Sea Stories

I'll never forget the time Steve Balsis, Tommy Fabricus and myself (Bill Lord) were sightseeing on Oahu. For some reason Steve got his kicks tormenting Tommy, and had been giving him a hard time all weekend.  We stoped to look at the scenery and Steve found this almost perfectly round rock that must have weighed 35 to 40 pounds.  It was about the size of a cantiloupe.  Steve showed it to me and said "lets put this in Tommy's seabag before he goes home".  Now I, not being one to pass up a good practical joke said, "lets do it".  So we put the rock in the trunk of the rental and covered it with something so Tommy wouldn't see it.  When we got back to the Base we put the rock in one of my storage drawers where it remained until the day of departure.  As I watched Tommy pack his sea bag I was hopeing he would leave the room before he finished.  But that was not ment to be, as he finished packing and put a padlock on the bag.  I was disappointed that we were not able to pull the practical joke off.  I then decided to take the rock down to the grounds (we were in the berthing up on the hill) because I didn't want to leave it in the room.  As I am carrying it down the passageway Mike Dunham saw me and asked what the rock was all about.  I told him the whole story and he said, "let's put it in Jim Doll's sea bag".  Now as I said, I am not one to pass up on some fun so I agreed.  We then took the rock to Jim's room and luck was with us as he was not there and there was his sea bag fully packed and open.  Mike reached in the bag carefully and pulled out about one third of the contents and I put the rock inside.  He then put the contents back in the bag being careful so it wouldn't appear that any one had touched it.  Tommy Kramer drove Jim and a couple others to the airport for the flight home.  When he got back to the Base he told me everything that had happened at the airport.  He said Jim was complaning about how heavy the bag was and started dragging it across the floor in the terminal. When he got up to the ticket counter to check his baggage and get his seating assignment he was informed that he would have to pay a surcharge as the bag was overweight.  Jim not wanting to pay the surcharge asked the agent if he could avoid the additional charge by putting some of the contents in another container to lighten the bag.  The clerk told him that would work and I beleave she even provided him a box.  Now here's Jim unpacking his bag at the counter and comes upon the rock.  He lifted it out of the bag had this look on his face that I know all of you have seen before, and everyone near him that was aware of what was going on busted out laughing.

Sam Wolvert took the rock and put it in his bag as he was light.  It is my understanding that he still has it.  I always wanted to get it to Jim's wife and have her without Jim knowing, put it back in his sea bag for a return trip to Hawaii.  But to do so would have been a lot of work so it never happened.  I would have felt bad if he would have had to pay the surcharge and would most likely have payed him back....NOT!

Thus ends the story of the rock and the best practical joke I ever played on anyone in my lifetime.  By the way, it was a long time before Jim ever found out who set him up.

The following story does not qualify as a Sea Story,  however it's a good story and I am posting it on the site.  I am happy for Tommy,  and know you will be too.

P-3 Orian Patrol

by: ET1 William Lord

I'll never forget my first trip to Hawaii and Subase.  It was in March of '81. 

Someone in our unit had made arrangements with NAS Barbers Point for two of our Shipmates to go on Submarine tracking patrol all night with the P-3 Orians.  Two different Shipmates would go out each night for the duration of our cruise.  The morning after the flights.  they would muster with our unit and tell of their experience on the patrol. 

I was paired up with Mike good for our flight.  I was excited and looking forward to the patrol.  We were allowed to check out a Navy vehicle for transportation to Barbers Point for the flight.  Mike had a Navy drivers license which was required,  and at that time being my first trip to Subase I had not obtained one yet.

The night of the flight arrived and Mike informed me he had to work in his shop all or part of the night and wouldn't be able to make the trip.  I was disappointed because that meant I also would not be able to go.  So no one from our unit went that night.

The fallowing night two more Shipmates went out on patrol and the morning after at muster told us of how disappointed the active duty personnel were that Mike and I had not shown up as they had named the flight "The Good Lord Flight".

Operation Dominic II

by: ET1 William Lord

Greetings to all,

I recently uncovered some interesting facts regarding my life aboard the USS Princeton LPH-5, an 888 ft Marine Helicopter carrier in 1962. At that time I was 20 years old and had served in the United States Navy some three years. My ship had just come out of the yards in Long Beach CA where it had just undergone a major overhaul for about the last six months. We put out to sea sometime in August as I recall for sea trials for a couple of weeks or so. Then sometime in September we went to sea for an undetermined period of time to an unannounced destination. The ship put into Pearl Harbor HI a few days later where she stayed for a couple of days. We went back to sea and soon arrived at a small island approximately 750 miles southwest of Hawaii. The island, Johnston Island was part of the Johnston Island atoll. Again, let me point out the fact that we didn't have a clue why we were there, but would soon find out. We were at or near the Island for about two and a half months. Shortly after arriving everyone aboard the ship were issued pocket dosimeter and film badges. Some of the crew was also issued very dark goggles for eye protection. These goggles were so dark that you could see absolutely nothing on a bright sunny day when you put them on. I was not among the lucky ones issued the goggles however. By this time it was becoming clear as to what the mission was all about.

During the next two and a half months I witnessed ten atomic bomb detonations while seated on the metal flight deck of the carrier. Five of the bombs were dropped from a B-52 and were surface bursts and the remainder was delivered with Thor missiles fired from the Island and exploded in the outer ionosphere. The results of the surface blasts was the typical mushroom cloud with shock wave and heat (which we didn't need being only a few degrees north of the equator). The missile shots were a different story. These blasts were a big ball of fire fallowed by streaks of multicolored light streaking out in all directions from the blast. I recall thinking how could anything be so beautiful and so destructible at the same time.

When the missiles were to be fired from the island they would evacuate the island of all personnel with the exception of some key people that had to stay on the island in order to make it all happen. We would take these people aboard our ship since the Princeton was the largest ship and the flag ship for the operation (which was named Operation Dominick II). I recall while serving as messenger of the watch for the quarterdeck an incident that made my eyes bulge out of their sockets. I was given a message to take back the berthing compartment where the evacuees we staying, When arriving I saw the highest stake poker game going on that I had ever seen. There were several civilians playing poker and the pot I estimated had several thousand dollars in it. Now keep in mind this was in 1962 when you could buy a whole month worth of groceries for a family of four for less the $50.00. I remember wondering how they could have this much money. Then it occurred to me that these were all highly paid government employees that had absolutely nowhere to spend it being on an island in the south pacific that was a mile long and a few hundred feet wide.

Now ask me, if I had a choice (which I didn't) would I do it all over again? The answer to that question depends on whether I knew then what I know today or not. If not, you bet your sweet bippy I would. It was exiting and it never even occurred to me that there was a risk involved. This was something that only a small hand full of people would get to see in real time. However, if I did know then what I know today the answer is, I'm not sure. Fortunately for me I have had no known medical problems that can be directly related to the experience, but after reading some of the letters from some of my shipmates of the medical problems they have experienced....I just don't know what my answer would be.

Several years ago while at Goodwill I ran across a 1963 Compton yearbook that covered events that occurred in 1962. It was only fifty cents so I purchased it. A cheap trivia trip. I ran across two almost identical photographs shot within a few minutes of each other of Diamond Head. The first being a dark silhouette of Diamond Head and the other appearing as if it were high noon on a sunny day. This was a result of one of the aerial bursts which is my understanding was a hydrogen bomb.

The end benefits from this experience are two fold:

• It was an experience that few people can say they had.
• I don't need a night light to read at bedtime <grin>.

Here are some links to the information I uncovered:

http://www.aracnet.com/~pdxavets/dominic.htm

http://www.radiochemistry.org/history/nuke_tests/dominic/index.html

God bless,

Bill