|
|
HomeBOSTON REUNION "2012"1 MC AnnouncementsQuarterdeck - Ship's Office AccessCONCORD HISTORYCVA Member ListingAbout AFS-5 Vets AssociationMembers Only Access HatchFLIGHT QUARTERSDECK LOGS"Then & Now"Sea StoriesShip's StoreCommanding OfficersLiberty CallJOIN or RENEW CVA!Lucky Bag!PhotosConcord, MA"PAST" Norfolk Reunion 2010Shipmates PoemSINKEX Information!Eternal DeploymentLinks
|
 MMFA Williams (73-76): This is
a photo in my collection. It was taken in the Bay of Naples, 1974. The helo was carring second group of TAD sailor from NAS Naples to the Concord. I was TAD to the USS Donald B Beary DE 1085. I remember the helo crew dropping us by line to the fan tail of the USS Brownson DD 868. Then transferred by motor whale boat to the USS Donald B Beary DE 1085 somewhere in the Eastern Med. Was quite an experience to start sea duty this way, After boot camp in San Diego and A School in Great Lakes.  E-1 to E-5 Jim Kaczmarek (84-88): September 27th 1984 shellback on the way to Rio!
Need I say more.....
MS1 \ MSC Douglas Owensby (82-85): I remember being one of the "Right First Time"
counters in the refers holds. Very cold. Also the time we were almosted hit doing unrep with Capt. Watermen on the bridge.
Came within 10 feet I do believe. The time several walkie talkies were ripped off by a deck seamen. Held up liberty for the
whole crew until he confessed.Made Chief on board her then left two weeks later to join the USS Bainbridge for another two
years of sea duty. Good times. Cheers to all.
AQ2 Richard Rieman (1969): I was in transit on the Concord along with about
200 other airdales from Naples to Pireaus, Greece. This was my first time aboard ship, and we got our first liberty in Naples
the night before getting underway.  SM2 Rodney Cooke (81-84): Ok, I dont know if you are a believer in the Bermuda Triangle or not, personally I
am not. But the following story is true, and I was a first hand witness. It was early in the morning, as I was coming off
of the mid watch, and the seas were calm and visibility was fair. We were headed to Gitmo for refresher training. It
was still dark with a hint of dawn when I got a call from the bridge. Sigs, we have a contact xxxxx yards off of the port
bow, can you identify? Well, I scrambled my little butt up to the BigEyes to have a look but I cannot see anything. I tell
the bridge that I hold no contacts but they insist that there is one out there. This is backed up by CIC who holds the contact
CBDR (any OS s out there knows what this means..Constant Bearing Decreasing Range). Well, things are getting pretty tense
on the bridge as they are unable to contact this ship. Finally they get me to start sending flashing light signals on the
bearing that the contact is coming in at but to no avail. The Captain is called as this contact continues to close on
a collision course. He arrives on the bridge and I will never forget as he looked up to me as I continued to flash signals
in the direction of the contact and said, can you see anything sigs?. Of course I had thought all of this very cool up till
now but now I was starting to worry as I saw the commotion on the port bridge wing along with the concern in the Captains
face. As the contact closed to within a few hundred yards, easily within visual range, it suddenly vanished from the
radar scope. I dont know what it was or if there ever was anything out there but it sure broke the monotony of the transit
from Norfolk to Cuba. This was the first of 4 transits through the Triangle but the only time anything strange happened..believe
it or not!Walt Lawler (73-76): Henderson is right on, I remember the hurricane like it was yesterday. I do not remember NYC, of course I may I may been on restriction. As far as the man overboard, I was the QM on watch at the time, nuff said. I was on the bridge when the cable snapped during the unrep. I wondered what ever happen to my weed! A shout out to Kenny Proctor, Luther Sikes, John Little and Captain Gaskill No regrets RM3 Stephen Harlin (80-83): For those that were there. All I have to say is "On the road again". I just wonder if anyone that served on that tour can hear that song and not remember each break away. Another time in Gitmo almost hitting the pier do to a engine failure. The Iranian ship following us in the IO. The brawl in Sigonella when relieving the Sylvania. The hostages released in Iran. Just wanted to help those memories. Michael Henderson (73-77): I remember the hurricane on the attempted trip to Concord.
Don't remember the 3 days in NYC. Must have been a lot of fun. I was in the supply office
for most of the Concord trip, due the odor and slippery floors in the berthing area. There were about 30 of us in S1 Division,
and only 3 of us were not sea-sick. On one roll, a 6' cabinet full of paper broke loose and crashed onto a desk where a friend
was sitting. He had just turned so his legs weren't between the desk and the cabinet. Someone looking out for
him, I guess. On one unrep, I was manning the SP phones to the destroyer alongside, when they
lost steering and veered off. When the cable gave way, our end landed in a tangle on the deck, dry. No one hurt. When the RM2 was helped over the side that night, the story (as I came to understand it) was that he was a bully
in the radio shop and that was the reason he was targeted. He was replaced for several days by a team of NIS investigators
who talked to just about everybody. No arrests. BTW, the whaleboat hit him during the recovery. He spent
at least one night in the MAAs office off the library where there was a fold down bunk. We all thought it was a miracle
that the fantail watch was awake to throw him a lifering. On my first night aboard there was
a fire called. Turned out to be a pier piling with trash and a cigarette. I remember
the 2 times that the resupply ship offloaded everything in Rota, and we brought it all on board with an E5 and below working
party, 2 sections, 4 hours on, 4 off. Took about 40 hours as I recall. I remember the
MAA who found a baggie of marijuana in a fire hose nozzle. One movie night the XO came on
the 1MC and announced a need for someone who spoke 'turkey'. Within the hour, someone got to another 1MC microphone
and did a terrific tom gobbler gobble. We all enjoyed THAT movie interruption. One night
in Tourmilinos, the wind came up so the liberty launch stopped early. Several of us spent the night in cafe chairs in
an alley, very cold. When a cafe/bar opened, for the farmers market trade, we all trooped over there to get inside.
I took a nap on the table and woke up covered in cockroaches. Much laughter ensued. Got
2nd burns in OPS shower. Steam hot water heater not well regulated. Made QTR deck watch interesting, for a chage. During vertreps, I held the chalk board to tell the pilot where to deliver. For other helo ops, including balancing
props and other maintenance, or mail runs, I was on the bridge manning the SP phone to the tower. The birds didn't spin
without me, but I never got a ride. I remember the SK who built RC model airplanes in the
S1 office after supper. One in particular I recall was a Kavan Bell Jet Ranger with full collective variable pitch.
BM3 Skip King (76-80): I have many good memories of my time on board the Concord.
I was in the Navy from 1976 to 1980. I remember the ship board fire, the presence of KKK members on board, and the robbery
that happened. They did catch the people that robbed disbursing and also the guy that started the fire. They shipped
one member out that was heavy into the KKK at that time. I have to say that the good times far outweighed the negative
things that I remember. I made many great friends and I am still in contact with some of them. It's nice to be
able to catch up with everyone. I wasn't aware of this site until today and I am so glad that I was able to find it.
It would be nice one day to be able to attend a reunion and see everyone in person. I hope I am able to continue to
stay in touch with the guys who served with me during those four years and all others who have served aboard the Concord.
BMSN Mike Blank (74 - 75): I am really thrilled to be a member and was very surprised to find out that WE had a CVA. I have been browsing the web on and off for years for contact with members of the Concord and also looking in military publications for names etc. I hope you won't mind, but bear with me, I would like to tell you a good sea story. I had two very good friends on the Concord, one from Wisconsin and the other from New York. I had a blast with them guys. One was a drinker and liked the party scene the other liked to sight see. I did both, with both at various times and there were occasions we all got together. My fondest memories though were sightseeing, had it not been for this friend, Spain, Italy, France, and other countries may have been a blur. I thought we were close and I know for a fact we relied one each other for support, although one was a little older than me and had been in longer. After I left in 1975, we just drifted apart for the same reasons all us young guys drift apart. After many years of marriage and being in the reserves (maturity I think they call it) I started to really reminisce about those days on the Concord and I had a need to get in touch with my friends. I searched for years calling this person and that person for Steve Coomer from Wisconsin, found him about 7 years ago, he was looking for me too. Got married and wanted me to be his best man, but couldn't put his finger on me because he was looking in the wrong state. Is that a friend or what. When Steve and I parted that day on the phone we agreed we would each search for another friend, Steve would search for Dave from Montana and I would search for our other friend from New York. Well I've been searching for more years now. Every once in awhile I would Google the web for the name Concord and his name too only to come up empty handed. I talked often to my wife of him and once we went to New York for a trip and tried to locate him using various methods, to no avail. Time went on but I always knew I would someday be re-acquainted with him. Then I found the Concord web site, you can imagine my surprise, finally the men of the Concord were organized. I was so excited I couldn't slow my fingers down searching through the various web pages, even locked it up at one time. I was hoping after all these years that my long-lost friend would be part of this CVA. Then, there it was all of a sudden, I let out some sort of war-hoop, tears welled up and my wife came running and ask what was the matter, she was kind of shook up because I was really in tears and trying to speak, and then I said, I found him, here's his picture.....OMG there he was....good looking as ever.....MS2 Larry Gamba, my long-lost friend and even VP of the CVA. I could not believe it. He mentored me on the Concord and I learned allot. I worked for him mess-crankin, I got the good job working with him in the food supply hold. Even tried to strike for SK because it was better than BM work. Didn't like to cook but Larry could and we fine dined many-a-times. Didn't get to strike for SK, division officer was a jerk and he wouldn't sign off on my chit, got the shaft, and eventually got out, but never forgot my friends. I have some more stories to tell, but not enough time. So I'll leave it to this. Larry, since you're copied and I don't know your phone number, give me a call ole buddy and let's get this rolling. If he isn't an avid emailer, please someone call him and tell him to read his email. This is gonna be great belonging to the CVA. Joseph Gimenez (SK2 73-76): I reported to the Concord in Jan of 1973. Of course I said yes
sir to everyone since I was just out of boot camp/"A" school. I was assigned to mess cooking for 4 months (1 for
each year). One of those days I had an arguement with SKSN Schrieber. I was working in the scullery and he was in the Mess
decks. I figured some wop slop on his island would be good payback, I guessed wrong. He put coffee grounds in my scullery
machine. Took quite awhile to get those grounds out of there. Funny thing is we got along good after that. I liked that old
ship.
 Recent Comment from Barry "Buck" Buchanan (ADJ2 69-70): I was a member of HC-6 and TAD on the first deployment to the Ship in 69. I transferred from the Sylvania to the
Concord in Naples Italy on September 14, 1969 and remained on board till the ship returned to Norfolk, VA. on March 17, 1970.
I have been able to contact several of the aircrew personal that is in the picture mentioned by Dave Stasack in the cruse
book. I have just posted the picture and several others to the web site today. I just contacted Lt. Massart by phone in January
and traded memories with him for some time. Dave mentioned that the airdales were the bastard children of the ship, if fact
we had a large patch made up in Naples to commemorate Det-86 and the first cruse on the Concord. On the patch we were identified
as Boltons Bastards. Lt Cmdr Jack Bolton was our Squadron Skipper on board and had to take all the flack from the ships skipper
when we did not play by the rules which was quite frequent. Sorry to say the patch is long gone along with a !
Randy Vick(SK3 69-73)has this memory of a good shipmate who was killed onboard in an accident: I promise not to bother you with a hail of emails, but
wanted to add a name to the Eternal Deployment page. SKSN Terry Lein. Terry and I went through bootcamp together,
and then SK school together and were assigned to the CONCORD together. I'm ashamed to say that after all these
years I can't remember all the details, but it was in 1970 and we were in port in Norfolk and we were either loading
for the beginning of a cruise or unloading at the end of a cruise. He was assigned to the S-2 Division and at the
end of the day he and fellow S-2 crew member were closing the hatch at Hold #2. It was their job that day to
close all of the hatches. They had just closed Hold #1 and hooked up the block and tackle to the Hold #2 deck hatch.
Of course these deck hatches weigh several tons. The slack had not been taken out of the block and tackle after closing
Hold #1 and when the deck hatch for #2 Hold was released so it could be let down slowly with the block and tackle, all
of the chain, laying on the deck at Terry's feet was instantly yanked through the block and tackle. In that instant, the chain
wrapped around Terry's body and he was beaten between the deck and the overhead who know's how many times. He was the
first crew member lost aboard the CONCORD. I do not know if there have been any since then. It was a terrible shock
and a loss to the entire crew. Terry was a very good guy and I remember he was from Minnesota. One of my favorite memories of Terry occurred shortly after we arrived aboard the CONCORD in December 1969
at Palma de Mallorca. We were in a first aid training class as we had both been assigned as stretcher bearers for General
Quarters. There was a crowd of us in sickbay and Terry was standing at the back of the room. They showed us one
of those old black and white movies about battlefield injuries. You know, the ones where the casualties have
fake injuries. They came to the guy who had a laceration to his forearm and of course he had a bulb concealed in his hand
and was squeezing it, now remember this was a black and white film so the fake "blood" spurting from
his fake laceration wasn't even red in the film, but at the sight of that fake spurting blood, Terry passed out cold and hit
the steel deck with a terrible thud. Its a wonder he wasn't seriously injured in the fall, but he wasn't. Just
one of those funny things that happen during shipboard life, that kind of stay with you. Email from David Stascak(SN 69-70): Sent: Saturday, August 22, 2009 3:45 PM Subject: Why this day is special. On this day 40 years ago the USS Concord departed Norfolk for her first
Med deployment. As I look back at this first cruise, having a new crew observing all departments coming together with a commitment
to excllence including Hc 6, Det 86 we were not second to USS Sylvaina by any means. The hard work and determination of Officers
and enlisted I will never forget. Thanks to all of you for the many great memories. In Memory of SP 5 Robert L. Stascak Aug. 6, 1949 - Aug. 22, 1976 Gary Haber (MS3 85-89):"I miss all you
guys from 85-90! Off and On duty. The Med cruises were a blast,the endless UNREPS & VERTREPS...Malaga,Torremolinos,TGV
to Paris,Rome,Mallorca,Menorca,Cartagena,Naples,Quebec,Nova Scotia,skiing in the Alps at Foux de'Allou! Kicked ASS in Gitmo,then
partied in Aruba & Bahamas!!!! I don't remember much from Aruba,I have pics tho. I was a"reefer rat" for my
2nd & 3rd cruise,wore a rifle and a .45 on SSDF watch,performed Jewish Lay services,and baked bread/cinnamon rolls for
all. Started as a deckape in D-1,struck out first as a SM,then became an MS3 by my EAOS. "First then,First now!"
bros. It brought tears to my eyes to hear she is to be sunk in 2009/2010. She was a place I had called home for 4 years. I'm
sure all of us will miss her. If anyone can plz give me info where she moored now and if there is ANY way to obtain a small
momento of her before they commit her to the deep. I trust they will save her bell. Thank you so much. God Bless. SM3 Haber/S-3 Div" Bill LeRoy (SN 76-78): In
1976 I remember the fire that started up forward port side in the life jacket
bins then spreaded forward, trapped men up in the forward focsle One of the crew members ran forward and rescued the trapped
guys and the Supply Officer got face burns, I cannot remember his name but ran into him in GITMO in the 80's. The Brave sailor
got awarded the Navy medal of Valor. I was transfered in 1978 and became a DM3 assigned to SWOSCOLCOM Newport,RI.
Danny
Huff (ET1 72-76): Fall 1972 in GITMO for training --- Man OverBoard Drill. Port Side of
ship where Ops mustered -- was several cargo nets tied together to throw over the side. Problem was they weren't
secured to the ship when thrown over the side. They're in the Carribean somewhere. Was so funny. Concord was good
duty for a young sailor, just, steamed too much tho.
Alan Wisniewski (GMG2 70-73): Man over board drill gone
bad. I think it was the Med cruise of 1971 or 1972. The ship called a man over board drill OSCAR was in the water. The motor
whale boat was being lowered into the water but the ship was going to fast and the whale boat started to slam in to the side
of the ship, the davits bent and the whole boat crew went into the water. All of the crew was recovered and no one hurt. It
was amazing how fast the helo crew launch a bird and the Gunner's Mates had the M1's ready to go. It was a bright sunny
day though and a few took advantage of the swim.!
Tom Lemon(SM2 75-79): I
remember a few stories. Obviously the fire aboard the ship in the Med in the year 1978. On this same cruise, we also had money
stolen from the disbursing office. To this day, I do not know if they ever captured the thieves. I do know that some seaman
from 1st division set two fires aboard the Concord I believe in April, 78. He set the first fire in the MAA's office
as my SM1 was on duty. That would have been SM1 Strong. As the duty fire team put that out [actually, it was SM1 that put
it out] the fire starter went forward and set some life jackets on fire and rapidly burned forward from the port side to the
STBD side. The fire burned pretty much all day. I was on the bridge where the CO [Capt. Will] was stationed. I broke out the
sound powered phones and the ships info, called down to DC central and told them the CO was on the bridge. I relayed info
back and forth as I watched those actually battling the fire come out coughing and searching for fresh air to breath. There
sure was a lot of smoke. We ended up cutting the Med cruise short and went to Philly for repairs in July, 1978.
I also remember some sailor, I think a mess cook , jumped off the side of the ship on a dare. we were returning from a cruise and the water [I think] was cold. Needless to say, he got into a lot of trouble. I also remember transporting a ship's shaft from Rota to a port in France. I want to say Toulon, France. We hugged the shore line as we listed severely to [I think] STBD. We caught a pretty vicious gale as we neared the French coast. The shaft was for the USS Voge, which was rammed by a Soviet sub that had to surface because the VOGE was hot on her trail. It was a major incident at sea too. There was also the accidental collision of the USS Belknap and the USS Kennedy the day after Thanksgiving, 1975. We, the Concord, wasn't involved with either incident though we were in the Med when they both happened. But the funniest [sort of] was the theft of thousands of dollars from disbursing. All kinds of speculation on whom was in on it. To this day, I never found out if anyone was ever charged though many were suspects. One day, an RM3 stabbed one of my signalmen and tried to stab me too. He went UA, only to eventually return. The Capt [Will] dismissed the charges against the RM because he [the RM] was under stress. I decided right there and then I didn't need to remain in the Navy when the bad sailors were being protected more than the good ones. On a bright note, I remember the Concord going to Casablanca in 1977 [or 1978] I think. That was interesting. Carlos Gaspar (BT2 75-78): Med. cruise from
hell! I believe it was 1978, started off by loosing most of the refrigeration holds, and dumping all that good food into the
sea before we even made it into the Med. Spent two weeks in Rota Spain for repairs, I enjoyed every minute of it, nice beaches
and ladies also. Then the Concord made the news back in the States for being robbed at sea of $40,000.00 dollars. The paper
read as follows: Ship Robbed of $40,000 While at Sea -Norfolk A safecracker removed about $40,000 from a safe on the
Navy combat store ship Concord in March while the ship was in the Mediterranean. But the Navy would say little about the incident.
Vice Adm. William L. Read commander of the naval surface force, Atlantic Fleet confirmed through a spokesman Wed. that the
money was taken from the ships dispersing office sometime on March 13 or 14. The 581 foot ship, with a complement of 430 officers
and crew, left Norfolk Jan.19 to re-supply ships of the 6th Fleet. It returned May 17. A telephone caller who identified himself
as a Navy man but refused to give his name, told the Virginian-Pilot Wednesday that; the money was taken by someone who used
an acetylene torch to cut into the safe. The spokesman for Read would neither confirm nor deny that account. It was a torch
No one has yet been charged in the case. The spokesman, Comdr. J. J. Nemer said the dispersing office normally contains the crews pay, but he did not know whether the sum taken was payroll money or part of another fund. Yes it was, no one was paid Asked whether the money had been recovered, he said Forty thousand dollars had been taken, and I dont have anything on its being recovered. He said he didnt know if the crew had been searched or the ship quarantined. Well, the ship was searched, they found some notes in one of the johns, and they kept searching everyones wallets, but to my knowledge, they never found the bulk of it. That brings me to the final chapter: Apparently the Master at Arms was on someones case about the stolen loot, and that individual didnt take it too well and proceeded to set several fires on the ship while docked in Palma De Majorca Spain. Luckily we were in port, or I believe the ship would have been in serious trouble. He was caught the next day trying to ignite the jet fuel JP5 aft of the ship. Poor fellow, I heard that he suffered a broken arm and several other bumps and bruises on his way back to the Master at Arms office. I wonder what ever happened to the Capt. at the time; Capt. Otto Will III 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 Chief Kruse, I started out in the s-2 division running the DLR cage in hold-5, then moved to s-1 as assistant 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 wonderingif
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 all 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 whilethe 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): We had just entered the Med and were independent steaming toward Naples to start our tour. I'm guessing this was 74 or 75 but it's been a while. The mid watch had just set when all of a sudden we went to GQ for a man overboard. The fantail watch reported hearing a man screaming from the water. The ship came to all stop and we lowered the whaleboat. It took about an hour but they located the man and brought him back on board. Within minutes the ship was enveloped in pea soup fog. We were over 90 miles off the coast of Spain. the story gets better because the sailor reported he was thrown overboard by unknown assailants as he climbed the athwart-ships ladder on the way up to the mess decks to catch some midrats! Only a few in the crew knew the whole story but the CO placed the sailor under 24hr watch and as you know we didn't have a brig so we used sickbay. The reason I know this is because D3 Division got the job of standing watch on him until we reached Naples! 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): The place; Alicante, Spain. I was on liberty with a shipmate (can't remember his name) but we had just gotten a bottle of rum and a military coup happened. Well, shore patrol was telling everyone to head back to the ship. We proceeded to find a place to down our bottle of rum expecting to see troops or tanks rumbling through Alicante. After the bottle we were walking along and the shore patrol party saw us again and yelled after us as we took off running. My buddy fell down, but I got away, or so I thought. LCDR Bender, whom I had worked with in the helo tower durning VERTREP, happened to be cruising around in a car and offered me a ride. I was probably pretty lit. I proceeded to accept his offer and I guess I told him what had transpired. Well I ended up explaining the whole story again in a much more sober state at XO screening with the XO reprimanding me for eluding shore patrol and sternly telling me to get a haircut (the 'fro was a bit 'Linkish) before dismissing me and the charges. (Whew!) EM3 Kevin Canney(79-83): I
have got so many stories, I'm not sure which ones I should tell and which ones not. Let's throw out a few headlines and see
what everyone remembers! By the way Darryl I think it was Barcelona,
and we heard machine gun fire...and I did not fall down!!!! 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): In 1975 we set sail for Concord MA with the idea of supporting the July fourth celebration commemorating the 'Shot Heard Round the World' starting the American Revolution on Concord Bridge. In preparation for that trip we formed a marching division, if you can imagine, and each day we would march up and down pier #6 at Norfolk NOB. What a mess. Everytime I see 'Animal House' and those guys crashing into the wall I think of our marching ability. The XO finally gave up and reported to the old man we were as ready as we'd ever be. We got underway and headed out to the mid Atlantic for exercises before turning to the North West. Only problem was by the time we made the turn were in the teeth of a Cat 3 hurricane. We steamed at full speed for three days and made about three knots of headway. We had green water over the bow and the weather decks were secure but being an FT we would always have to get up on the 05 level and check out our gun directors. I remember very clearly having to lean into the wind at greater than a 45 degree angle to make any headway. The boat pitched so deeply that you could go forward near the bos'n locker on the cargo deck and jump a foot or two in the air and the boat would drop from under you and we'd fly through the air like supermen. After a valiant attempt to make port the skipper gave up and we turned away from the storm and we just happened to be a hundred miles East of the 'Big Apple'. We got three wonderful days there and it made all the marching and drills and sea sickness worthwhile. ET1 Danny Huff (72-76): To amplify on the 1975 event of
going to Concord,MA. The the rear magnetic compass was destroyed when a huge reel of rope broke away. After the compass --
the reel went off the starboard side of ship heavily damaging the motor whale boat. The fantail watch either got
his back broken or badly hurt --- due to ship direction being turned around in 30-35foot seas. The damm thing
just about turned over!! Worst seas I was in while aboard (in almost 4years -- was only in Norfolk, VA for little over 3full
months). Please use the form below to submit your sea story/memories here. We'll
get them posted ASAP!
|
