyNav Lehman. More real men.
Who the hell is running the Navy today, McHale?
Captain Maylon T. Scott was the commander of my ship, USS Biddle DLG-34, call sign Hard Charger. My home for three years, from ‘67 to ‘70.
It was a very different time, a different Navy.
One of the crew members published a book about it, and has several blog posts. This one is from the decommissioning ceremony in ‘93.
The one lone comment way down at the bottom of the page is mine:
https://ussbiddle.wordpress.com/decommissioning-25/
The last paragraph describes Capt. Scott, alone on the pier as his ship is being towed away:
“Captain Scott departed the ceremonies to attend to personal business, intending to return later for a few last goodbyes. Upon return, he found that all had left except for workmen who were dismantling the tent. Biddle had already been nudged from the pier into the channel and was being towed away to be stripped of her equipment and await her fate. Standing alone and at attention, Captain Scott watched as Biddle slowly disappeared. With one, last silent salute, Biddle faded from sight, but not from the hearts of Captain Scott and the thousands of Hard Chargers who served in the United States Navy’s finest, USS Biddle!”
I feel personal embarrassment over this. I only served 4 years enlisted, many decades ago, but this report still hurts me... makes me wonder what the Hell has happened to the USN.
Where’s Captain Queeg when you need him?