I was on the Albany when EM3 Duncan was killed. I went to the freezer every evening until we arrived in port to check on him. He stayed and shutdown the engine room switchboard, giving his life to save countless others. We also hit a concrete buoy on that cruise. It damaged two screws and the shafts had to be welded. We continued on the North Atlantic Cruise and went 50 miles north of the arctic circle on one screw. After the cruise, we had to offload ammo in Yorktown before going into dry dock in Portsmouth for major repairs. That is when we hit the bridge. The bridge operator could not open the bridge fast enough to allow us to pass through at the speed the ship was traveling. I understand it took months to repair the bridge. I remember being called to general quarters when we hit it. I looked up and saw the pilot house pushing the bridge. It knocked antennas and radar directors off and it is so fortunate that no one was injured or killed.
I was on the Albany when we escorted 2 Russian Destroyers into Boston Harbor. We were allowed to go on board their ships and they on ours. I took a bunch of Russians to thrift stores in Boston and bought them bluejeans. This was back during the "Cold War".
I crossdecked to the sister ship, USS Littlerock in Italy and road her to Philly. She was to be mothballed so, while crossing the Atlantic, I painted the billboard size cartoon on the side of the aft Talos Radar Director. It was a pony express cowboy riding a scaled version of a Talos Missile. The cartoon was bright colors on a gray Heavy Cruiser so when we pulled into Philly all the news cameras got closeups of it. LOL
Was on Albany as HTCS from Jun75 to Aug76 made NATO Cruise in 75 and we were a few days out and had a fire in #2 boiler room lost EM3 Duncan will never forget that day. I also lost my HT1 J. H. Smith who passed away on the cruise.Also was on it the day we hit the bridge going up the river to off load amo with all that i liked the ship the best . Had one hell of a good Div officer for R Div & a good friend HTC Mc Candless who has since passed .
On Board with HC-2, '77-'78..."choochoo Train" was comsixthfleet...took us on a tour of the french and italian riveria..including the east coast of italy..what a cruise
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I was on the Albany when EM3 Duncan was killed. I went to the freezer every evening until we arrived in port to check on him. He stayed and shutdown the engine room switchboard, giving his life to save countless others. We also hit a concrete buoy on that cruise. It damaged two screws and the shafts had to be welded. We continued on the North Atlantic Cruise and went 50 miles north of the arctic circle on one screw. After the cruise, we had to offload ammo in Yorktown before going into dry dock in Portsmouth for major repairs. That is when we hit the bridge. The bridge operator could not open the bridge fast enough to allow us to pass through at the speed the ship was traveling. I understand it took months to repair the bridge. I remember being called to general quarters when we hit it. I looked up and saw the pilot house pushing the bridge. It knocked antennas and radar directors off and it is so fortunate that no one was injured or killed.
I was on the Albany when we escorted 2 Russian Destroyers into Boston Harbor. We were allowed to go on board their ships and they on ours. I took a bunch of Russians to thrift stores in Boston and bought them bluejeans. This was back during the "Cold War".
I crossdecked to the sister ship, USS Littlerock in Italy and road her to Philly. She was to be mothballed so, while crossing the Atlantic, I painted the billboard size cartoon on the side of the aft Talos Radar Director. It was a pony express cowboy riding a scaled version of a Talos Missile. The cartoon was bright colors on a gray Heavy Cruiser so when we pulled into Philly all the news cameras got closeups of it. LOL
Was on Albany as HTCS from Jun75 to Aug76 made NATO Cruise in 75 and we were a few days out and had a fire in #2 boiler room lost EM3 Duncan will never forget that day. I also lost my HT1 J. H. Smith who passed away on the cruise.Also was on it the day we hit the bridge going up the river to off load amo with all that i liked the ship the best . Had one hell of a good Div officer for R Div & a good friend HTC Mc Candless who has since passed .
Came aboard 11/76 then cross decked to the Puget Sound 05/80. Came aboard as a FA left as a BT3 I have some great memories.