SwiftVets.com

[Snipe]

I've been lurking around here from time to time for a couple of weeks
now. I find it hard to pay any attention at all to Senator Kerry because
he's about as exciting as standing mail bouy watch. Anyhow, I put my
time on Pacific Fleet Destroyers - Sumner and Gearing class - and did
five deployments to WESTPAC (OK, the first one started out as a 2 1/2
year bar hop, but it got serious after Diem and Kennedy were shot)

So what I'm wondering is what happened to Mr. Kerry on the USS
Gridley DLG 21? Dern, he put a full year on her and even did a complete
WESTPAC. I was over there on the '67 cruise of the USS Fechteler
DD 870, and we had a bunch of thrills and chills. Do we have a "Band
of Brothers" from the Gridley? Did he qualify for OOD? JOOD? Does
anyone know? Maybe a STD from Paulines or De Cave in Subic?

I tried checking out his fitness reports on his web pages but this piece
of junk of a Windows '95 doesn't let me in to see. Really, just being nosy.
_________________
Tin Can Sailor

[Navy_Navy_Navy]

Kerry served seven months on the Gridley, if I'm not mistaken.

He had very good FITREPs from that tour. (Superb and exemplary)

He did qual OOD and performed collateral duties such as Electronics Officer and a few others.
_________________
~ Echo Juliet ~
Altering course to starboard - On Fire, Keep Clear
Navy woman, Navy wife, Navy mother

[The bandit]

Question, Kerry recently said:

"I've had major ships under my command in a tactical situation. I was able to call in air strikes, rockets, ships, troops, helicopters. I've exercised major responsibility, life and death. I've exercised responsibility as officer of the deck of a ship carrying nuclear weapons."

Obiviously he means ASROC from the Gridley....but, didn't they remove these weapons for VN service/support? I know some of the carriers carried them off VN, but the Navy didn't want them on smaller ships in case one got sunk..... at least that I picked up from reading in not so many terms.

[ASPB]

[Snipe]

Ah. ASROC. Well, that makes the ship "nuclear capable", but whether
or not the ships that I was on which had ASROC had nuclear warheads
aboard were a trade secret of which I was not informed. Not my
business, but we did get a nice Greenpeace demonstration because
of it in Wellington, New Zealand when I was on the USS Eversole in
'71. Hey, a 2 1/2" firehose on solid stream will actually dump a
Zodiac if you get the pressure cranked up to 200 psi from the normal
firemain pressure of 150 pse. "Nuclear capable" is the keyword.
If you are doing strictly anti sub stuff, maybe you do have nukes
aboard. If you're doing "Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club" stuff, probably not.


Now as to an Ensign commanding any major warship, it just don't
happen Maynard. After a Westpac cruise, Mr. Kerry SHOULD have
the qualifications for standing an underway OOD watch, but whether
or not they just let him have at it is a whole 'nother thing. Tincan
skippers don't get a whole lot of sleep on a cruise, especially on the
gunline. That's why they have a nice chair on the starboard bridge
wing.

Also, when a gunline destroyer shoots, it shoots to where the onshore
spotter or controller says to shoot and what it shoots. At night it's
mostly illumination.

Oh, and chasing carriers isn't all fun and games either. USS Frank
Evens got cut in half by the HMAS Melbourne one dark night while
riding in the forward plane guard slot. But the Melbourne sailors
had the collision drill down pat after running down their own HMAS
Voyager a couple of years earlier. They managed to save 3/4 of the
crew this time AND kept the after section afloat. I saw that section
in Subic Bay in '69 on a cruise with the USS Benner.

What I'm wondering is what kind of officer Mr. Kerry really was. The
USS Gridley was a regular full service destroyer so he should be
acting like a regular full service Ensign. Now nobody really expects
brilliant things from an Ensign, but they have to learn somewhere.
I've had some pretty whippy ones for a division officer, and I've had
some that were sort of invisible, but I haven't had one who was a
REAL dick head or who pissed on the wardroom table at noon chow.
_________________
Tin Can Sailor

[The bandit]