Popeye's Sea Stories

USS Midway...Part II

USS Midway (CV-41) awards... Midway had some serious "fruit salad"..

test bd said:

Midway arrive in Yokosuka 5 October 1973..long before many members of this forum were born. I, Big Daddy Popeye was there!

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GREAT STUFF!

I thought those posts deserved to be in the Popeye Sea Stories Thread.

...and I remember well when the Midway went over there in '73. I was a Jr. in High School and following things even then.

We are just a couple of old papa bears...you old Sea Dog you! LOL!

Yep..we are the papa bears around here....

I remember that first night inport. We could not go off base until 2130(9:30pm) because there was a big demonstration in Yokosuka against the homeporting of CVA-41. At that time the Japanese protesters were very orderly. There was no violence what so ever. Just noisy protesters. The protest was over at 2100 and the protest broke up right on schedule.

That first night I ran into a shipmate that I went to Boot camp with..it was our RPOC (recruit Petty Officer in Charge) . He was waiting to be sent back to the states. He was a bosoun mate and had fallen off the USS Oklahoma City (CGL-5) and severely broken his back. He was considered disabled and was being medically retired.

That was nearly 42 years ago. My how time flies.

USS Oklahoma City was the Seventh Fleet Flagship in those days 40 years ago. ..Man we were jealous of her becaue they hit so many ports..They were the ship selected to show the flag. They were always going places were the natives were friendly..like Manila, Busan, Keelung, Pattaya Beach..etc..etc..Heck they even took a junket to Guam...

On Midway we went to Keelung, Taiwan but got no liberty. Why? At that time the harbor was not deep enough for us to anchor close in. So where we anchored was a 45 minute boat ride into shore. According to the word past no ferry could be hired to take the crew on liberty..cost too much...so we were told....so we went to Subic instead!...then on to Hong Kong...sweet!

back in the day.. long before most of you Padwans were born...

USS Oklahoma City (CG 5) as she appeared in the late 70s.. She was affectionately know as the "Okie Boat"..





Back in the day we brothers had this ditty we sang..

"we da' seventh fleet...the seventh fleet..and we can't be beat!...we can't be beat!...we da' seventh fleet"

back in da' day long before most of you were born....

This is friggin' awesome..13 Battle Stars for the Vietnam War..She was steaming..all the time..actually the Okie boat was originally commissioned in FEB 1944..

test bd said:

USS Oklahoma City (CG 5) as she appeared in the late 70s.. She was affectionately know as the "Okie Boat"..

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Back in the day we brothers had this ditty we sang..

"we da' seventh fleet...the seventh fleet..and we can't be beat!...we can't be beat!...we da' seventh fleet" .

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She was a beautiful ship...a fine example of the Cleveland class light cruisers built during World War II.

I have to say, that the upgrade to her adding the Talos twin-arm launcher and 48 missiles made her a very capable vessel for her time, what with her gun armament and missile armament.

If I remember right, she was a part of Frequent Wind in 1975, right?

She was also the last...and longest serving Cleveland class cruiser. And with a total of 15 battle stars (2 from WW2 and 13 from Vietnam), IMHO, she should have been made into a museum ship IMHO, having served from the 1944 until 1979.

But alas, like with the USS Enterprise, CV-6, it was not to be.

She was disposed of in a SINKEX in 1999 off of Guam.

Yes Jeff she was part of Operation Frequent Wind..

OK City awards..