Washburn (AKA 108) - Naval Cruise Book

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UC DI VISION Stars waking in a purple sky as on- rushing night brightens their wink- ing eyes, sea and sky melt into unity and nature brings a quasi peace to coastal Vietnam. Suddenly over the edge of an invisible hori- zon, blinding flashes of light! A ship, visible only to the eye of Radar sends out her challenge. The shocking brightness spurs Signals to action and the beams of WASH- BURN's carbon arc light speed the reply. Reality returns as the mighty SAINT PAUL steams into view. Salvage signalman. Standing: LTJG Shaw, Malling, K,li,, Stiegelmeyer, D,R,, Hamilton, RAL, Davenport J,R, Cale ox M,K, Ha 'es R L RIN Kneeling: ENS Hawkins, wx N . I L i - '..,,-i,- I r., M' 5 I ---- K .- Ov A v -...A .., . , 8 5, , 5 , . ., JCM Gowenlock. Golinski, Kiser, E.B., Kruger, R,P,, Bilyeu RM1, SMC We signalmen are very familiar with the identifying of other ships. We well remember those three small black PT boats which wouldn't answer the challenge as they chased WASHBURN at 35 ' knots! Together with these nerve jangling memories are the hun- dreds of messages sent by flash- ing light, flaghoist and semaphore. Then too there was the one quar- ter inch of soot to remind us of Subic Bay and USS VANCOUVER and the countless hours of clean- ing the signal bridge only to hear the dread word, The Officer of the Deck is shifting his watch from the Pilot House to the Sig- nal Bridge. SOS SOS SOS the achingly famil- iar yet seldom heard call filled Radio with its frightening mes- sage, another ship in trouble. Our answer was heard by Search and Rescue, OKINAWA who took over the distress call, located the posi- tion of the endangered vessel and

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'inn' w I wgwwa Q , ,, Above: Second Class Civilian Brooks Left: 2820, 32,000 yards, Below: How the hell should I know. 3 IPCUIIQOIOC OIOQDOUOOO '+...., N x

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dispatched help. We still remember the feel- ing that swept through us as we heard that call, a chilling sensation that tightens the stomach and ices the blood. There were many lighter moments, filled with great satisfaction. We all remember how we relayed messages for the communications ship ANNAPOLIS while at Wunder Beach and the night we relayed messages to NAVCOMMSTA- PHIL for the USS RANGER. No one can forget the 8000 plus messages we processed or the starboard wing of the bridge that somehow was always dirty after we cleaned it. OC brings home many memories, both ship- board and on liberty in Sasebo, Hong Kong, Yokosuka and yes even Subic Bay and DaNang. And little Orphan Axmie said Y f 1 7 Tl : it l , S ti' :Si V Wonder if the coffee is ready? N f Q i ,mx 1 lm ln. Q ,V Now 1et's keep on top of that. AIG 2714389?? Would you like to see the boards, Sir? 'K 'NJ