Benham (DD 796) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 15 text:

V A Back Row: MILLIKEN, Hl ' SONG, SHARPE. PELTON, HOPKINS, MISCHENKO, SCHOLTZ. Front Row: LTJG HALBERT, HARPER, MCKINNON, PFARR, HEFFERLY, SILVESTER, STAUSS, ALLOY. Kneeling: LAVIGNE, HENRY, GIPSON, CAIN. WELCH. ABE. EDGE. C DIVISION The O Division is composed of the Radarmen, Sonarmen, and Electronics Technicians. Besides operating the radar equipment, the radarmen must keep a constant plot of all vessels in the ship ' s vicinity. This information when used on the bridge is a deciding factor in preventing serious collisions, especially when making high speed maneuvers with other ships. The radarmen ' s headquarters is the Combat Information Center. Here vital information is gathered from a myriad of radio speakers, radar scopes, and maneuvering boards and quickly distributed to wherever it is required. A constant threat to any navy is attack from beneath the surface. Utilizing complex electronic equipment, the sonarmen keep a never-ending vigil over the vast expanses beneath the waves. With their equipment they seek out both the human threat of enemy submarines and nature ' s obstacles, such as rocks, shoals and sunken ships. Keeping the Eyes and Ears of the Fleet in top operating condition is the task of the Electronics Technicians. Correcting equipment failures is the primary purpose of the ET ' s, but a large amount of the work . Bcs ' done behind the scenes. Keeping track of t iW J M thousands of spare parts, maintaining rec- lll k ' K m ords, and making running checks on equip- . YAJ ' B i H ' B ' ' ' ° ' ' troubles before they occur are - H ' ' 1 examples of these behind the scenes jobs. w- 2 H| U B three rates contribute to make the ' ' BENHAM a top ship of the line .

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,- t-V V I ' Bjci Row: LILLIE, BENNETT, OWEN. LLOYD. RICHBURG. CHAMBERS. ROY. GONZALES MiJMe: ENS COSGROVE, ERASER. GRAY, PETERSON. KEENER, FARRY. RONEN. GOBBLE, JONES, ENS CURRY. Sitting: TINGEY, PIACENTINO, GIRARD, SPANGLER, SICARD, MCKEE, STONG. Missing: EVICK, QMC, BYLAND, E.M , BYLAND. D. W. C DIVISION The five rates, Quartermaster, Radioman, Teleman, Yeoman and Personnelman, send and receive all the com- munications aboard our ship. Each rate has a special method of carrying out its part of communications. The Yeoman and Personnelman take care of all correspondence. This correspondence may be in the form of transfers or requests for about anything you can think of. They publish the plan of the day, handle all liberty cards and leave papers, and see that everything which pertains to the ship ' s personnel is put into the individual ' s service record. The Personnelmen also maintain the Personnel Accounting System. Radiomen are the wireless operators, responsible for all radio traffic that may take place. They stand a twenty- four hour watch both in port and underway receiving the dits and dahs from many different stations. These men also set up the radios for the tactical signals that are received during operations at sea. You may also find near the Radio Shack a few Telemen. Telemen are the ship ' s mailmen that re- ceive, sort, and hand out the ship ' s mail. The Quartermasters rely on the flashing light and flags for their part of the communications team — the visual side. The signalmen use these plus the semaphore code and flag hoists to relay the messages to other ships and to shore stations. The Quarter- masters stand quartermaster watches underway and are the Officer-of-the-Deck ' s right hand men. They also keep an hourly weather log and the quarter- master ' s Notebook in which is recorded all the events that take place aboard at the time they happen. Thus the C Division is one of the most im- portant divisions aboard our ship, for without com- munications there can not be any unity in operations and each ship alone would be totally ineffective.

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?.-t r i »« ft.f ' l- ' f »1 4 Z j Rc u. MCCORMACK. PASSMORE. C. A. ROSS, E. J. ROSS. SCHULTZ, SCOTT. Third Row: REYNOLDS. DAVIS, MCANALLY. BIRCH, LOE, O KEEFE, ANDERSON, HEIM, HOLCOMB, POSTELL, CROCKETT, DALTON. Second Row: TITLIS, BUCKHOLTZ, FERNJACK, DAWSON, KIEWRA. MORRISON, PRYOR, CICCIU, COSTA, PERRIN. WOODS, ROTON, KRATZ. Front Row: REED, BULLOC, DRAGON, MIXON, HALL, EZZO, RALFCH, SPENCER, MCMILLAN, YOCUM. E DIVISION The engineering division is one of the largest aboard ship. It is made up of Boilermen and Machinist ' s Mates who work below the main deck. Usually it is hot and sweaty in the bowels of the ship but these snipes continue to wrestle the valves, manufacture steam, regulate the steam pressure, and govern the speed of the ship. To move, a ship must have steam for power and the BT ' s have their job tending hell hot boilers. It isn ' t easily done but after a watch, these sweaty, grimey, fuel oil smelling snipes know that it is a job that has to be done and they are proud to be doing it. ' Midst regulators, pumps, gears, generators, and evaps, Machinist ' s Mates spend the day in the engine rooms. It is their job to convert steam to power and to regulate the speed of the ship. The Motor Macks convert sea water to fresh water for personal uses and for use in the galley, laundry, sick bay and the boilers. To maintain this essential machinery, their time is filled with constant checks, work and repair; for the heart of a ship must not stop pumping. This credit to give a ship its life goes to the E Division.