Comments

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  Dan Brown August 26, 2009 at 5:54pm

  When I put the HOLLAND into commission in Charleston, we had to mooch sand from the base foundry, because ours hadn't come in yet. While we were loading a truck with sand, I happened to spot several new jolt squeeze machines in one of the bays. Knowing that we were gonna have to make a million plaques somewhere down the lin, I stole (borrowed - for a longtime - actually) one. As we were getting ready to boogy off to Rota Spain to take care of a shoal of boomers, the base foundry manager, a guy by the name of Kennedy, came aboard to see our "midget" foundry, as he called it. He walked around the shop, made a few comments, and then he said to me " That's a good looking Osborn you've got there" I nodded and smiled, and that's all he said about it. As he started to go out the hatch, my division office , Lt Hugh Henry turned to me and said " What the hell is an Osborn, and where the hell did it come from" ? I told him "Mr Henry, an Osborn is a molding machine, which will dramatically improve our production, and as for the other question - you really don't want to know". A couple days later he called the foundry to tell me to make sure that the Osborn (which we immediately dubbed the "Plaque Shitter" was put on the accountables list. True story.
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  Joe Rhea August 21, 2009 at 4:06pm

  USS Vulcan was decommissioned by the US Navy in 1991 after 50 years of service and was placed into the Reserve Fleet at Fort Eustis, where she was laid up until 2006 when she was sold for scrapping to Bay Bridge Enterprises. She was removed from the fleet in December 2006 and broken up in 2007.
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  Roland Cardin August 20, 2009 at 12:00pm

  Are Repair ships are gone too? Anyone know which was the last survivor?
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  Glenn Kamppi August 17, 2009 at 8:05pm

  Yeah Joe, you hit the nail on the head. Tenders are GONE, with the exception of Emory S. Land. They still aren't 100% with what they're going to do with Frank Cable.
  
  It is a crying shame that some Admirals sitting behind desks and hadn't been on a ship in YEARS, much less knew a Tender's capabilities, would strike us (and our PM's, IM's, OM's, etc.) and our ships as gone, before they really knew how bad it would screw the Navy.
  
  When I was on the Chandler (DDG-996) in Everett, from '97 - '99 as 3MC and SMMO, we had a Planning Board for Maintenance with CAPT Meyer, who was the Commodore of DESRON 9. I had told him I was a Molder prior to the rating disestablishment. At that time, Everett's SIMA/IMF was located on 2 barges, as they weren't sure where on the small base they could put the SIMA/IMF.
  
  Anyway, the Skipper asked me if I could give the Commodore a ride back to DESRON HQ, so I did. During the ride, CAPT Meyer said "Chief, what could we do here to have a better Repair and Maintenance facility?" I didn't hesitate for one second before I said "Bring a Tender up here and weld it to the Pier, you won't get better work ANYWHERE!" He said, "I would have to agree with you there, but it's too bad we can't sell that idea to the Flags back in DC." I know so many people who have said the same thing over the years. Tenders did more than work and work that no one thought shipboard sailors could ever do, then could just about any SIMA/IMF.
  
  I have so many sea stories of things we made that "they" said couldn't be made on a ship that it isn't even funny.
  
  With the lack of training and many "A" Schools going away, the new guys coming up the ranks are clueless on how to be anything but operators. The guys who are now Chiefs have either not been trained properly or are, I hate to say this, too lazy to teach their people anything nowadays. I see this EVERYDAY!
  
  Soon, everything will be outsourced to civilians who may or may not have the skills to get the job done. We are lucky here in PACNORWEST that we have a butt-ton of retired Chiefs working at the Regional Maintenance Center (RMC), who know where they came from and still give a rat's ass about doing the right thing and providing leadership and training to shipboard sailors, who's Chiefs don't give a crap. It will get worse before it gets better, I'm sure. I don't know what it will take, but someday the Navy WILL regret that they got rid of all those ratings and Tenders.
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  Joe Rhea August 17, 2009 at 8:41am

  I do not think that the Repair ships will ever come back. It appears that the Navy has got out of the repair business. If is my experence that the Sailors today are being trained as "operators" and for the most part can not repair what they are operating. With all of the demands placed on today's Sailor (since 9/11 and the war) with force protection issues, smaller crew sizes, the aggressive training cycle prior to deployment, and the underway schedule there leaves little time for anything else.
  
  The Navy has lost (or is loosing) the skill set of the repair ratings. Take a HT or MR fresh out of "A" school put them on a small boy in "R" division and thier days are going to be spent doing doing DC stuff, general repairs and standing watches. They may only actually weld or machine a few times a year. Gone are the days of a Tender, SIMA, Tender, SIMA rotation so the repair rates never really have the chance to be profecient at what they do. It may be different on the carriers. In 2005 the frigate I was on had an avail with the ES Land and it was a waste of time because there was not much we could get done.
  
  Glenn still works on the base and interacts with Sailors every day and can probaly give a better perspective. Not sure what has changed since 2006
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  Roland Cardin August 15, 2009 at 7:09pm

  I made one,painted it, Then gave one of the guys coffee in it. Of course the spoon wouldn't come out
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  Dennis Pennington August 15, 2009 at 12:42am

  Yeah check out the chat box bottom right beside where it says Navy Veterans Chat | and number Online. Just hit the little up arrow with the line above it and a window will pop up, you can then click on the persons name and go to private chat or just type in the other box and everyone will see it. You can also sign out and sign in by clicking on the little person bottom right with the green dot when you sign out it will got to a red dot.
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  Richard caswell August 14, 2009 at 11:47pm

  Did'nt realize this had a chat feature will definatly keep an eye out to see if anyones on at the same time
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  aldo crose August 14, 2009 at 11:29pm

  I remember John Gleason when he was a mlfn and he made ml3 before he left the ship. Also Frank Prisciandare was on the Puget Sound and got out after four years. He now lives in N.Y. City with his wife and works for the school system. Don't know if anyone remembers Herb Munker but he made CWO4 before he retired and is now in Norfolk working for the Gov. I knew Terry Harris when he was a ML2. He retired and is now in Norfolk working with Herb. MLCS Paul was someone that I respected a lot. He sure new the Molder Rate.
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  Dennis Pennington August 14, 2009 at 6:58pm

  Appreciate it Glenn!