In the early spring of 1974, the Hollister had an inspection from the Commodore’s staff, Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 9.

It was annual inspection involving all aspects of ship’s operation, maintenance, and administration. When completed, the inspection report, full of discrepancies, was handed to the ship and forwarded through the chain of command to our ultimate boss, Commander, Surface Forces, Pacific.

Hollister was required to correct all critical discrepancies immediately and report them to the chain of command. All other discrepancies were to be included in a following report, ninety days after the inspection, noting the corrective action taken and projected completion date.

Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) Kerry Kirk, our executive officer, was relentless in badgering the department heads to submit their discrepancy status reports. Kirk was responsible for putting them all together, editing the mess, and preparing it for the Commanding Officer’s signature. Then it would be sent to all of the ship’s superiors in the chain of command. The XO was driving us crazy. We all felt we had much more important matters to attend, for example, the upcoming six-month regular overhaul. But we all cobbled our parts together. LCDR Kirk spent untold late hours finalizing the thick document. It was signed by Commander (CDR) Phelps, and sent off.

At the noon mess, the captain, the exec, four department heads, the oncoming quarterdeck Officer of the Deck (OOD), Donnie Frahler, as i recall, and the next senior junior officer sat down at the wardroom table for the first sitting. As the meal ensued, CDR Phelps leaned back in his chair and related his tale:

You know, I remember when I was XO on the McKean, USS McKean (DD 784) when we had one of those discrepancy reports to submit.

I was busy and it was over a week late when I realized we had not submitted the report. I ordered the department heads to get their sections in ASAP. Of course, it took them nearly two weeks to get their parts to me. I did the editing and had to get a couple of changes from the department heads. By the time I finished, it was almost a month past the due date.

I started up to the CO’s cabin with the report for signature, I stopped and considered the consequences. If we submitted the report that late, our superiors were going to blast us for screwing, possibly worse than what the report would bring down on us.

So I went back to my stateroom, and put the report in my “pending” basket.

Six months later, when I was relieved to become the CO here, I took the report out and dumped into the to-be shred basket.

We never heard a peep about not submitting the report.

I learned my lesson. Reports to higher authority weren’t quite as crucial for the rest of my career.