A short sea story

"This ship was meant to fight. You better know how." Those were the words of retired Admiral Arleigh Burke when he stood on the podium on the day the ship was christened. On the photo, Sailors manning the rails on USS Arleigh Burke DDG-51. Tin Cans Forever!

It was a good time. It was a bad time. It was the mid 1970s. Just back from a very long and frustrating Western Pacific deployment. It was time to get the ship ready for the next deployment.

For a sea-going Sailor, time flies after deployments.

We had a good training work up cycle. The crew, and the ship, were ready to deploy. We kissed our families and headed back to sea (exactly were Sailors belong). Next stop, an island on the western side of the International Date Line.

Sailing across the Pacific Ocean was not challenging, we had calm seas. After the ship crossed the International Date line on a westerly course we were greeted by old friends, Soviet pilots on their Bear Delta aircraft.

Breaker, breaker, one niner, we have a BEAR on the air!

For some reason our Soviet friends always knew about our secret ships movement. The Bear Delta flew over, made a few passes, took photos of the ship, and headed back to their home base.

This was just another routine flight. This is exactly what they did for a living. On this deployment I was not assigned to an aircraft carrier battle group. It would be a different story on an aircraft carrier, we would have our jet fighters on the air, escorting the Bears!

After a couple of weeks we made it to our destination. Time to take a break, time to go out for a good run, time to have some fun. On the island we loaded the ship with a lot of fresh food, topped-off our gas tanks, and welcomed a large number of US military personnel stationed on the island.

It was time for the military personnel station on the island to have fun at sea with their US Navy cousins. There was a lot of fun waiting for our Air Force, Army, and Marine cousins now riding the ship. First stop, a large island to the south, with a lot of shopping, and a lot of drinking.

It was party time, and our military cousins were having a fun. During those days we had a US Navy recruiting motto of "Sailors Have More Fun." This time it was our military cousins having all the fun.

The party is over and it is again time to get underway to a new destination, another island just a couple of days away. Having a great time, cool breeze, calm seas, and plenty of fresh food on the ship.

Approximately one thousand miles to the east a perfect storm is forming (on the western pacific the cyclones are called typhoons).

We made it to our second port visit. Our military cousins are having a great time away from their home base (the small island located to the north east of the ship's current location).

The typhoon is getting closer and we expect to have a direct hit in less than 36 hours.

Immediate personnel recall is announced. The Papa Flag is now flying on the main mast of the ship, this indicates personnel recall. Papa is the letter P in the international phonetic alphabet.

When the Papa Flag is flying everyone must get back to the ship on a double. Getting everyone back to the ship on this island was a slow and painful, but we got it done. Getting the ship underway was another painful evolution due to the low tides, the keel was touching the bottom of the harbor, but we were able to get underway.

In the open sea we were greeted by the typhoon, there was no place to run. The ship was rolling with the high winds and the high seas. Green water over the bridge. On a ship you don't want to see green water hitting the bridge.

This time our military cousins were having no fun at all. They were no longer eating all the good food, and I observed long lines outside the heads (nautical term for a restroom).

The ship, the crew, and our military cousins took a beating for four to five days of high winds and very rough seas. We finally made it to our destination, the island from were all our military cousins left from.

I remember the words of an Air Force service man leaving the ship, "this was not fun at all, I tip my hat to all the Sailors on this ship, now we know who the real machos are ..." During those days we had no females assigned to warships.

This was just the start of another long and frustrating deployment ...