ANYONE ELSE THERE?
22NOV1975 flight ops off the coast NW coast of Sicily. It is just a few minutes past 2200 we have just heard the evening prayer from the Chaplain, and the collision alarm starts sounding. The USS John F Kennedy suddenly rocks sharply to the starboard side. The GQ alarm is sounding. I am 18 yrs. old and aboard my first ship for just 3 weeks. My GQ station is REPAIR 3, the after mess-decks. "Time Plus 4, set ZEBRA". Somehow the USS Belknap CTG-26 has collided with us. Many lives were lost that…
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Was a photo mate on there 72-74
I'm working with the next generation aircraft carrier. The first in the class (CVN 78) will be the USS Gerald R. Ford. What may surprise many of you, and certainly surprised me, is that CVN 79 will be named USS John F. Kennedy. I personally prefer names such as 'Enterprise', 'Constellation', 'America', and 'United States', but they didn't ask me what I thought. <s>
As I remember, the ship was always referred to as 'Big John' until then-Captain Tuttle took command and started referring to it as 'Super K'. When I went back aboard in 1981 it was referred to as 'Big John' again.