FW: [R-390] Trip down R-390 memory lane, a Navy Radioman story from the operator side of the R-390 world

[Tom Chirhart]

R-390 Maniacs, here is a response I received from Jerry W5KP and with
his permission I am forwarding it to the group.  I heard from many of
you and not a single negative reply to my trip down memory lane.  Many
want to know "the rest of the story" referencing RM3 VS Commander, ships
Captain.  I'll post it next week unless the moderators say No More...
I'm not trying to blow my horn but it's always interesting to read
details from the operators, and exchange sea stories etc.  
There is an old sailor saying... What's the difference between a fairy
tale and a sea story?  One begins with "Once upon a time" and "This
ain't no sh**" 
Here is Jerry's story.... an ET's perspective... and it's not a fairy
tale.


-----Original Message-----
From: Jerry K [mailto:w5kp at direcway.com]
Sent: Sunday, February 13, 2005 12:59 PM
To: Tom Chirhart
Subject: RE: [R-390] Trip down R-390 memory lane,a Navy Radioman story
from the operator side of the R-390 world

Of course, as an ex-ET, I can't let that go without rebuttal. :-)

It's true we ET's didn't have much to do underway (or in port, for that
matter) IF the gear was up and our mainenance work was done.
When I went aboard my first ship in 1960 that was great for a while, but
I quickly got bored with it. Our RM's were constantly shorthanded, and
in
Port they were always on port and starboard duty (for non-sailors,
that's one day on, one day "off", except on your "off" day you work
0700-1600 before you can go home). This was because we had to keep a CW
op on watch 24/7, even in port. So just for the heck of it I learned CW
on my own, got myself qualified as an in port Radio Watch Supervisor,
and added myself to the RM watch bill. This usually allowed them to stay
on 3-section duty in port instead of port & starboard. This actually
wasn't as gallant as it
sounds, because if I hadn't done it I would have been on 3-section
quarterdeck watches like the other ET's anyway, and instead of sitting
in Radio Central and drinking coffee I'd have been standing around on
the quarterdeck at 3 AM yawning and freezing my butt. I figured I might
as well help out our "O" division (Operations Division/TC) guys instead,
and cut myself a good deal at the same time. Besides, I hated
quarterdeck watches with a passion throughout my entire 21 year Navy
career.
Our Radarmen (RD's, now called OS's if they even exist anymore) were in
The same situation in reverse. They were ok in port, but shorthanded as
heck
underway. So, what the heck, I started standing underway watches in CIC
(Combat Information Center) and was eventually qualified by the Ops
Boss (Operations Officer/TC), XO (Executive Officer #2/TC), and CO
(Commanding Officer/TC) as a CIC Watch Supervisor underway, which was a
pretty big deal as far as knowledge and responsibility go, as any RD/OS
will tell you.
Although several officers might get the axe first, the CIC supervisor
will be one of the first enlisted men to hang if the ship hits something
(or
even comes close), screws up a man overboard situation, makes a wrong
turn in formation, misses a tactical signal, or in general does anything
stupid
that might have been prevented if CIC had warned the OOD (Office Of the
Deck/TC, Officer in charge on the bridge)in time.
My first ship was a Gator Freighter (LSD)(Landing Ship Dock/TC), which
means a ship that supports amphibious landing operations involving
carrying a whole bunch of marines to a beach and coordinating getting
them ashore. Wouldn't you know it, our SM's Signalmen, (or
Skivvy-Wavers, as we called them) were short handed during amphib ops,
so since I already knew CW, I helped out on flashing light (that
blinking code you see ships exchanging in the movies, which is nothing
more than visual CW) during amphib landings. I did not qualify as a
Signal Bridge supervisor, though, because I never got good enough at
semaphore.
At one point I received a bit of publicity from the Squadron Commander's
PR people and some local bigwigs for being the only sailor on the west
Coast qualified as Radio Supervisor, CIC Supervisor, and Signal Bridge
watch
stander, as well as being the Leading ET at the time. To be honest none
of this was that big a deal, in fact it was kind of fun, but it
apparently
did wonders for me later when it came time to select Warrant Officers
and
LDO's (Limited Duty Officers), and I was picked up for warrant officer
first
try while I was still an E-6 with no hash marks (Hash marks indicate 4
years service, worn on sleeve of jacket etc/TC), although I did manage
to
make Chief ET (with one hash mark) before I was actually commissioned.
Anyway, the point is that Tom was mostly right, in that ET's sometimes
don't have enough to do. There were certainly times that I didn't. OTOH,
when the surface search radar goes hard down in a thick fog approaching
Hong Kong Harbor, or all three ship/shore transmitters go down at once,
or the
Goat Locker (Chief Petty Officers Mess/TC) stereo won't work right (heh
heh) they definitely earn their keep. BTW, we had eight 390A's on that
first ship (got them during an overhaul in '62) and I never (not once in
the two years I had them) had to touch one other than routine checks and
maintenance. Not a tube, not an alignment problem, nothing. That's why I
have two myself out in the shack today. And if any of my people had
filed a CASREP or an 8 O'clock report for some nickel-dime part and then
went on the beach, he'd best enjoy it that night, because his butt was
grass and I had the lawnmower. 
73, Jerry W5KP   Ex-ET, LT(LDO) USN, Ret
P.S. I got seasick first time out in 1960 on that damned flat-bottomed,
evil-riding LSD. Never again happened in the next 21 years, including
many ugly rides on FRAM II's. 

(FRAM was Fleet Rehabilitation And Modernization, a project to update
and upgrade existing ships that still had useful life in their hulls and
engineering equipment/TC, FRAM usually resulted in the addition of a
hurricane bow (pointy end of the ship up front/TC), ASROC, an
Anti-Submarine Rocket and other weapons systems/TC) 

Thanks Jerry for the ET perspective. 73
Tom