William V Pratt (DDG 44) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 20 text:

X B-DIVISION The Boiler Technicians of B-Division provide the steam which gives power to the ship. These men are the first on board the ship when we get underway, and the last to leave the ship when we enter port. The Steamers do the N-.XR improbable by getting the ' most out of the least. B-Division is headed by Ensign M. A. Schwartz. ENS M. A. SCHWARTZ 0 f 'dx I---'iv 4-Chief Engineer, lay to the bridgey.

Page 19 text:

THE SNIPE'S LAMENT Now each of us, from time to time, has gazed upon the sea, And watched the warships pulling out to keep this country free. And most of us have read a book or heard a lusty tale, About the men who sail these ships through lightening, wind and ale , h But, there's a place within each ship that legend fails to teach, A place of fire and heat and noise to drown out any speech. It's down below the waterline and it takes a living toll. It's a hot, metallic, living hell that sailors call the hole . It houses engines run by steam, to make the shafts go 'round, A place of fire and sweat and toil that beats the spirit down, Where boilers with their hellish heat, with blood of angry steam, Those molded gods without remorse, more nightmare than a dream. The fires roar with a threat that leaves you with no doubt, That anytime they can escape and quickly crush you out. The turbines scream like tortured souls alone and lost in hell, But men respond to those above and answer every bell. These men who keep the fires lit and make the engines run, Are strangers to the world of light and seldom see the sun. They have no time for men or gods, no tolerance for fear, Their aspect pays no living thing the tribute of a tear. There is not much that men can do that these men haven't done, Beneath the decks, deep in the hole, to make the engines run. And every hour of every day, they keep their watch in hell, For if the fires should ever fail, the ship's a useless shell. When ships converge to have war upon an angry sea, The men below just grimly smile at what their fate could be. They're locked below like men foredoomedg they hear no battle cry. It's well assumed that if they're hit, the men below will die. For every day's a war down there, when the gauges are all red. Twelve hundred pounds of heated steam can kill you mighty dead. So, if you ever write their sons, or listen to their tale, The very words will make you hear the firey furnace wail. But people, for the most, never hear of men of steel, And little's heard about the place, and less of what men feel. But, I can sing about this place and try to make you see, The hardened life of men down there, 'cause one of them is me. I've seen the sweat-soaked heroes fight in superheated air, To keep our ship alive and right, though few men know we're there And thus we'll fight for ages on, 'til warships sail no more, Amid the boiler's mighty heat and the turbines hellish roar. So when you see a ship pull out to meet a mighty foe, Remember faintly, if you can, those men who sail below.

Page 21 text:

Front row: BTFA Hardy, BT8 Farley, BTFN Dunkley, BTFN Williams, BT2 Wilson, BTFA Socarras. Back row: ENS Schwartz, BTFN Clark, BTFR Shepard, BTFN Bell, BTFN McClendon, BT2 Stepherson, BTC Odom. BTI Brlgman, BT8 Baragona, BT1 Hunter. Knellng: BTCM Freeman, BT1 Iocca. Front row: BTFA Patton, BTFN Joress, BTFR Baker. Second row: FN Connelly, BT2 Lynch, BT3 Black, BT2 Haston, FR Jurasevich, BT2 Coppedge. K , - Qg A , Kneeling: BT3 Moody, BTCM Freeman, BTFA Fairfax. Front row: BTS Posey, BT1 Cazier, BTFN Province, BT8 Barnes. Second row: BTFN Prucino, BTFN Hayhurst, BTS Billings, BT3 Benson. 2 F .mu-f