John McCain (DDG 36) - Naval Cruise Book

Text from Pages 1 - 104 of the 1971 volume:

STATION LIBRARY BLDG. 7-B NAVAL HOSPITAL SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA 9?H4 STATION UBKA Y BLDG 7-ft NAVAL HOSPITAL 3AN OIEGO, CALIFORNIA 83r ■-■-.. Any day around four o ' clock in the afternoon you can sit just around the corner from Burton ' s Botique and do a little people watching. McCain City is not a whole lot different from any other seacoast town of Us general size and geography, but it ' s our city, and that makes all the difference in the world. It does have the advantage (disadvantage some say) of being mobile, and admittedly that makes it unique in some respects -like the day the Mayor decided to lake the city on a little 35,000 mile jaunt over to the other side of the world. Needless to say, the idea stirred up a little excitement, and the assistant mayor asked me to keep a diary of the trip and try and get it printed up by one of them big city publishers. Well I did, and they did, and so here it is . . . This here is the Governor. II • were very glad to have him along mi the trip, and although much of his time was taken up with affairs of stale, I suspect he still found lime hi enjoy the places in 1 visited. Is u jnatler of fact, I recall u lime when the Governor mis playing golj with c Mayoral McCain Country Club and thishippie with a gold crown came up and . . . Iml I guess I ' ll save llml sim for later, [nyway il turns mil llml the Governor is a pretty interesting fellow as you can see. CAPT Guv Morton Neeley 4 CAPT William Haley Rogers COMDESRON 23 f yM 4 ' W B 4 v lH i COMMANDING OFFICER i - - Ns ; J O- — Naturally my diary wouldn ' t be complete without a few words about the mayor. This little trip was bis idea, and be managed to get us through it unscathed despite the efforts of the Navigator, and the ever present danger of falliii off the edge of the earth The Mayor got him one of them new-fangled press secretaries, so I had him write up a little piece on the Mayor. I put it in here exactly the same as he wrote it. since he ' s a much cleverer fellow than I, and he knows bow to spell too. Commander David N. Denton entered the Navy in. 1953 and received recruit training at the Naval Training Center, San Diego, California. He subsequently entered the Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island, and mas commissioned. In addition to a widely varied series of sea and shore duty assignments, Commander Denton attended the Naval Postgraduate school in Monterey. California, and the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. In June, 1969, he was assigned Commanding Officer of USS JOHN S McCAIN (DDG-36). Commander Denton is a native of Jefferson City, Tennessee, and a graduate of Carson-Newman College with a Master ' s degree in International Affairs from George Washington University rid N Denton, USN ] 4 a • When the mayor decided to take the city across the Pacific, he figured it would be better to leave the women iiinl children behind, and let the menfolk face the unknown adventures ahead. It took .1 little getting used to, but in short order we saw the wisdom in this decision S we made our fairwells, kissed our wives and kids one last time, and followed Homer Greeley ' s advice. The city ' s part time astrologer, alchemist, and wizard used a combination of scientific skill ami dumb luck to get the city to Hawaii. As we approached, we stood dressed in our Sunday-go-to-meetm clothes waitin for the canoes of bronzed natives and nubile, grass- skirted dancin girls to meet ns. I guess they must have been busy or somethiu, cause they didn ' t quite make it. We decided to stick around a couple of days anyway, while tin- city council attended a high level conference. Even though they didn ' t serve popcorn, the show was pretty interestiu and it helped us quite a bit in gettiu our bearings. UNDERWAY REPLENISHMENT Standin straight and tall in our Sunday-go-to-meetin clothes especially donned for the occasion, we left the Pearl of the Pacific behind and pushed on towards the places that retired jockey, Marco Polo, once visited We were afraid we might run out of gas on the way, hut the Light and Power department, with a little help from public works, solved the problem in fine fashion. Of course ri i um across those floatin gas stations helped some too. SOUTHERN CROSS ccordin to a book I was readin, the Battle oj Sunda Straits look place on February 28, 1942 In the fierce battle that ensued, the U.S. Wiry cruiser HOI STON, and the Australian cruiser PERTH were sunk Since we were passin clou- by the spot where the battle took place, ISM Group Three participated in a ceremony held in rememberance oj our fallen comrades SUNDAY MISS SHELLBACK Bein at sea so long and all, some of the townsfolk were hankerin for the sight of a little fevime fatale, so the Mayor decided to have a beauty contest, he said not to worry about where the beauties would come from, human nature being what it is, if you announce the contest, the beauties will show up somehow. I guess the Mayor knows more than he lets on, cause quite a collection of lovelies showed up. Picking a winner was quite a problem as you can tell by these pictures I took. I did think some of the contestants were a little strange, in fact one of them reminded me of an old girl friend — Yokum I believe her name was. CROSSING THE LINE VTTTv . , One of the things everyone was worried about, was gettin attacked by pirates, and sure enough it happened Tbey mtisiii sniick up onus, cause I didn ' t see their ship I recall that at the turn-, the Navigator was lost somewhere around a place they call the Equator s N G A P O R E OH HONG KONG HOME - 1 0 J C TV J J E Jt ■ — - £ m t S ct— • - - I v 3 ) r EXECUTIVE OFFICERS LCDR Kenneth F. Robinson graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1957. His first assignment was Communications and ASW Officeraboard the USS BEATTY (DD-756I Additional assignments included Executive Officer aboard USS EXPLOIT (MSO 440), assignment to the U.S. Naval Post Graduate School. Weapons Officer aboard the USS GOLDSBOROUGH (DDG-20) and attendance at the Naval War College. LCDR Robinson is serving on COMSEVENTH Fleet Staff. When llw old vice-mayor got elected mayor of one of our neighboring towns, the city was looking around for a replacement, when the prey ' fox came along. He had no trouble filling the bill and the reasons are obvious from this background info I wheedled out of the mayor ' s, press secretary: LCDR Thomas W. KELLY III, USN graduated from Marine Maritime Academy in the class of 1959. Following his first assignment as Fire Control Officer on the USS BOXER (LPH-41, LCDR Kelly served in a variety of challenging assignments, including Executive Officer aboard USS SWERVE MSOI495), Operations Officer aboard USS CLAUDE V. RICKETTS (DDG-5) and attendance at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. Prior to reporting aboard USS John S. McCain, LCDR Kelly served as Operations Officer on the staff of COMINELANT. WEAPONS DEPARTMENT Don ' t remember if I told you about the still they ' ve got in the sewers underneath Main Street (course they don ' t call it that, they use fancy words like evaporator, condenser, and such). Well anyway it ' s quite a big rig, and you should see the arsenal they got in case the revenuers come around. Nothiu like our old squirrel guns, mind you but guns big as trees and some new-fangled rockets and torpedoes. Even got an alarm that goes off when the revenuers get close. They all look like respectible citizens, though, pretendin they ' re paintin all the time. But when that alarm goes off, they grab for their guns fast enough. Kinda feel sorry for them revenuers. LT Stephen A. Phillips LTJG Thomas F. Keener LTJG Michael Marsh Like most other cities, we got our public works department. They keep the parks and walkways lookiu real fine, and they post KIEF- THE CITY GREY signs around so nobody spoils the looks. Their motto is service with a smile , even on a Sunday afternoon when folks drop in out of the sky on their oversized eggbeaters. SN Scott M Powell SN Stanley I Shutes FN William D Hansen FIRST DIVISION SA Anthony M. Benware SA Wayne J. Correia SA Dennis R. Given UJ 1 rif H M SA James M Laquerre SECOND DIVISION SN Hoiljnd L Stephen Bcin at sea presents certain hazards, like the possibility of attack by pirates. The Mayor was a little worried about this so he got a couple of old cannons and put em at each end of town. After a little practice, it got so the gunners could hit most anything they set their sights on. Only trouble is, tin- one time ive were attacked by pirates, the gunners didu ' t even lift a finger. In fact, they spent most of their time crawlin around on their bauds and knees beggiu for mercy. Can ' t say too much, though, so ivas I. GMG3 Daniel R. McF SN George M. Mr ' , A KinsHUi F TIVI2 Raymond THIRD DIVISION FTM2 Donald A. Nisse FTM2 Robert E. Ommert «$ ; - Bj o, I A FTM3 Ronald D. Duncan FTM3 Dale R. Schildknecht FTM3 Dennis W. Grafdou A ex C. Trent SN Larry L Martin One of McCain City ' s more unique attractions is the space center. Despite some initial misgivings when the government first built it, we get along well now, and they get a pretty good turnout when they run a launch. So far they haven ' t got any satellites in orbit, but we ' ve wiped out three toy planes and a lifeboat in fine style. FTMC Jonathan J. Pede GMM2 Haldor L. Julson, Jr GMM2 Eugene R. Akerberg GMM1 Clayton Ware, Jr GMM1 Harold R. Litty FOURTH DIVISION STCS Cass A. Wilson TM3 Joseph H. Harris STG3 Lee W. Milde 4fe %. i SN Rodger A Buller STGSA Gerald A. Murphy kfj TM3 Harold D. Westover STG3 Michael J. Zorawowicz Deep below McCain City ' s streets, in a specially con- structed underground bunker, is the Mayor ' s research lab. His latest project is the Model 23 whale detector. Noting the troubles encountered by one Ahab, whaling master, circa 1800, as documented in a text on the subject the Mayor picked up in the City library, he decided to come up with a more modern method. So far the Model 23 has performed quite well, having detected many species of marine life, especially those big black steel whales. Now if he could only find a way to get rid of the infernal noise it makes, he ' have a real hot item. ENS Charles F Hengels OPERATIONS DEPARTMENT When I first beard about tbis bunch, I figured they was just wbo I was lookiu for to get my trick knee fixed up. But either they ' re the strangest hunch of doctors I ever run across, or I got the wrong idea (personally I think they ' re just strange). Anyway, whatever it is they do looks pretty exciting Some of em watch television all day, some listen to the radio, and the rest get to fix the TV ' s and radios when the others bust em. Oh yeah, there ' s also a bunch that sits on the roof all day sun bathin, but I reckon they must be personal friends of the Mayor. RM3 James R. Ayres SM3 James T. Berry RM3 George A. 8rubaker OC DIVISION Since we were going to be away from the country and all, the Mayor figured we ought to have some way to keep in touch with things. The answer was McCain City ' s own Western Union office. Finding that we numbered among our more renowned citizens the grandson of the famous Wells Fargo, the Mayor immediately put him in charge as the logical choice to run the new facility. In his typically creative fashion, Mr. Fargo soon improved on the somewhat antiquated telegraph equipment by adding an advanced flashing light system with the phenomenal range of five miles! Rumor has it that even more advanced communications systems are in the offing as he has been seen on several occasions waving a blanket over the Light and Power Department ' s smokestack. BM1 Richard C. Labonte SMI Stephen B. Belding RM3 John V Ta RM3 David J. Knight i i d R. Dyer RMSN Richard W. Flaws RMSN Robert H Gellman RMSN Garry H Kaufman SN George F. Matras SA Dale L. Reutter RMSN Kalman L. Plur SA Marvin L. Kirk ETN2 Edwin D. Kausche ETN3 Mark F. Roberson. Jr Remember the old horror movies we used to see as kids, with all the strange electric devices? Well McCain City doesn ' t exactly have l)r Frank- enstien and Igor, hut I ' ll het Dr. Crawford and his assistant euhauser could give em a run for their money. Word has it that they ' ve been working on some kind of Tacan monster, hut I hear they haven ' t been too successful. Just in case, though. I ' m keepin my door locked wbenevei there ' s a full moon out. ETN3 James H . Chappie ETN3 James C. Turner OE DIVISION ETCS Keith L. Neuhauser ETR2 William B Hopf, III ETNSN William G. Liptak ETN3 Roy E. Turner ETRSN Bernard L Jay, Jr Ol DIVISION Despite rumors to the contrary, I figure these guys got to he spies or hookies. They keep talkin about intelligence and surveillance and similar such underhanded deeds I guess the big boss must he Roger, cause that ' s who they keep calliu on the radio Only trouble is he must be an awfully hard guy to find since the guy at the other end of the line keeps telliu em Roger ' s out. ■ Clarkson SN John J McGrath. Jr RDSN Ronald F. Page SA Leon C. Chmielewski RDSN Harold A, Johnson NGINEERING When we was first considerin this little jaunt, a few die- hards was insistin that underneath the new coat of paint was still the same old Building Three . Well I guess the engineers weren ' t burin that story, cause, to the amazement of many, we flouted off right on time. ot to say we didn ' t hare prob- lems, but all-in-all I ' d hare to say these engineers kept the • lady runnin pretty sweet. In fact, they did such a good job I ' m not even going to mention the . ir Conditioning. DEPARTMENT FA Charles W. Flora Here are a bunch of guys you learn to be nice to. mainly cause they take care of such necessities of life as heat and air-conditioning. Most of McCain ' s citizens will tell you how it is without either of these (as they found out through first hand experience). They watch over some other pretty important systems, also, like the emergency generators in case we have one of them black- outs like in New England a while hack. If you ever need one ol em, they ' re real easy to find, cause they don ' t gasp for breath in the thin air of McCain City ' s higher altitudes like their fellow snipes . EN1 Vernon D. Fecht EN1 P H Gilkey, Jr A DIVISION MM2 Stephen l_. Arnngton MMC Joseph H Dixon en L. Wooldndge BT3 Charles L Payne B DIVISION was readin somewhere a while back that most of the things man builds are sort of copies of himself or parts of himself. Now this is kinda deep thinkin, but in a way McCain City is like that, the Mayer and his staff bring the head and brain, the engines being the muscles, and so forth. Along the same lines. I guess you ' d hafta call the boilers and the steam they gene rate the heart and blood of the city. If the boilers sto] . so does McCain. Located beneath Main Street, next to the engines, these hissing, finicky monsters demand the utmost in tender loving care. These guys here see that they get it. In return, they get to work long hours, sweat in 130 degree heal, and acquire the delicate complexions ofvestial virgins for want of a little sun. Even so, most em wouldn ' t trade it for anything, and look with disdain on those of us in McCain City who occupy the higher elevations. They get along well with the cooks, though . . . BT1 Gibson S. Sumpter BT1 Daniel E. Everett MM2 William P Caldwell FA Carl M. Graha BT3 Ronald H. Russell BT3 Glynn A. Ballou 3T3ClydeJ Glastette FN John Paronish, Jr SA Michael J Hopely , .-,.,■.. ICFN James M. Graham EMFN Michael G. Tompke E DIVISION The other day, Mad Dog Jones, head groundskeeper at the city zoo phoned the mayor ' s press secretary. The press secretary, surprised to hear Jones ' voice, inquired if he was in the city. No sir , came the reply, I ' m in San Francisco, you can call the zoo from anywhere in the world hy just dialing 21. These guys here are responsible for keeping this complex communications system working. They also fix the tin-can telephones and keep the city ' s power plant in operation. One of em also has another unique talent as you may have noticed on page M DIVISION Now the big engines you can bear rumblin down beneath Main Street are what gives McCain City its mobility. Runnin those big babies is a little more difficult than turnin over that power mower on a Sunday afternoon, but these guys make it look just as easy. I tried it myself one time, but I musta made a mistake, cause the Mayor called down and said he appreciated the swimmin pool in his office, but could we please keep it down to three feet or so till he finished his afternoon nap. MM2 James D. Hodge MM2 Dave P, Johnson, Jr MM3 Daniel L. Woiclcn SF1 Doyle C. Hood rd L. Handy SF2 Richard L. Hatt SF2 Joseph A. Hurskainen R DIVISION If you should ever come across a fireworks display that reminds you of one of them old time fairs, chances are that underneath the shower of sparks and smoke you ' ll find one of these all-purpose repairmen. In fact, if one of the sparkers gets carried away with his work, one of his fire-fighting com- patriots will soon put a damper on things. Nice bunch to have around, wouldn ' t you say. (ATHQR1ZED • •ERSOKll me sot ALLOWED I USE MACHINERY ' 1 SI..-W FA Arlan K. Skogstad DC3 Thomas F , Taylor Excluding the public utility company, the biggest business in town is the empire run by Mr. P. Chop. This fella owns the only restaurant, hardware and supply store, barber shop, laundry, and boutique in town. It seems everybody is on his payroll. And you know why no one complains ' He runs the bank, too. 1 1 II SUPPLY ■ fc DEPARTMENT LCDR Calvin K. Yim.S.C S DIVISION SKC Dalton J. Campbell SKI Wmefred C Gonzale Despite its small size, McCain City has one of the biggest general stores around. You can get anything from Fasteners, paper, brass to a Rase, temporary, prefabricated; ami everything costs the same: $12.50. The clerks are really helpful, although occasionally they get stumped, like the time I asked for some Tobacco, chewing, Old Overshoe, Well, maybe I can get it at Burton s. SK2 George E. Bowen SK3 Theron L. Chnsterson SK3 Marcelmo R. Reye SKSN Marvin H Lego SN James C. Boone SA Kenneih P. Cook, J SN Kevin A. Jones ii L Lamb SA Robert T. Johnston SA Frank J, Dav TN Juan F Idn TN Eduairio G. Jamora NAVIGATION DEPARTMENT LTJG Robert V. Coates X If you ever get sick in McCain City, you got nothin to worry about, cause we got one of the best hospitals around. Now the Joe don ' t take much truck with heart transplants and all that far out stuff hut he ' s pretty good with a needle. I remember a while hack when one of the Engineers cut his finger pretty badly, tin ' doc fixed hint right up. Must be tough when he tries to buy a pair of gloves, though. YNC Dennis L. Simpson YN3 Michael H. Bowen YNSN Curtis Havens SN Augusto E. Campopiano When I was in the army, they used to have quartermasters to handle supplies and things. I remember how we used to ask ' em about somethin and all they could say was I don ' t know, but I ' ll find out. Well we got quartermasters now too, but we use ' em for findin out where we are. Yep, times have changed, only trouble is you ask ' em a question and you still get the same answer. QM2 Robert B. Gidde 3 t + T - a n % v y m