Does any body remember the 111 days at sea with out any ports? We had a beer day beside the USS Prarie while at anchor. We also had a USO show. I was reading the past forums. I think the golden gloves boxer that Sal was talking about was the one and only Jimmy Dobbs EM3. He was a gold glover from New York. He has a wandering eye from getting his ass kicked when he punch a Samoan while he was pertying in waikiki.

111 days in the middle of the Indian Ocean in 1985. How could I forget? I remember that warm beers were going for $20 a can. We even posted the security alert team on the 01 level and had swim call. The water was so warm it was like diving into a bath tub. I also remember seeing the coast of Iran, not that we were in their waters or anything. Looked like a huge sand dune, nothing more. We finally crossed the line and ended up in Australia, but that is a whole other set of stories......

MM2 83-85

Wasn't it great? that was my first deployment. After that the rest were a piece of cake. It was kinda funny when our captains gig sank when it was tied up between us and the Prairie. They had a boat officer, a bos'n and an engineman go out on it and man the hand bildge pump for a four hour watch after they got it raised back up. the weather was to rough for it to be raised up out of the water.

I can't decide if two beers per day on 111 days at sea was better than zero beers (except perhaps for private stashes) for 62 days in '68 during the TET offensive (we were pretty busy doing shore bombardment) or the 41 days in 66 on the most incredibly boring radar picket off Hainan China. No swimming calls, no landfall, and I don't think in 66 we ever did more than 7 knots while on picket. The rut in the gulf is probably still from steaming back and forth maybe 20 miles for all that time.

"Ski" ETN2 (June 66 to Aug 68)

Ski,

You should add that there were only a few days between those two stints. As I remember, they were spent in Subic, changing out the gun barrels. That was when the Hobart replaced us and took the missle down the after stack from the Intruder. Right?


PREMO - ETR2 - JUL 66 to JAN 69

hell yes i remember. talking about sucking big time. i don't know how most guys at the time felt but i was thankful that i had a rate that you were either working or sleeping. we were standing 12 on and 12 off pt/stbd. this made things go by faster as opposed to havinga rate where you had plenty of time to think about how long you had been underway.