Popeye's Sea Stories
- Thread starter bd popeye
- Start date
I bet, so a little "rock and roll", and a snoutful of "ooohh that smell?? love to smell that smell??",,, I'll never forget the harbor at Naha,,, my Ma would say it "stunk", I thought it smelled great!
anyway, being back on the seven seas had to bring those massive brain cells back into focus?? and no doubt the crew quarters on the "Love Boat" looked like "officer country"???
A few days ago someone we knew mentioned they were going to Hawaii. I told my wife .."Hawaii? I've been there 10 or 12 times"..she says.." but you did not get to see anything..you had to stay on the base."...we were not married when I served. I stated "I've seen all the sites on Oahu. We had liberty off base. In 1982 we ,VS -33, went there six times under a CNO special project."
But this conversation did bring to my remembrance several times when a ship I served aboard went to a port and we had no liberty.
The list;
Athens GR (Piraeus)1972. USS John F Kennedy (CVA 67). We just made a one day stop to pick up Midshipmen for their summer cruise.
Mayport FL(Jacksonville) 1973 USS John F Kennedy (CVA 67)..No liberty off base. We were only there six hours or so to off load about half the air-wing.
Augusta Bay Sicily IT. 1973. USS John F Kennedy (CVA 67) No liberty. This was called a Fleet anchorage for the Sixth Fleet
Naples Italy 1973. USS John F Kennedy (CVA 67) No liberty..Cholera outbreak...or so we were told.
Souda Bay Crete GR. 1973 USS John F Kennedy (CVA 67) No liberty. another fleet anchorage.
Keelung Taiwan...USS Midway 1974..no liberty because where we had to anchor was a 45 minute boat ride to shore and the water was somewhat choppy. We pulled up anchor and went on to Subic Bay RP.
Norfolk VA...USS America (CV 66) 1981. No liberty. The CO said the ship was dirty, it was,..clean it up! We were at Pier 12 at NAVSTA Norfolk. The ship got under way and anchored in site of shore in Hampton Roads! Plus we had a three day fast cruise. At that time Norfolk VA was America's homeport.
Port Said Egypt..USS America (CV 66) 1981. No liberty. The ship was waiting permission the transit the Suez Canal.
Nuff said...
But this conversation did bring to my remembrance several times when a ship I served aboard went to a port and we had no liberty.
The list;
Athens GR (Piraeus)1972. USS John F Kennedy (CVA 67). We just made a one day stop to pick up Midshipmen for their summer cruise.
Mayport FL(Jacksonville) 1973 USS John F Kennedy (CVA 67)..No liberty off base. We were only there six hours or so to off load about half the air-wing.
Augusta Bay Sicily IT. 1973. USS John F Kennedy (CVA 67) No liberty. This was called a Fleet anchorage for the Sixth Fleet
Naples Italy 1973. USS John F Kennedy (CVA 67) No liberty..Cholera outbreak...or so we were told.
Souda Bay Crete GR. 1973 USS John F Kennedy (CVA 67) No liberty. another fleet anchorage.
Keelung Taiwan...USS Midway 1974..no liberty because where we had to anchor was a 45 minute boat ride to shore and the water was somewhat choppy. We pulled up anchor and went on to Subic Bay RP.
Norfolk VA...USS America (CV 66) 1981. No liberty. The CO said the ship was dirty, it was,..clean it up! We were at Pier 12 at NAVSTA Norfolk. The ship got under way and anchored in site of shore in Hampton Roads! Plus we had a three day fast cruise. At that time Norfolk VA was America's homeport.
Port Said Egypt..USS America (CV 66) 1981. No liberty. The ship was waiting permission the transit the Suez Canal.
Nuff said...
1975...At NAS Alameda there was a basketball league. Hancock had a team so did the Enterprise. There was a game between the two ships. Naturally the Hanna team was beating the tar outta the Big "E" team. Late in the game Big"E" sailors started hurling insults not at Hannas team but at the Hanna itself.
..Calling her old and tired. Broke down busted and disgusted
...That she was. Hancock sailors just pointed at the scoreboard
...Then the Big"E" sailors really started some name calling..such as referring to Old "Fightin' Hanna" as the "Handjob"
..
That was the wrong thing to say. Needless to say some Hancock sailors decided to take matters in their own hands and lived up to the name "Fightin' Hanna"
. It was a small scirmish involving no more than 5 or 6 shipmates...Order was quickly restored. Cooler hesds prevailed and Hanna won the game.
But by the next day, according to MDI (Mess Deck Intelligence), the fight had turned into a riot at the gym. the BS was really flying over that one..yep that was the real Navy..back in da' day.
That was the wrong thing to say. Needless to say some Hancock sailors decided to take matters in their own hands and lived up to the name "Fightin' Hanna"
But by the next day, according to MDI (Mess Deck Intelligence), the fight had turned into a riot at the gym. the BS was really flying over that one..yep that was the real Navy..back in da' day.
Popeye, my son-in-law has now been in for 16 years. Four more to go. He is now a full Lt. He hopes to make Lt. Cmdr. before he retires and may stay on until he does.
His sea duty now is on the USNS Mercy out of San Diego. He's been deployed twice on her and may do it one more time.
Before, he served for nine years on the USS Ohio SSGN. He was deployed many times on her and ended up an E-6 and was about to get his E-7 and become a MCPO before he took the Navy's offer to become an officer. They paid for three years of schooling at his E-6 rate the whole time with a living allowance, and then commissioned him an Ensign. He's advanced two grades since then.
We're real proud of him.
His sea duty now is on the USNS Mercy out of San Diego. He's been deployed twice on her and may do it one more time.
Before, he served for nine years on the USS Ohio SSGN. He was deployed many times on her and ended up an E-6 and was about to get his E-7 and become a MCPO before he took the Navy's offer to become an officer. They paid for three years of schooling at his E-6 rate the whole time with a living allowance, and then commissioned him an Ensign. He's advanced two grades since then.
We're real proud of him.
I'm reposting these pics because of the photobucket purge....from deep within the popeye archives!!!!!!!....AAARRRVVV!!!!
bomb farm aboard JFK August 1973
Air Missile Division aboard JFK in September 1972. I'm to the far left looking across the space.
Popeye taking a break aboard JFK in May 1973.
AO3 Armenta in the bomb farm aboard Midway summer of 1974.
USS Midway(CVA 41) island summer of 1974
bomb farm aboard JFK August 1973
Air Missile Division aboard JFK in September 1972. I'm to the far left looking across the space.
Popeye taking a break aboard JFK in May 1973.
AO3 Armenta in the bomb farm aboard Midway summer of 1974.
USS Midway(CVA 41) island summer of 1974
I was stationed at NAS Cubi PT Republic of the Philippines from August 1975 until October 1977. I'm not sure but it was perhaps in late '76 or early '77 we saw an A-&E Corsair II crash at Cubi.
It was on a Friday if I remember correctly we we standing around waiting for our paychecks. For some reason they were late that day. This is before direct deposit. Anyway our shop was on a hill and overlooked the runway. VA-56 & VA-93 were at Cubi Pt transitioning from A-7Bs to the E model. Those squadrons were assigned to CVW-5 aboard Midway in Japan. Why the transition did not take place in Japan I'll never know
So we were tooling around mumbling and grumbling watching the A-7s do touch and go's. We saw a stray A-7 pummeling from the shy. We were told he was going about 550 knots. Just before he hit the ground the pilot ejected. He landed safely ..sort of. He broke both his legs. When the plane hit the ground is was disintegrated. There was not a piece of that aircraft that wasn't shredded. The fire was quickly extinguished.
It was on a Friday if I remember correctly we we standing around waiting for our paychecks. For some reason they were late that day. This is before direct deposit. Anyway our shop was on a hill and overlooked the runway. VA-56 & VA-93 were at Cubi Pt transitioning from A-7Bs to the E model. Those squadrons were assigned to CVW-5 aboard Midway in Japan. Why the transition did not take place in Japan I'll never know
So we were tooling around mumbling and grumbling watching the A-7s do touch and go's. We saw a stray A-7 pummeling from the shy. We were told he was going about 550 knots. Just before he hit the ground the pilot ejected. He landed safely ..sort of. He broke both his legs. When the plane hit the ground is was disintegrated. There was not a piece of that aircraft that wasn't shredded. The fire was quickly extinguished.
On Midway were were in Busan in April of 1974. The ship hadd get underway because of a heavy storm stranding about 2500 Midway sailors in Busan! The US Army has a base on Busan and the word was past muster up on the base and you will get paid! And pay us they did! Our regular pay was flown from Midway just a few miles out to sea and SH-3G Sea king helo flew our pay in. I think our pay was limited to $50 ot $100 bucks. Something like that. The next day the same thing happened. I did not get any pay. I did not need it. Finally on the third day Midway returned to Busan. We got back to the ship. I figured those shipmates that got stuck on Midway would get relieved and go ashore. Nope. The duty sections weren't changed at all! So I took a shower grabbed some cash from my locker and went on liberty again in Busan ROK...can you say Texas street?..44 years ago when all my body parts worked without the aid of modern pharmaceuticals.
ps..in '74 Busan was known as Pusan..look it up!
ps..in '74 Busan was known as Pusan..look it up!