I just meant that I spent my Navy years mostly on station...in the
gulf. The guys in the jungle were the ones who had it bad. We were
fairly lucky. The Big O had a great crew and we only had one or two
mishaps while I was there. The worst was October 26, 1966 when, after
an unrep, some guys were passing magnesium flares hand to hand and one
of the pins came out. That's the story I heard. Whoever had it panicked
and tossed it into the flare locker instead of overboard. Needless to
say, the whole locker went up. It was on the starboard side forward
hanger bay, and at that time no one knew anything about metal fires.
(I've been to fire fighting schools after Navy, and there wasn't any
mention of them until the 1990s or so.) They did the wrong thing: they
hit it with fire hoses. It made it hotter and spread it clear across
the forward hanger bay, effectively cutting off all access to officers
country up forward. Most of the 44 dead were officers. The guy I used
to hang out with was lost as well. Not a really big deal compared to
the losses by the guys on the ground, but it's one of those things that
stays in your memory forever. I was a smoke nut for many years. If I
smelled smoke, I HAD to know where it was coming from. Weird, eh?
From what I heard, the guys who were on her were madder about the
Japanese wanting to buy her to make a museum or something out of her
than they were about them making a reef out of her. They got up a
petition and all, and I guess they won. I sure as h--l wouldn't want
the Japanese to have her. I'm not really sure how the guys feel about
them making a reef of her, but it's sort of neat that you can dive on
her whenever you want, I guess. And you're right: I read that she was
the largest man-made reef as well. We can't keep ALL of them around
forever. Gotta put 'em somewhere.
I haven't burned the one on carriers yet, but I noticed that it is
mostly during the war. The Big O was built in time to make the war,
but, oddly, wasn't commissioned until later. She was a straight deck
Essex class until right before I went aboard when she got an angle deck
and a hurricane bow. We still had a wood insert deck, though, so we
couldn't handle the F-4s, they'd chew it up.
As in most things like that, there were good times and bad times. All
were "learning" experiences.
Wow! Really got windy that time.
Later...
PeggLeg
In article <ap37ua1u8j7g0h8f81vdmdf47j9cmcltr5@4ax.com>, |--Spike=-
<|--Spike=-@Home.Co.UK> wrote:
> On Wed, 26 Aug 2015 13:46:59 -0700, PeggLeg <reply@here.net> wrote:
>
> >I have a feeling that there were a lot more than just me! It looks
> >really interesting. At any rate, Thanks a bunch. I also intend to get
> >the one you just posted on carriers. I was on the U.S.S. Oriskany,
> >CVA-34 in the Viet thing. Should be interesting.
> >Later...
> >
> ===============================================
> The one that they sunk and made into a man made reef ?
> I watched the 'Megastructures' episode on that.
>
> Supposed to be the biggest man made artificial reef at the time it was
> sunk.
>
> I wonder about how the men that used to sail on her feel about her
> fate ?
> Are they proud that she went down like that ?
>
> 'in the Viet Thing' ... I dont think I even want to know what happened
> there. Well... I DO... but, guessing there were too many bad times for
> you to remember :(
>
>
> *******************************************************
> * If The Earth Didn't Suck... We Would All Fall Off !
> *
> *******************************************************
>
> |--Spike=-
|
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