All posts by Jim

A Tale of the Sea and Me (For Sam) – Another Installment (i’ve quit counting)

Sea Stories

This installment has taken some time. i wanted to include names of friends who were part of the story. i have been partially successful, but i’m disappointed. Just a month or so ago, i ran across the USS Hawkins wardroom social roster from my two years on board, Now when i need it, i cannot find it anywhere. So, i guess i will add missing names later.

i planned to post this before Christmas. Oops. i’m still looking for that roster. Right now, i’m trying to remember the name of the Supply Officer in 68-69. his first name was Dave. Good guy and great wardroom caterer. If any old Hawkins sailor remembers his name, please let me know.

And may you all have a terrific 2024.

The Hawkins left GTMO in the first of March of 1969 if i remember correctly. We had done well except for gunnery. We could go operational if we did well in the gun shoots on the Naval gunfire range on the island of Calibre. A night shoot was scheduled afterwards off the Vieques Navy range.

Ralph Clark was now the Gunfire Support Director. Ralph was Ops and Senior Watch Officer. He was, in my estimation, an outstanding Naval officer. i don’t recall who was the officer in computer room. But Joe McMackin was the Sky One Fire Control officer. Joe had graduated from Weslyan and was as gentle a soul that ever lived. Super good guy, but he had not done well as the director of Sky One.

For those unfamiliar with Navy gunfire support at the time, Sky One was the director that sat on the signal bridge on destroyers. The officer in charge of Sky One sat at the top with a sight that he used to target incoming enemy aircraft and directly shoot at land targets. The sight could control each and all of the gun mounts. Joe’s job in the primary gunfire support exercise was to interrupt the calls to fire when the ship received fire from ashore. In the exercise (Z-48-G i think was the nomenclature for this exercise), the officer ashore in charge of the exercise would detonate a white phosphorus charge on the range to simulate an enemy firing at the ship. The proper procedure was the Sky One Officer would notify the other gunfire support stations (there was a term i cannot remember), take control of the guns and return fire at the enemy.

This had not gone well during GTMO’s non-firing refresher training. The captain, CDR Max Lasell expressed his concern as we anchored off Calibre and prepared for the critical exercise that would allow us to become combat operational if we passed. i continued to be the captain’s communication link with the gun fire sound powered phone circuit, standing by his side throughout any gun exercise.

The exercise was going well. Ralph Clark’s control of the calls for fire and adjustments were effective. Then, the white phosphorous charge on the range went off. Joe saw it, took control, and fired one round from the forward mount. It was a direct hit on the target and snuffed the willie peter (gunner’s mate term for white phosphorous) out.

The Hawkins passed the exercise with a 98% score.

We were operational.

The Curmudgeon Whines

A Pocket of Resistance

It was a crazy day.

A trip with Maureen, ostensibly to go to Balboa Park and use our new park pass to see some museums we don’t often visit, prefaced with a trip to a sewing machine shop and a tailor for Maureen began mid-morning. Her sewing machine developed a problem when she had attempted to put in a button hole on a high end fabric for a beautiful jacket she had designed.

The sewing machine visit developed into a machine assessment, adjustment, and repairs if needed. Now folks, this ain’t my mama’s Singer pedal-powered sewing machine of the past. These suckers cost more than the national debt. The repair was worth it.

We then went across the street to our tailor who announced she could create the needed buttonholes.

We were happy, and headed off to the park.

i turned onto the exit to normal path up a hill to the park only to find a line of cars all the way up the hill, probably a half-hour if not an hour to get to the parking, which was likely full. i did an illegal u-turn, tried another way and found the same thing with all entries to the park.

We decided to just go to one of our favorite digs for lunch. The first one had many folks waiting to be seated, and no parking was nearby. We went to the second, and it was closed for the holidays. We went to the third and the wait was until sometime next Wednesday. We searched for the third and fourth on unfamiliar routes and had to double back about…oh, a half dozen times.

i shall not tell you what i said, but we headed home. We stopped at a brand new place in route for take out Mexican fare of a beef stew (birria) on a corn tortilla and a shrimp taco.

We felt better.

Hell of a day. In its own strange way, it was fun.

We spent our afternoon with our own projects and settled down in the family room for our evening.

i turned on the television. Football. The think-of-the-name-of-a-corporate-advertiser-with-a- really-stupid-logo-name Cotton Bowl. Good teams: Ohio State, Missouri. Good game except for listening to announcers who wished the world to consider the game equivalent the next world war. Ugh.

As i watched a pretty decent athletic contest marred by about two dozen unsportsmanlike penalties ignored, i looked up the scores of other bowl games. That’s when it occurred to me there as a fitting quote.

Violating my usually very loose rules for what to include in my posts, i stole this from today’s “Writer’s Almanac.” It is a quote of William Gaddis, an author in the middle of the last century who wrote two apparently noteworthy novels: The Recognitions and J.R. Not only have i not read them, but i didn’t even know about them until this morning, adding them to my “to read” list which will require me to compete with Methuselah for the longest living man to read all on my list.

But William Gaddis said, “There have never in history been so many opportunities to do so many things that aren’t worth doing.”

And sitting here tonight i thought this applied to every post season playoff game of any sport.

Then i thought Gaddis’ quote applied to most damn near everything today except for my relationships with good folks.

And you know what? Those relationships are enough.

i hope you all have a bountiful and healthy 2024.