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On the Road Again - CONCORD breakaway tune from the early 80's (song will play only one time).
LTJG Robert Devins (71 - 74) I remember LTJG Sam Boger falling asleep on the midwatch,
while standing up! The bill to his watch cap was curled up from leaning against the window on the bridge! Also remember
throwing LTJG Scott Keeney's coffee mug over the side every time we went through the Straits of Gibraltar - Great Tradition!
HM3 Ed Dombrowski (79-83) I remember the LaSalle fire at pier 4 NOB. We "Just"
got back from Gitmo for training so we were very up on what to do. I responded with
several others in response to the fire. It started from welding slag amidship while LaSalle was taking on fuel. Concord was moored behind LaSalle on pier 4. I remember seeing an MS or a mess-crank opening a watertight around the 04 level and shutting it quickly, like in a silent movie comedy. Nothing but smoke with just a hint of a orange glow. The OOD called it and we got the P250 going and attemped to contain the fire. Someone went around the fire early to pier 5 for help. The Iwo Jima was moored there and I was told later the Master chief on watch refused to provide us AFFF or render any other assistance, dink. The rest of us continued to spray the foam as Concord began to ease off the pier and out in the harbor, leaving us behind. Totaly black in smoke was the area. We had an exit to the water if needed but, to our good fortune, fire trucks showed up; fire contained. No thanks to us on the peer. And, who was the officer who got up in the fire for what reason, I don't know. Did he get a NAM or something for getting smoke inhalation? If anything he was a casualty. I remember DP2 Tom Hansen was the MOOW and I think he went to the Iwo Jima for help or, perhaps he may have been with our fire party. RM2 Marty Soder (83-87) Lots of sea stories; mostly related to Naples and associated
night spots but a couple that come to mind from shipboard life that all of us should remember; The "bunny tube"
wars we used to have with the OS's; Sinking the buoy on the way back into Norfolk. Didn't we have a ship's Christmas
card with the #3 buoy on it? I'll never forget the time they started selling woks in the ship's store. An SK
opened a "Benny Hanna's" over Hold 3 cooking bacon!
DP3 Peter Knapp (83-86) I'll never forget the time they started selling woks in the ship's
store. An SK opened a "Benny Hanna's" over Hold 3 cooking bacon!
ET1 Danny Huff (72-76) The ETs' had refer hole for Romeo evolution of breaking
out stores for customer ships. As part of the duties (and as any good sailor would do) the products available were sampled
to insure freshness. Chuck "Boom Boom" heeler delivered about half case of gourmet apples to radio central. As he
sat'em down he noticed an officer with his back to Chuck --- just as Chuck sat them down.As Capt. Esterling turned around
to see what was going on --- Chuck reached in the case, pulling huge red apple out and offered it to the Capt.From almost
that day on --- when a long period Unrep went on -- case of apples delivered to bridge for all to eat.
SK3 J.H. Gesling (84-87)I remember the cruise of 86, I was driving a forklift on station
when that ship lost steering, we where in pretty heavy seas. That cable for unrep took off like a fishing line. The deck supervisor
told us to hit the deck becuase that cable was going to snap.
I remember Cheif Kruse, I started out in the s-2 division running the DLR cage in hold-5, then moved to s-1 as asistant financial storekeeper I think I worked for SK1 Hamilton and Chief Kruse, you were great to work for. SKSN Robert Lohmann (71-75) Can't remember exactly what Med cruise it was; partying
hard in Naples I believe. Concord had to pull an emergency exit to retrieve a sailor who had a heart attack aboard a sub.
Leaving us stranded there including the Captain. Extremely long night waiting for the helos to come and retrieve us. It was
an experience I won't forget flying over the ocean for what seemed like hours with a hang over. Do it all again to see some
of my old friends.
LT Clayton Hayden (78-81)Also remember the
coup while we were in Alicante. A bunch of us were ashore hauling as many sheets into the wind as possible, and thought the
recall was a joke until reminded the second time by SP and watching the news on Spanish TV in the bar.And Geoff, I remember
the several-day approach into Palma with the worst seas I ever saw in the Med. Somewhere at home I have pictures of green
water breaking over the first M-frame. I also remember the Bosun "roping" a wild and loose forktruck by jumping
onto it after it speared through the bulkhead next to sick back.There are many days that I miss the time on Concord!
LT Peter Gregory (90-93) Being my first
sea duty I was behind the power curve, with all the Navy traditions of breaking in the "new guy". The ship's 1st
LT (an SOB if there ever was one) had me convinced the mail-bouy watch was the most important activity any given week. So
I dressed up in my deck-gear, stood out there on the foc'sle awaiting the mail-plane to come by so I could catch the weekly
mail. I learned the ropes rather quickly from there. I could tell some tales about the old AFS-5, but best to leave those
at sea.
LT Geoff Easter (79-81) I'll
add my two cents worth to the Alicante coup story. I was Shore Patrol officer on the night in question. I remember the Captain
calling me up to the bridge (which was unusual) and telling me that the Guardia Civil was staging a coup and that I was to
find all of you people on liberty and get you back on board safely. We did not have a vehicle to work with and we walked around
Alicante for hours that night checking bars and restaurants. Nearly wore out a pair of shoes! Some of the liberty party went
to ground so well that we didn't see them until late the next day. We listened to the Guardia firing into the air to emphasize
their curfew while we were out and about. They didn't bother us as they realized we were trying to get our people out of the
way.
Do any of you remember the mess we had going into Palma for two weeks? The OOD turned us into the troughs to enter port about 0300 and we started taking 30 degree rolls. The mess that made took the storekeepers the whole port call to clean up. They were not happy! AB1 David Imlay (73-75) I was there at that time and
it was in 1974 mede cruise. I also remember that we went fishing and we caught a ell off the fantail had some fun with it
by tying someone up on the fantail and setting the ell on him and telling him it was a electric ell. I was wondering if any one remembers the helicopter crash that happened off the side of the ship. Or does any one have a cruise book from 1973-1975 it is in the front of the book if someone would email me that it would mean alot. airdaledave@inbox.com . Thanks God bless all. QM3 Chuck Totten (68-71) Usually, as QM1, I drive during
transfers, but this time I was on deck watching. The helo picked up cargo to transfer to another ship. The helo
just fueled up and hovered over the fantail ready to pick up a full cargo net of stores. He was able to pick it up but
you knew he was in trouble. He pulled off the deck and went hard over to port, dropped the net, and landed upside down
in the water. The amazing part was that the crew was out of the bird and floating in less than 10 seconds. I couldn't
believe how fast they exited that helo. What an amazaing sight that was. Many more stories were had on the "grape". BM3 Gary Sterner (70-72) Please forgive me because
this was a long time ago. I don't remember if it was 1971 or 1972, but we were at the end of our "Med Cruise",
tied up at Rota, Spain counting the minutes until the USS Sylvania would arrive to relieve us. I was standing on the
fantail watching the tugboats bring Sylvania up the channel. Suddenly they start blasting away on their air horns.
The tugs have lost control and she is headed straight for us. I was frozen and couldn"t move and she slammed into
us. It was the most incredible thing I have ever personally witnessed in my life. Concord sustained very little
damage but Sylvania lost everything on their port side from the motor whale boat on back. Beside that incident, I sure had
fun during my time on board. I remember during UNREPS we flew a flag that said "Giant Open Air Supermarket" HT2 Charles "Chuck" Thomas (77-78) I was
on 1200-1600 watch in the log room. An SK from hold 5 came charging into the log room in a panic. Thomas! there is flooding
in Hold 5. I walked with him to the lowest level of Hold 5 and sure enough there was about an inch of water on the deck. I
reached down and tasted it. It was potable water. I walked back to the log room,opened the chart and sure enough,there was
a potable water tank below the hold. I called main control,MM2 Johnson picked up the phone. John, are you making water? Yea.
Can you shift to another tank,youre flooding hold 5? Yea,let me shift now. I said, take a little suction on the tank to bring
the water down.O.K. Tom.We hung up and I started to make the entry into the daily log. About that time,crashing through the
door comes the DCA. (LTjg William F. Barnes). A good man and a really good officer. It was obvious that he had just been awakened
from a nap. THOMAS! there is Flooding in hold 5! Yes sir,I have contacted main control and they have shifted tanks,and
are taking a suction on the tank below hold 5. THOMAS, I REALLY NEED TO KNOW THESE THINGS! Yes sir, I just didnt have time
to call you. RM1 Lester Solomon (82-86) After initiation to RMC,
on the way back from the med, i had to bunk with the master chief(Chick). Talk about being nervous the way back to norfolk. I recall one night, while we were in Ibiza spain, he came back so drunk that when he tried to take his clothes off, all his coins went rolling about the state room. He tried to wake me up to help him find his coins at 4am, but i pretended to be asleep! E4 Bruce Lewis (84-87) Soooo many,
but one in particular is when we were at an unrep and the other ship lost stearing. Due to great teamwork, bridge was able
to avoid a "collision at sea". I was a phone talker.
I "cranked" in the Chiefs Mess and Master Chief Cheeks, the best CMC to date was KING. The only music that the Chiefs were "allowed" to listen to was country music. Every now and then a Chief would have the "courage" to put in music, but not often. Master Chief ran a tight ship! He didn't take crap from nobody, even the CO! One day a SCPO threw all of the Chiefs ballcaps overboard because he was tired of finding them all over the place! LOL. Of course he had to replace them all. That same SCPO retired, but within a year was returned and we had a "Burial at Sea" for him. I can't remember his name, but sure can remember the face. Steel beach picnics were the best! Boy, did I see the world. I did 5 med cruises. My first port visit coming out of Indiana was RIO!!!! Need I say more. I will never, ever, ever forget my shipmates from 84-87 and my experiences onboard the USS CONCORD (AFS-5) HMC Joe Vitelli The hat thing in the Chief's mess
was Senior Chief Larry Webb. A tear in my eye as I read and remembered that. At the funeral ceremony we all threw
our ball caps overboard. I can also remember Larry smoking a cigarette while doing PFT up and down ladders.
To this day if I hear the song "my bucket's got a hole in it" all I can think about is BMCM Chick and the rest of the Chief's mess. SKSN Gordon Meyer (90-92) The USS Concord was the first
ship that I served on when I was in the Navy. It was a great time for me. I remember GITMO... and being there for her last
Med Tour before she was changed over to be USNS... I did not understand how much I actually missed her and the pride that
had grown in me until I was on my second ship, USS Inchon (LPH-12) in the Med and there she was... The USNS Conord sailing
out there in the open water. Seeing her steam along actually brought tears to my eyes and somehow I understood that was the
last time that I would actually get the chance to see her in my life. I am sure that I will not see her again but I am never
going to forget the pride and love that I have for her and all of my shipmates.
SKSN James Gollinger (73-75)
I remember our training at the GITMO base in cuba. One afternoon a small group of sailors were fishing while the ship was tied up in port. There were two members of the crew from American Somoa aboard who caught a fish and began to eat it while the fish was still alive! This caused quite a reaction and to put the icing on the cake they asked if anyone had any salt as they said "it tastes better with salt." YN3 Gannon (79-83)
Hey DP3 Johnson, you are right it was a military coup in Alicante Spain, I was out there with, MM2 Armando Gomez,SN James Brown, PN3 Frank Vinas and MM3 David Karue. We were also told to get back to the ship by SP. But instead we chose to go into another bar (typical huh). When we left that bar," after being told to report back to ship for the second time", We were approched by three Alicante Soldiers and were asked for our ID's. SN Brown told them to go to hell and one of the soldier reached back and slapped him across the face. We all produced our ID's real quick after that. After they told us to leave we ran back to the ship as fast as we could.. As for the hash that was stolen. Some one had gone over the false celing from the T&E room into the MA's office cut the hasp off the safe with a portable cutting torch put the torch in a trash can and tossed the torch over the Aft part of the ship but left the trash can there. When I went to open the MA's office the next morning I noticed the the lock cut and notified MAC Zinchuck. P.S The Hash was found on the Helo deck by an Airman frrom the Helo Det. and was turned in the night before. MM3 Tom Barron (68-69)
CONCORD was the first ship to have the AOS system on her main engine. The idea, (I surmise) was to eliminate the need for an E-2 to run around and do readings. So ... the thing didn't work worth a damn. Instead, it took three electronics (E-4's and 5's) to take care of this magic box. The computers back when Concord was built were kind of primitive. Each seperate gague being read required it's own card.. which set back the government something like three hundred bucks a pop. And pop they did. Every single watch I ever stood in the engine room, the teletype (and IBM selectric typewriter) would start chattering out and if it wasn't just a single alert, it would keep typing and the SOP was to reach over and shut it off. The cards, when they'd go bad, would cascade the whole system and it would all go into alert status. We were down in Gitmo undergoing shake down training and I was a talker. We had the IBM and were ignoring it, but for some reason, I looked down and there was a number out that I didn't recognize and it turned out we hadn't turned the lube oil cooler on to one of the ship's service generators. Hmm.. pointed it out to the engineering officer and we had to stop our drill and do the real casuality. Well, we got through Gitmo, but with less than flying colors. Matter of fact, they passed us, but .. We got back to Norfolk and had acceptance and other engineering trials. One of the engineering officers asked, "How in the hell did you ever get this plant through Gitmo?" I shrugged. "Well, every time we had a casuality control drill, we'd have a real emergency and I guess they figured we didn't kill anyone steaming it and so we kinda deserved a break." He gave me this 'what the hell' look, and just then the alarm went off and I checked it and yeah, another damn card fried. He just shook his head. Not fun getting that thing to steam in the early days. I'd come up for lunch and find out it was mid rats. Sixteen, eighteen hour days were the norm. Always wondered what they ever did with that piece of garbage system we had to live with. FTG1 Wayne Hostilo (73-77) P.S. Scuttlebutt was he was a NARC as in those days drugs were quite a problem on our ships. At any rate, once we hit Naples he was escorted off the ship never to be seen again. The angels were watching out for that guy! ET1 Danny Huff (72-76) The
guy that got thrown overboard was either and OS2 or RM2 (can't remember which)and it was 25miles off coast of Malaga, Spain.
He was wearing combat boots and wasn't able to swim and undo the strings. The resue motor whale boat had actually given
up finding him and was returning to the ship (due to extremely heavy fog rolling in). The next AM the ship pulled into
Malaga with NIS agents getting onboard prior to arrival. At some point lie-detectors and interviews were given to several
and one guy was sent to Naples for further interviewing. SK1/SKC Dan Kruse (83-86):
You may recall that there was always a giant sweat-x over the cookies
that had to go in the billing package. The same was true the day of the New Jersey engagement. But when the NJ
CO decided he wouldn't come alongside, Capt. Dougherty got P O'd and insisted that the cookies be removed... Can't
remember if he and the bridge crew ate them or if we had a spare box in stock control. DP3 Darryl Johnson (79-82): EM3 Kevin Canney (79-83): BT3 Herbert Ainsworth (81-85) Kevin, Darryl is right, it was Alicante. We were
all in that little bar and the National Police came in and started running everyone out. There was a lot of machine gun fire
that day. No one knew for sure what was going on for a while there! That was my first Med cruise. The rest were just as memorable.
I can still see the Lasalle burning when I stop and think about it. That was one of the hottest fires I had ever been near. FTG1 Wayne Hostilo (73-77): ET1 Danny Huff (72-76): Please use the form below to submit your sea story/memories here. We'll get them posted ASAP!
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