Floyd Parks (DD 884) - Naval Cruise Book

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The Esther Incident Back in 1943, the American Naval Liason Officer for Australian forces in the Far East placed in competition between ships of the Allied powers, a picture of Esther Williams, and a very striking photo it is. Through the war years and since, a code of rules has been de- veloped to govern this competition. The original picture is mounted on a wooden frame together with a running account of the history of the trophy added by each ship as she takes possession. A copy of the picture known as the fighting copy is mounted in a plastic frame and displayed in the wardroom of the ship holding the trophy. The idea is that the fighting copy must be taken by force by the wardroom officers of the ship on the offensive from the wardroom officers of the possessing ship. Once the 'ffightingn copy is taken, the trophy must be delivered over to the new ship having Esther and the new ship must be prepared to defend her against all other comers. The trophy cannot leave the Japanese area and if her ship is relieved, it must be transferred. During the winter on 18 February 1950 the ship found itself in Sasebo Ko with HMAS Shoal Haven. The ship's wardroom officers played a rather strenuous softball game Saturday afternoon in the course of which there was some discussion as to whether Shoal Haven could hold Esther against an assault by Parks. After a brief exchange of dispatches Shoal Haven knew they could standby for a raid that same Saturday night. The commando party consisting of Lt. Karcher, Lt. Emerson, Lt. Busch, Lt. Cjg.j Bres, Ens. Trejo, and Ens. Cohen left the ship in the bottom of the VP intent upon stealing up on the quarterdeck watch and boarding over the accom- modation ladder before the defenders could muster their forces. Mr. Emerson and Mr. Trejo stood in the boat wearing white hats and trying to look like some of the returning liberty party in spite of the beat-up khakis they were wearing. The ruse worked perfectly and the OOD was overpowered and hog-tied. Mr. Weidman had gone to Shoal Haven for dinner and had hoped to be in a good position to give the raiders a hand from the inside when the time came. After' about two hours of hand-to-hand combat which turned the Shoal Haven's wardroom into a shambles and completely exhausted all hands engaged in the battle, an armistice was signed which gave Esther to the Parks for what we hoped would be a long stay aboard. The victory was celebrated with a short party Sunday aboard Shoal Haven followed by dinner on Parks Sun- day noon. Unfortunately, Esther's stay on our ship was short lived. About a week later three officers from Orleck pulled a fast shuffle in our wardroom and one of them dived overboard with the fighting copy before we could take care of him. The same afternoon the ship was to get under- way so we felt that the only honorable thing to do was to make a counter raid to recover her. The boarding by Lt. Emerson, Lt. Busch, Lt. Cjg.j Bres, Ens. Weidman, Ens. Hutchinson, Ens. Hallman, Ens. Trejo and Ens. Cohen, was effected very well, but during the ensuing battle all our officers were pitched into the harbor where our whaleboat was busily engaged in picking up survivors. We did not again have the honor of holding Esther, but did get a letter from Esther, herself, expressing her appreciation for our efforts ' in her behalf. The following masterpiece of modern literature was composed several days after our tangle with Shoal Haven. l- In all seriousness it can be said that such friendly competition is a very good way to be- come acquainted with our comrades-in-arms of the other sea-faring nations of the world and does wonders to make a tour of duty in the Far East enjoyable.

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