I rember this incident quite well, we were just out of Subic Bay by two days. we only had one boiler on the line at the time.
This was by the way the ships first West-Pac cruise.
The throttle control on the automatic went haywire and did not shut down. the boiler went over pressure and peeled the backside of the boiler just like you had taken a can openr to it.
The only guy that was hurt was hurt because he tried to come up the inside ladder instead of going up the escape trunk. every body else got out ok.
I rember the time because we were still feeding noon chow.
I also rember Capt. Benson being furious because we could not get emergency power on line right away. Took 3-4 hours to get another boiler lit off so we could even have steerage way.
Also rember also that we were very thankfull that the weather was almost dead calm. A beautiful day.
Ken

P.S. If you all will look on the site about a ship visit you will see that the ship is going to be scrapped in Brownsviile, Tx. Left Hawaii on the 17th of Jan.

I do remember this incident. I can recall wrapping a very burnt fellow in petrolatum gauze, and preparing him to leave Cochrane on hilo. I really do remember this! How could we have all remembered different things?

Richard, I think that all of our memories are colored by 35 years! I think that the story hangs togeather but is filtered through the thoughts that mattered most to us at the time. I do agree that the Man was burnt, and that we flew him off to the carrier and that he was never heard from again. I do believe that he lived.
I remember being sorry for the Black Gang because the rest of us had a great time doing liberty. I to ran out of money, but fortunately had a lady who paid my taxi back to the base every morning!

I think you're right about the 35 years shading our memories. Obviously, we do know one thing for sure. The Cochrane had a warm spot in all of our collective memories, and is a string that binds us together. Cochrane has always been special in my mind, and I plan to do the very best I can to get there for her end.

alright guys , i remember the boiler incident too and this isn't the CRS (can't remember shit) i was talking about on another of these forums . some of you mentioned we had been in subic but that is incorrecto . we had gone to yokouska for a 3 day r&r . we were steaming back to yankee station when the 1a boiler blew . we hobbled back to yokouska to get it fixed . one of our bt's did get burned pretty bad but recovered and was doing ok . the problem for the rest of us was that the rest of the fleet was back on duty and we were in port all alone . about 90% of the bars were closed so our choices for tourist attractions was pretty tight . we were there about 30 days getting repairs done but most of us were flat broke after about 3-4 days . the guys running the "slush funds " 5 for 7 , 10 for 14 and 20 for 28 were making a killing on the rest of us . good thing a carton of camel's was only a buck ( buck 10 for filters ) used to go to the mess deck for our pay go past our little ship's store and hand most of ouf pay to the money men . 10 minutes later , borrow more and hit the beach . aawww yes . the good ole days