Glen,

 

I know what you mean.  My first ship out of RMA School Norfolk after boot camp was the USS QUAPAW ATF110 out of Pearl.  We had 50 enlisted and 5 officers.  We spent six months in Pearl and six months in Westpac.  That was the days before TTY and we only copied a one operator code broadcast. 

We were in two different typhoons within one week in the Phillipines in 56/57.  I used to tie myself in to the chair and tie a bucket to the let of it.  Copying code and puking at the same time. 

I got so sick that I couldn't eat and after the broadcast I just wanted to lay day and die.  I was glad to get on submarines where I felt a lot better and can't remember ever being seasick on the boats. 

I did get seasick back in San Diego on the Torpedo Retreiver they had for R&R fishing trips though.  I never went out on it but once either. 

Bill  

 

----- Original Message -----

From: GCook37736@aol.com

To: bdecker@shentel.net

Sent: Saturday, January 01, 2005 3:43 PM

 

I reported aboard Raton 8 May 1965 as a RM1 and I remember the WestPac Cruse in 1966 where we were in the typhoon. We were on the way to the Subic Bay. I had the chair tied to the console so I could copy the CW broadcast. They kept sending us messages to route us out of the typhoon and each time they managed to get us into a worse condition.

When we arrived in Subic most of the walking deck was gone, the whip antenna tips were gone, the cable antenna that we rigged on the deck was gone and part of the covering around the scopes and masts was missing.
 

That was the roughest sea conditions that I have ever been in and do not want to get into that situation again. As I remember we almost drowned the OD and lookouts before they decided to bring them down into the CONN and shut the hatch.
 

We did not eat much for several days. I could not have eaten anything anyway, didn't usually get sick at sea, but sure did this time, try copying code with your head in a barf bag.

Glen Cook RMC(SS)