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One major difference between the USS Slater, DE-766 and other historical ships is that she no longer is owned by the Navy. She belongs to you (Navy veterans) and to history! She receives no government funding. Yet, she is one of the best and most completely restored ships in the country. She is a tribute to the sweat, elbow grease and dedication of the Navy vets that crew her! She is a proud memorial to all who served on her decks and those that sacrificed for our freedom.

  Her success has been possible by the small contributions and tours that fund her continuing to be a "living" museum. Since every little bit counts (a sailor can do a lot with $5,000), you can help contribute by just voting for her in a local funding program. The Albany, NY newspaper has a program that annually awards money to worthy causes. The USS Slater has made it the final round this year.

   All you need to do is visit the link and vote! Since she is scheduled to head to the shipyard for hull repairs next week. She can use all the funding that can be found!

   http://blog.timesunion.com/giving/final-vote-in-the-capital-region-gives-promotion/2053/

  So, help your shipmates keep chipping and painting and VOTE!

You would also be helping bring her one step closer to "haze gray and underway again! OK, maybe not Haze Gray! But, how about Measure 32?

Declassified Historical Photographs.

http://www.alternatewars.com/Bomb_Loading/Bomb_Guide.htm

The Old Navy

Come gather round me lads and I'll tell you a thing or two,
About the way we ran the Navy in nineteen sixty two.
When wooden ships and iron men were barely out of sight;...
I am going to give you some facts just to set the record right.

We wore the ol' bell bottoms, with a Dixie cup or flat hat on our head;
And we always hit the sack at night but we never "went to bed."
Our uniforms were worn ashore, and we were mighty proud;
Never thought of wearing civvies, in fact, they were not allowed.

Now, when a ship puts out to sea, I'll tell you son, it hurts;
When suddenly you notice that half the crew's wearing skirts.
And it's hard for me to imagine, a female boatswains mate;
Stopping on the Quarterdeck to make sure her stockings are straight.

What happened to the KiYi brush, and the old salt-water bath:
Holy stoning decks at night, 'cause you stirred old Bosn's wrath!
We always had our gedunk stand and lots of pogey bait;
And it always took a hitch or two, just to make a rate.

In your seabag, all your skivvies were neatly stopped and rolled;
The blankets on your sack had better have a three-inch fold.
Your little ditty bag, it is hard to believe, just how much it held;
You wouldn't go ashore with pants that hadn't been spiked and belled.

We had scullery maids and succotash and good old S.O.S.;
And when you felt like topping off, you headed for the mess.
Oh, we had our belly robbers, but there weren't too many gripes;
For the deck apes were never hungry and there were no starving snipes.

Now, you never hear of Davey Jones, Shellbacks or Polliwogs;
And you never splice the mainbrace to receive your daily grog.
Now you never have to dog a watch or stand the main event;
You even tie your lines today; back in my time they were bent.

We were all two-fisted drinkers and no one thought you sinned;
If you staggered back aboard your ship, three sheets to the wind.
And with just a couple hours of sleep you regained your usual luster;
Bright eyed and bushy tailed, you still made morning muster.

Rocks and shoals have long since gone, and now it's U.C.M.J.;
Back then, the old man handled everything if you should go astray.
Now they steer the ships with dials, and I wouldn't be surprised;
If some day they sailed the damned things from the beach computerized.

So, when my earthly hitch is over, and the good Lord picks the best,
I'll walk right up to Him and say, "Sir, I have but one request."
Let me sail the seas of Heaven in a coat of Navy blue.
Like I did so long ago on earth, way back in sixty two."

by David W. Asche

It was on our 1973-1974 WESPAC cruise that our ship, Hector, was out upon the wide open ocean.  It was a beautiful day.  Sunny, not a breath of wind.  The sea was smooth as a piece of glass.

A rumor was making the rounds and I sat in disbelief that what I heard was either an outright LIE or a fact of what I thought to be someone's sick idea of a joke....

The Captain was going to stop the ship right out in the middle of nowhere and we were all going to get a chance to swim in the wide open ocean!

I tried to visualize just what that meant....A bunch of guys WILLING to splash around out in the  wide open ocean on a nice day...Just for fun...With only ONE way back onto the ship...With a few Gunner's mates with rifles watching for sharks...After all, THEY liked to swim out in the open ocean, too.

I had read and learned from my dad about a lot of US Navy Sailors during WWII being out bobbing around in the ocean and the sharks seeing to it these guys didn't make it home again.  If they weren't eaten outright, they came up missing parts...

A lot of guys were getting all excited about being able to do this thing.  It sounded a bit interesting to me, too, but I did have my reservations about it.

Sharks have been a fascinating subject for mankind ever since the first man (or maybe a woman, sharks aren't picky!) was eaten and came up missing a few parts.  Books have been written, movies were made and people are scared of them for some odd reason.  Since this was only the '70's, the movie "JAWS" had not yet been made.

Some sharks grab you and clamp down and then shake and saw off a chunk, and that is how they bite.  Others have teeth that are designed to just shear off a leg or arm just by passing by.  It is such a clean severing that some people say they didn't even feel it.

Sharks can smell blood in the water over nine miles away.

I decided to go up on deck and see what was going on with this "Swim Call" idea and watch the ordeal, and POSSIBLY take part in it.

The ship was stopped.  Several of our gunners mates had gathered on deck with M-1 Garands.  The aft brow was lowered down to the water.  All was ready...

The Captain had to be sure the ship was absolutely still.  Wood chips were dropped on the water to be sure the ship had stopped all forward motion.  It was stopped.

Now, there WAS a problem.

The Hector was rolling too much.  The aft brow would rise up and down too far to be a safe and easy way for the men in the water to regain safe access to the ship.  Time was allowed for the ship to stop rolling so much, but it didn't.

 After an hour or so, word was passed to secure from swim call and get back under way and that was all of that nonsense...

    I was stationed  with Harbor Defense Unit 1 in San Francisco, CA. in 1961. It was located on the Army base at the presidio. It was classified as shore duty then, and in 1962 the whole outfit transferred to Mine Pac in Long beach, CA. When it relocated the name changed to Inshore Undersea Warfare Group 1. They formed 3 units called MIUW'S, 11, 12, & 13. We were classed as brown water navy, and placed in country by Da Nang. So far about 50% of the # 11 unit has pasted away. AO, who knows? I know I am having my own fun with it, and the VA.

    What I am looking for is any one that is still alive that was stationed there in San Fran., or am I the last one. If any one knows any thing, let me know.    Thanks

Looking at 68-69 Hornet cruise book.You and I sure were a couple of very young guys.

howdy Jim from Dan Alan Seelye   CYN3 USS Hornet CVS 12 CR division.

Chip Johnston, a RADCON monitor in R-5 division, was killed in a car accident about a month ago.  Chip was a 3rd class Machinist Mate who transferred to the LY Spears when it was being built.

Good guy; not fair.

Thanks Doc for your welcome aboard comment.  I am sure we will be in touch again!

Awtrey Peace

Absolute Bearing, Free on Kindle today, 2/5 and tomorrow 2/6: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=node%3D154606011&field-keywords=Absolute+Bearing

"Like Tom Clancy. . ."

"Your ticket to High Adventure. . . "

"Not since reading Nicholas Monsarrat's THE CRUEL SEA have I read a sea story, indeed, a tale of life itself, like this."

I have drank 1 or 2 or maybe a lot can't remember  WASHTUB.jpg

 don't   know if putting this here will  help . as  all veterans our aware what is happening  in Washington D.C.  With  President  Obama  disregard for the rule of  law and our  Constitution . From  what I  heard there will be a March on  D.C. Coming  April of  excess over a  Million Veterans there intent is removal  of  Obama & his  Entire Cabinet and Administration along with Holder . north  Carolina

I recently cam across this picture that brought me back to remembering why I wanted to be a sailor.

As a young boy back in the early 60's I had an uncle and aunt that had a Summer home on Buzzard's Bay in Massachusetts. We spent most of our Summers there, swimming, boating and falling for the Summer girlfiends. There were a few occasions of this. But, the first one was one late afternoon when my uncle called my attention to a scene across the bay. He handed me a pair of binoculars and I immediately ran to the jetty on the beach. There across the bay was a scene I had only to that time seen in the movies. An entire battle group was making it's way to the canal and on to Boston. I could make out Destroyers, either a Cruiser or BB and a flat top! In those days it was probably an Essex class. There were a few support ships mixed in. I couldn't tell an oiler from a tender or a supply ship. All I knew is they were Navy ships! They were stretched out in what looked like single file and ran from one end of the bay to the other. I sat there glued to the site for a couple of hours, until the last stack disappeared into the canal. With the binoc's I could only barely make out some sailors on the carrier deck. But, I knew at that moment that one day I wanted to be one of those! There were other times that a single ship or a few would sail up the bay. But, that one scene of so many had already left it's impression.
  When I finally fulfilled that dream and donned my dress blues, I got the chance to see an entire armada of wartime veterans that were mothballed in San Diego in the early 70's. A shipmate from boot was stationed at the 32nd St base. One weekend, with his Chief's permission (of course), we got to explore a few. Walking the decks of those veterans (some with the still visuble scars of war) I felt the next level of awe that I experienced watching those ships sail by as a younger boy. I could hear in my mind the likes of a John Wayne yelling down to me from the bridge to "secure that line , sailor" or a Robert Mitchum instructing over the 1MC to "set depth charges to 100 feet"! We grew up in the 50's and 60's with many WW2 films with the influence of actors of their caliber. You felt you were watching the actual action as it happended. As a recruit and young sailor I met the real thing in the Chiefs and PO's that I swore I had seen in those films. Except, they were the real thing! We even had a war vet or two still active and spreading the influence of their verbal acumens and their spit shined boots on us green kids! I didn't have family in the Navy. My grandfather was WW1 Army (DSC plus awards) and my uncle had been on Patton's staff. Though it had started through imagining and day dreaming, I now knew what it felt to feel "Navy pride"!

I am looking for an ORIGINAL VA-85 patch, the one that shows the bomb

coming down through the clouds.  If you have one for sale, get in touch with me, please.