US Naval Reserve Midshipmens School - Capstan Yearbook (Notre Dame, IN)

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Right out of the book: The gun is Fired at the director and when the director is put out of commission, the gun is fired at the gun. One of those murder-suicide cases, Mr. Tracy. :ls FF Pl: Some reasons why instructors yearn for the sea. Boat tailing is when the skirt fringes out at the ends. The amount of erosion in a gun is measured by a star gazer. When he has inspected the bore, the rammer- ma-1 says, 'fClean as a whistle, sir . Black powder is used during war time as a propellant for destroyers. One of the military uses of TNT is in spearheads. Pk Pls Dk This one was born during an Ordnance quiz: The device used to prevent the slam of the gun barrel against the slide when returning to the in- battery position during counter-recoil is called the jackpot. Put a nickel in the Director, Lieutenant. Dk Dk if Another from Seamanship P- 22 Sideboys are things that are thrown over when an admiral comes aboard. They were expendable. Il' ll' ik the side Famous last words: But I'was on the tree last week too.', Pm sorry, sir, but the train was late? I don't need a haircut, there won't be any in- spection this weekv. These shots donlt effect me. Meet me at Sweeney's, Joe. ik Pl' Plf Prize for quick thinking goes to the Seaman who collapsed after an over enthusiastic Pharmacist Mate had injected him for Typhoid Fever. As a surprised doctor revived him, he exclaimed, It didn't hurt when you jammed the needle into my arm but when you got through to my ribs and started to tickle my heart, I just couldn't stand itn. Pk Pls ik We heard this one at chow one night. My new uniform fits like a glovef, Good tailoring job, huh? 'fYeah, it covers my handsf, l198l Mn iformfi The Notre Dame Stadium has seen some phe- nomenal sights in its day but none stranger than the spectacle of 1300 young men making the transi- tion from civilian to naval clothing. It was a heterogeneous tribe that wended its way to this Hoosier reservation when the first Midship- men class was mustered last October . . . a cross- section of typical American youth, characteristi- cally clothing conscious, prepared to cover their native peculiarities with form-fitting sailor suits. But they discovered in short time that this was not Brooks Brothers and if you lacked the proper anatomical bulges your suit fitted like a potato bag and there wasn't one thing you could do about it but eat more and hope that the bulgeless spots would Fill out. If it was too tight, of course, the remedy was to eat less and exercise. Former football tackles of significant tonnage poured their bulk into middies sizes too small, Southwestern beanpoles, hanging their trousers as low on skinny waists as modesty would permit, saw the bell bottoms dangling ludicrously midway be- low their knees. The only consolation for them was that the socks they wore were not white. Repeated treks to the stadium were successful in rectifying some of the most horrible mistakes, but in the end, the inability of GI uniforms to hide zoot suit figures was all too evident. It reached its pinnacle when a consensus of YWCA females revealed, with much giggling, that our dress was oh, so funny. The crews on duty at the supply depots were as accommodating as crews can be with a surplus of 44's and a shortage of 36's and too few 6yjs and too many 7V2's and when the new sailors came up to the counter they would inquire solitously, 'iAnd what size do you want, Mac, too big or too sma1l?,' Six and seven eights, please, sir, we would reply with tyro timidity. But when the hat was dropped on our head it veiled our ears and as we made a pretense of pro- testation we were assured that it will shrink if you wash it long and hard enough.

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about it. And you will eventually look forward with a sort of fiendish expectation to the night when you can be the one who awakens everyone else. Uppermost in many minds will be the question of pay. You will find that the Navy can think of more ways to spend your money than a Washing- ton congressman. You will draw the cash from only one window and then pay it out again through three or four windows, which will be some comfort. You will be very lucky, though, that you will only get paid twice a month. Otherwise you couldn't afford it. So you see, itas impossible to pass this course. Now that you are here however there is nothing you can do about it. But from now until the day you walk up and receive your commission from your Commanding Officer, as we did, you'll still be saying, as we did, that it's impossible to pass this course. To prove the statement, we offer the following gems , which were carefully gleaned from our examinations by chuckling officers and read back to us with the admonition, 'fyou'll never pass the course this way? There was the time the Midshipman answered, St. Elmoas fire, sir, is an electrical phenomena that occurs in the masts of ships. It is audible but does not make any noise,' Probably thinking of the Gremlins. lk Pi' Pk Instructor: What would you do if forced to lower the national colors in surrender. Midshipman: I would slap the Ensign, sir. Sk Pk PF Extract from Seamanship P-22 Q. What is the name of the shellfish that some- times attaches itself to the bottom of a vessel? A. A Pantaloon. Which reminds us, we saw the U.S.S. Erie being fitted for a zoot suit last month. PF PF FF It couldnit be gouging for the answers all came from different sections. The cause of vertical parallax is the Jesus factor? Trunnion tilt is compensated by the Jesus factor. The dip strip corrects for the jesus factorf' 'cGun train order includes the jesus factor, which automatically sends correct deflection to the gunf' L1971 N46-f ai'-Q. A A14 A A ' 1, ,-3? T, ,S K ,J 52!?i'5':iC?7Q'L'?Mg.' '- L, 'ef Q rf. ' .+- :EFF me If A . -.,,.. ,,.a ' I-nf, -.gn nge 1 - ...nie In Y .J 4.5,

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