i have written of this before. But i cannot find that post, column, whatever, so i am repeating the incident. It is a great sea story.

The USS Anchorage (LSD 36) sailed into Subic Bay, Luzon, Philippines, July 18-26, 1975 for a nine-day restricted repair availability at the Naval Shipyard. In addition to equipment and repairs and maintenance, she would receive from the shipyard, there was a ship alteration (SHIPALT) that also was to be installed.

Someone in the Bureau of Ships (BUSHIPS) back in Washington decided that this class of landing ship dock should help the marines disembark when required. So they decided to put in handrails to help the gyrenes descend the cargo cargo nets into landing craft.

A significant problem in the plan was handrails at the debark stations on the port side of the LSDs would greatly interfere with normal ship operations with the handrails blocking some evolutions. So the great ship planners back in DC decided to make the handrails removable and installed only when leatherneck debarking was in effect.

The solution was to use “baxter bolts.” Each of these fasteners required a hole in the deck for the female part of the bolt with threads to screw in the handrails when required. When not in use there was a cover that would screw into the hole to make the deck even and keep seawater and rain from getting into the hole.

As Anchorage’s First Lieutenant, the debark stations were my responsibility as well as the surrounding deck and the Marine berthing compartment directly below the deck.

The sandcrabs (hah, you landlubbers will have to figure that definition out) who would install the SHIPALT came aboard to meet with me to plan the installation. They brought the 36 Baxter bolts with them for me to retain until it was time for installation.

It turned out it, the install was pretty complicated. To make the holes to fit the bolts required cutting the steel deck with blowtorches, requiring my personnel to set up fire watches in the berthing compartment below. The repair folks, deck supervisors, and myself checked where the the work would be done in the berthing compartment. That’s when the repair folks realized the lagging on the overhead consisted of asbestos. Even in 1975, it was recognized as hazardous.

This would require an expert team for asbestos removal and could not be done in the nine days we would be in port.

The SHIPALT was deferred until we returned to San Diego. i held onto the bolts for the Shore Intermediate Maintenance Activity to accomplish when we were in port for a longer time.

When we returned to our home port in November, SIMA came aboard to accomplish he handrail installation. i gave them my 36 Baxter bolts. They refused to use them, pointing out they had there own to use.

Now folks, the Subic baxter bolts were made of monel. One of the strongest metal alloys in existence, also very heavy. It is rated along with titanium as one of the strongest metal alloys and has many uses on ships and submarines.

The installation was completed with the inferior SIMA baxter bolts. i’m not sure what happened to the other 35 monel bolts, but i have one. Just the metal alone is worth around $90. It is a good tale to tell when someone asks about my door stopper.

A wonderful example of bureaucracies at work.

This is a revised version of a post i posted earlier but wish to include in in my posts about my time aboard USS Anchorage. As i have noted earlier, Art Wright was the best commanding officer under which i served.

Recognizing our penchant to get offended by just about anything, i want to preface this entry with my assessment i really am not prejudice against any race of people, especially the Japanese. Having spent some significant time there in the 1970’s, i found their culture and their customs wonderful. For those that don’t know, i was very close to becoming engaged to a beautiful Japanese woman when i did some really stupid things that ruined the relationship.

i also enjoy making fun and finding humor in many situations, even those that are embarrassing to me. So i hope everyone who reads this will take it as i intended: funny, not malicious, and certainly not racist.

It was in 1975 in Sasebo, Japan. I was a lieutenant in the billet of First Lieutenant on the USS Anchorage (LSD 36) goiong on liberty. The other officer was Commander Arthur St. Clair Wright, the commanding officer of the Anchorage. We had developed a bond through the constant relationship we had on the ship.

The first lieutenant on a landing ship dock is a spectacular job if you like to work. i was in charge of well deck operations, boat operations, flight operations, weapons, ammunition storage, cargo loads/unloads, troop embarkations and debarkations, all deck operations, and maintenance of all weather deck spaces. In addition, i was the sea detail and general quarters officer of the deck. i loved every minute of it.

Art was number one of all the COs i had, and i had some great ones. He was a Naval Academy graduate and had a great career at the time. He had a rich heritage in the Navy and Annapolis. He was robust; he was smart; and he thought out of the box. He had a previous tour in Sasebo, Japan as commanding officer of an ocean going minesweeper. During that tour, he immersed himself into the Japanese culture.

The Anchorage was in Sasebo for a month when a stern gate default required major maintenance.

There were three distinct party districts in Sasebo. There was “sailor town,” an area for Navy sailors, stuffed with small bars and diners, a red light district of high order. There was “merchant town,” a smaller but perhaps even rougher area for merchant seamen. Finally, there was “sake town,” the area with restaurants and nightclubs for the Japanese populace. Art always went to sake town. On several occasions, he took me to his favorite sushi bars, and to this day, my dining there, picking the fresh seafood off the ice in the glass cases and then watching the sushi chefs perform their magic carving, remains one of my all time best recollections of dining.

Art had been to sake town one evening when i had the on-board duty as command duty officer. The next morning when i had reported to his stateroom for some order of business, he interrupted me to tell me he and i were going out that night, that he had found a place he knew i would like.

That evening, he and i went to sake town. As the sun was setting, we ate at one of those wonderful sushi bars. Then we walked to the real night life section where there were themed bars and entertainment venues. Next to one night club where the exterior resembled the fuselage of a 747, were stairs up to a second story establishment. As we walked up the stairs, a man dressed in a Japanese sailor uniform announced us “on board” with a bullhorn. Entering, we found the place to resemble the interior compartment of a ship complete with portholes looking out. There were about twenty tables toward the back, full of Japanese couples. The waitresses, including the bartenders wore mini-skirt versions of Japanese sailor outfits.

We sat at the bar and ordered our favorite Kirin Beer.

Art could drink beer, and he did not like to wait in between them. So he would order two, put one in his back pocket and drink the other. When through with the first one, he would order another, pull the second one out of his pocket. When the next beer arrived, he would put it in his back pocket and repeat the process. We were on our second beers, when Art directed me to look behind me.

There was a photography area set up with several sliding panels for backgrounds. They included a WWII Japanese zero, a Japanese tank, and one where it appeared you were standing on the bow of a Japanese battleship. To the side was a rack of clothes. Each was a different uniform of the military services the Japanese wore during World War II. i loved it. Art and i decided we would get the Anchorage officers to come down and everyone get their photos taken in one of those uniforms behind one of those backdrops. Then we would hang those photos in the wardroom.

As we returned to our beers, an older Japanese man and his date sat down next to me. He introduced himself to me. He told me he owned a tailor shop at the beginning of the large downtown mall. I realized it was the shop where i had a suit, sports coat, and a wool “camel hair” overcoat tailored for me five years earlier. We had a nice conversation about our past meeting.

As we were talking, the bartenders had put some marching band music records on the stereo. All of the Japanese patrons began singing boisterously and waving their arms to the tempo of the music. i asked my new friend what was the music about.

“They are spirit songs,” he answered.

“Spirit songs,” i questioned, “What are they.”

“They are the songs we sang and our sailors, pilots, and soldiers sang as they prepared for battle.”

Interested, but a bit wary since Art and i were the only Americans in the place, i decided to not pursue that subject.

Art and i returned to our Kirins.

My new friend leaned over to me and spoke again. “You know, my brother was a kamikaze pilot during the war.”

“Really!” i responded, not exactly, knowing how to react, but curious.

“Yes,” he confirmed, “But he lived through it.”

“What?” Art, overhearing the conversation, “What did you say?”

My friend repeated, “My brother was a kamikaze pilot during the war, but he lived through it.”

Art stared at his beer, contemplating for a second or two, then replied.

“Must not have been a very good one.”

The patrons stopped singing. We quickly paid our bill and left.

We never did take the wardroom back for those pictures.

i have not posted many sea stories lately, especially under the banner of “A Tale of the Sea and Me.” The reason is not writer’s block. i think it comes from a blank space in my old memories.

ii find this odd in that being first lieutenant on the USS Anchorage was not just the best tour i had in the Navy but the best job i’ve ever had. If i had to choose something i could have done for a job all of my life, it would be first lieutenant on an Landing Ship Dock (LSD), preferably that USS Anchorage.

i believe i have explained why that tour was so great aboard Anchorage and will not repeat that here.

For some reason, saved letters, ship logs, memorabilia and an old man’s memories have a blank period for my time aboard Anchorage in that deployment from when we left Manila and when the captain was relieved somewhere in the East China Sea.

In my 15 years of a 22-year career as a Naval Officer and aboard twelve ships, i served under sixteen commanding officers and two squadron commanders. Of those sixteen COs, one was a screamer. Seven of those COs were okay but had some faults in the way they handled command at sea. Ten of my COs were superb (i think this is pretty accurate since in my last Navy tour, i facilitated a seminar featuring a study of the best traits for an outstanding commanding officer).

In my assessment, the best commanding officer under whom i served was Commander Arthur St. Clair Wright (he retired as a Captain). Art was one of the best shiphandlers as a commanding officer. CAPT Max Lasell on the Hawkins, CDR Richard Butts on the Luce, and CAPT David Rogers on the Okinawa were superb shiphandlers as well, but Art Wright was superior.

Art, as CO of the Anchorage, was even tempered, extremely knowledgable about all aspects of a Navy ship as will as the way the Navy system worked. He motivated his officers and crew to excel, and he wanted them to enjoy themselves both on board and on liberty. Examples of that will follow.

That Anchorage deployment in 1975 was hyperactive in operations. About the first third was under the command of CDR Lou Aldana. i believe it was off Okinawa when his relief, CDR Wright, came aboard.

That is the moment that is indelible in my mind. One of the Beachmaster’s unit LARCs went into port and transported the relieving CO back to the ship. i was standing on the stern on the port wing wall with BM1 Hansborough, my well deck master. The stern gate was down to receive the LARC into the well deck. As the LARC made a starboard turn to head into the well deck, we watched the incoming CO toss an empty beer can over the side. It was a classic entry for a new commanding officer. i thought, “This is going to be interesting.

i was right. The man, Art Wright, was an incredible experience and made my first lieutenant tour the best.

i intend to post more sea stories frequently.