Durham (LKA 114) - Naval Cruise Book

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-.. X mnnmnslgnn.-M ' T n November of 1968 the towering crosstrees were 'the only identifiable objects on DURHAM as she rested pierside with her sister-ship, CHARLESTON ILKA-1131 in the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company Shipyards. Everywhere trees were- thin- ning in the anticipation of the winter months, but in the shipyard one couldn't tell if it were late fall or early spring. The clanging bells of yard cranes drowned the season's sounds and factory smells. concealed the incense of burning leaves. I Shipyard workers scurried across DURHAM s decks like bees, carrying their tools into her superstructure, honeycombing her levels with compartments. Welding Where it all began rods and coke cans cluttered the corners. Wiring dangled from the overheads waiting to be connected. Metal shavings collected on the decks under miles of estranged scaffolding. The sailors who wandered about DURHAM then, with their green shipyard passes, were members of the nucleus crew, which numbered approximately 76 by the end of November. IC1 George Meiser is reputed to have been the first person to have reported to the DURHAM in early July, 1968. It was rumored in November that the ship would be commissioned in January. The two month interim lengthened into almost a year of shore duty for George and into an expanded training program for the Precommissioning Detail. Crew members being received for DURHAM were routed to Newport News and Norfolk Naval Base. The nucleus crew resided in Newport News and were under the supervision of DURHAM's prospective Commanding Officer, Captain John D. Stensrud. They were the technicians and overseers of the work being accom- plished by the shipyard. They served as instructors, also, for the balance crew and put a considerable amount of time into the writing of the necessary departmental organizational manuals and guides. The offices for the nucleus crew were located on the third floor of a small red brick building at the end of 33rd Street, just outside the shipyard. Not far from there many of the crew rented their apartments on Dresdin Drive. lt was a comfortable time for most of them, receiving per diem they had to find ways of spending and breaking at 1000 and trotting over to the Triangle or Capital restaurants for lunch. Everyone probably remembers Retha at the Triangle and Skinny Faye and Fat Faye fNumber one and number two Fayel at the Capital. They did a lot of partying. Mike Watchinski and John Carlton hosted one practically every weekend in their Aug. 7, 1967 apartment. When asked about those parties one day, John answered in a daze, as if the question had taken him all the way back to Newport News, All the women a man could ever want in his whole life . . . oh, me. Mike Watchinski and Jim Atkins had their weddings in Newport News. information on Mike's wedding has been recently declassified for publication. Those who attended may remember how he carried his wife over the threshold. There wasn't any tradition involved . .. she just drank a little too much at the reception and had to be helped across. BM2 Stan Harris can attest that the jails in Newport News are deathly cold. He had occasion to spend a night in one on a roll of toilet paper when the police picked him up in a diner for being intoxicated. Stan had seen them come in and started out. He casually lighted a cigarette and flicked it into his mouth, only the wrong end went in and the police quietly led Stan away. He never received a balloon or blood test, and certainly tried to contest his confinement, but he had burned his tongue so badly that it was painful for him to talk intelligibly. Looking back on Newport News seems ancient to most. To some, though, the interim has just been so many yesterdays. lt's ancient when you think of BT2 John Greene or Carl Moe Mohowitsch. lt's yesterday when you're down in the hole joking with Rocky fHarold Roussel, Jr.l and Stack fAIlan Sztuczko.l N9WDOrt News was when WO1 Dave Morton had just 6 125cc Honda, and was falling off it just as often. lt was when Stack happened to see LCDR John Woods in the back of the Book Store down the street from the Excel, the one that usually had the sign on the door, Closed-in court. lt was when Stack and Dave Morton took an fishing trip to Lake Maury, which was to have been filmed by the television series, Sports Spectacular . . . or so Stack told BT1 Ersul Sowers' wife. She stayed