by Garland

In November 1986, USS Reeves CG-24, USS Oldendorf DD-972, and USS Rentz FFG-46 made history as the FIRST U.S. warships to visit China since 1948.

USS Reeves CG-24, CINCPACFLT Flagship moored at Qingdao, China in November 1986.. The Chinese North Sea Fleet ceremoniously welcomes the American ships…

by John Petersen

Freedom at last! You’re North of the ‘Gate’.

The evening is early, your night in the hands of fate.

Made your first stop for a few primers and grub,

After politely excusing your legwarmer, it’s off to the next pub.

As you look down this avenue, full of people, traffic signs and lights,

things seem overwhelming, overbearing, your brain cells in constant fights.

“Which way do I go? Which door do I enter”?

Seems every establishment is slightly off center.

Chief laid the order, to my LPO in charge of my first night,

“Bring him back in one piece, free of the clap and without a fight.

For if this young booter, who’s life you are entrusted,

Comes back spoiled or soiled, your ass is busted”!

Let him sweat bullets, you think, as this is your night to explore.

‘Omaha ain’t nothing like this, oh God gimme more’!

One after another, gotta try each dimly lit and noisy place,

If you could put them all in alphabetical order, it would only slow your pace.

Olongapo, the Barrio, amazingly the choices are endless, yet so many treats,

But cross the line into Subic City young and wise Cherry Boy,

And you’ll find an adult Disneyland, for before your eyes a deviated feast!

The debauchery, the deviousness, the seemingly endless show of skin,

The more San MaGoo’s you plow down, the more of the Peso’s in that stack you put in!

The night goes on, everything happens so fast, time flies like the wind,

And somehow, some way, you’ve made your way back to where it all seemed to begin.

You’ve tried just about everything from Mojo to Bullfrog both red and green,

And the bet is on that no one back home will believe anything you’ve seen.

Heading unsteadily back to the gate, it’s very dark, LPO got lost, but wait, hold up! Food! Oh God how you need it, something to fill the gut is required, Ayup!

Your prayers are answered, river queens replaced by BBQ carts, the smell is commanding,

You haven’t had a thing to eat in hours, the body is demanding.

Sustenance is needed and no question to that fact,

You’ve still got a pocket full of coin, and now is the time to act.

Absolutely no idea as to the origin of this meat,

All you know is it hits the spot, fills the void that the night has demanded to defeat.

Made it through the gate, no strip search this time around,

You’ve made it back to the ship oh heroic one, your rack you actually found!

As you pour yourself into your private place of slumber, oh inebriated one,

Don’t forget the alarm clock as quarters are soon to come!

by John Petersen

Finally off watch, it’s been one helluva night.

Six in the morning, no more flourescent light.

Been almost three weeks since the lines have been pulled,

just the sight of anything but water would be like finding gold!

The last couple of days, they’ve been strangely upbeat,

To assume the crew is anxious is, safely bet, a simple feat.

Liberty’s a’comin’, God knows we’ve all earned it!

Several weeks of continuous watches and work, no break from the grit.

Always hearing the stories, of debauchery and fun,

this next place to visit holds no candle to anything under the sun.

Out on the fantail for a smoke then fresh air,

off in the distance is the sight that all have desired to ensnare!

Finally here! Can it be true?

Will the truth come forth, from all the tales others spew?

Only time will tell, for within a few hours,

life will do a 180, all aboard will be under it’s powers.

We’ve finally made it, worked our asses off for it,

this place called P.I., and the Gods be thanked, no shit!

After all is secure, and standing on unmoving ground,

link up with your buddies and head towards where treasures abound!

First stop of course, and this is required,

the famous money exchange, how else will your night be mired?

Todays rate is 21 to 1, oh damn what a deal!

All the San Miguels you can drink, and more than one meal!

For if all the stories you’ve heard prove to be fact and not fiction,

You’re in for one unforgettable night, all fun and no bitchin’!

Past the front gate you go, the MP’s stare you simply ignore,

let him think what he will, you’ve new lands to explore!

First order of business as you have been instructed to adhere,

is crossing Shit River, second only to obtaining Shellback status you hear.

The river queens, all dressed up (or down) and calling for your sight,

along with their ‘assistants’, who’ll dive for Peso’s day and night. (ugh!)

Stopping to grab a pack of black market smokes,

Time to venture forth, many fires that require continual stokes.

Hundreds of offerings on this street called Magsaysay,

The lights, the noise, the girls, so much candy for the eye.

You’ve finally made it to Subic, this land of low standards and high hopes,

activities abound that would clearly upset Popes!

The sights, the smells, these get your heart a pumpin’,

it seems from all directions the music is a bumpin’.

A cacauphony of noise, people, glitter and colors abound,

seems almost more than the brain can take and still hold its ground.

At each door at least two honey’s beckon you in,

very pretty they are, their charms alone raise little bumps on the skin.

They appear to be everywhere, flesh the color of root beer brown,

you can’t blink once without seeing a thousand more in town.

Throwing caution to the wind you choose your first stop,

of what seems like a million of stops you’ll definitely hop.

Convincing your buddies, ’cause the CO set the word,

“The Buddy System is enforced, no arguments to be heard”.

Ah, yes, Magsaysay, your avenue to moral descent,

Whoever said “What goes on in Vegas, stays in Vegas”,

Obviously not a minute on this street they spent!

No sooner than the moment your foot graces the door,

Mamason and her charming charges escort you across the floor.

Not quite firmly seated and ingesting your first gulp of beer,

You have a new friend, one who finds your lap comfortable and clear.

And with the charm of a litter of kittens, she’ll wiggle and ask you so nicely,

“You buy me drink? Pay bar pine? It not too pricey”.

For one, you think, it’s way too early on your first nights foray,

To sink for one so seemingly sweet, so early this eve, no way!

Secondly, you think, there’s too much to do, too much to see.‘

All the stories I’ve been told, tonight the truth for me!

Let’s see if they hold water, these tales of dark fun and lust,

I’ll find the truth or die trying, this accomplishment a must’.

Bidding farewell to your little lap warmer now all alone,

You gather up your buddies and Northward you all shall roam.

Just remember one thing, as you sample each place and watch every penny,

That the warm little wiggly thing on your lap just may have been named Benny!

MM1 Petersen

Who was the youngest Navy Chief Petty Officer?

ANSWER: Diego Enrique Santiago, age 6, was pinned an honorary Chief Petty Officer at the USO in Jacksonville, North Carolina in March 2006.

He was a cancer patient and his wish was to be a Navy Chief just like his father, HMC Jesus Santiago. The son of Chief Hospital Corpsman (FMF/AW) Jesus “Chico” Santiago, his fondest dream was to be just like his dad – to follow his father footsteps into the naval ranks, and someday, hopefully, earn the respected title of “Chief.”

But Diego grew ill – very ill – and his dream looked increasingly like an impossibility.

Chief Jesus Santiago’s brothers and sisters in the CPO mess heard of Diego’s illness, and did something, they made Diego an honorary Chief Petty Officer, initiated him into the mess.

The pinning ceremony was approved by the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy himself.

He was 6 years old when he got pinned.

He was very pleased, and his pleasure made all of us in the Chief Community throughout the Navy, very proud, even those who did not know him.

Proud to be part of an organization which could make such an impression upon such a young man. Proud to be a part of an organization that could have such leaders and fathers that a young man would want to emulate.

Diego passed away.

Diego was originally only given a few weeks to live when initially diagnosed with cancer but he fought a hard fight for 14 months, but his little body couldn’t hold out any longer.

Our Youngest Chief transferred to the Supreme Commander for his final duty station on 2 August 2006..

REST IN PEACE SHIPMATE!

Artwork by Dale Byhre

Later this month, on the 24th of May, is the 80th anniversary of the sinking of the battle cruiser HMS Hood. As tragic a loss as this was, it was even more so when it is remembered that of a crew of more than 1,400, only three survived. In this tribute I chose to paint possibly the final image of the Hood prior to the cataclysmic explosion that sank her. It shows the column of flame bursting upwards out of the hull after a shell from the Bismarck ignited the Hoods 4” magazine. This in mere moments would lead to the massive explosion of the after 15” main magazines.

Once I looked from the Tamar Bridge at the warships down below, ships of the modern navy with names I did not know. And, as I stood and gazed at them on the water far below I saw a fleet of phantom ships and men of long ago. The Rodney and the Nelson, the Valiant and Ramilies Repulse, Renown and Malaya, coming home from foreign seas. I saw Revenge and Warspite, ill-fated Royal Oak, so many ships, their names made faint by shell and fire and smoke. And some I see to harbour come as thro glasses dark, the Barham and the Glorious, the Eagle and the Ark, and then, there comes the greatest, the mighty warship Hood, dark and grey and wraithlike, from the spot on which I stood. From the cruel North Atlantic, from the Med and Java sea, the big ships and the little ships returned for me to see. There’s the Dorsetshire, Edinburgh, Campbeltown and Kent, the Cossack, and Courageous, the Charybdis and Ardent. Now I can’t see very clearly, must be smoke that’s in my eyes, but mercifully hidden are the men and stilled, their raucous cries. You don’t know Shorty Hasset, he won the D.S.M. He still fought on when Exeter was burning stern to stem. Where now.! Dodger Long and Lofty, where now the boys and men? They are lost and gone forever-shall we see their likes again? I thought I saw them mustering on deck for daily prayer, and heard ‘For those in Peril” rise on the evening air. Then darker grew the picture as the lowering night came on, I looked down from that lofty bridge, but all the ships were gone. Those mighty ships had vanished; gone those simple men, we’ll surely never-ever, see the likes of them again.

In ocean wastes no poppies blow,… No crosses stand in ordered row, Their young hearts sleep… beneath the wave… The spirited, the good, the brave, But stars a constant vigil keep, For them who lie beneath the deep. ‘Tis true you cannot kneel in prayer On certain spot and think. “He’s there.” But you can to the ocean go… See whitecaps marching row on row; Know one for him will always ride… In and out… with every tide. And when your span of life is passed, He’ll meet you at the “Captain’s Mast.” And they who mourn on distant shore For sailors who’ll come home no more, Can dry their tears and pray for these Who rest beneath the heaving seas… For stars that shine and winds that blow And whitecaps marching row on row. And they can never lonely be For when they lived… they chose the sea.

Top 10 Reasons San Miguel is the preferred beer of all true Sailors in the Philippines:

10. By mid-drunk, your other choices are Red Horse, Mojo, and Bull Frog!

9. It’s the best bottled beer on the islands!

8. Deposit on bottles made the 3 environmentalists on Luzon happy!

7. High alcohol content – could be used start beach-party bonfires!

6. It only cost $4 American per case – cheaper than Coca Cola!

5. When freeze dried & rolled as a cigarette, is only legal drug on the island!

4. Stubby bottle design prevents serious injury when used improperly!

3. Brings back happy memories of better days and nights in Olongapo!

2. There’s something magical about watching women drink bottled beer!

1. Is listed by FDA as “suitable substitute” for Viagra!

by Paul Reuter

The China Fleet Country Club has a remarkable history.

1901 – The mud flats of Victoria Harbor were bought for $2.50 per square foot by a Hong Kong businessman who began charging for tipping rubble from the growing colony.

1903 – The land began selling for $25.00 per square foot. Short of buyers for the land, the businessman joined with the personnel of the Royal Navy’s China Fleet to raise funds for a Royal Naval Canteen.

1929 – The canteen proved to be extremely successful and was soon demolished to make way for a new building.

1933 – Using the club funds and with a generous loan from the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank; Admiral Kelly, Commander in Chief, China Station, laid the foundation stone for the seven-story China Fleet Club building. For the men who served on the China Station “The Old Blue” as it was known provided a place for refreshment and decent accommodation away from their crowded ships.

1941 – During the battle for Hong Kong, the Japanese occupied the Club using it as the Navy HQ.

1945 – The Club was extensively refurbished and returned to its former use after the Royal Marines and Royal Navy liberated the colony.

1950-53 – During the Korean War, the Club became a major rest and recreation center for UK and allied Sailors.

1959-73 – During the Vietnam war allied and American Sailors used the club extensively between tours of duty boosting club profits.

1980 – Land values escalated and the trustees sold the air space over the Club. A developer paid for temporary facilities while building a new luxury club on the first nine floors with 14 more floors of office space above.

1985 – Fleet House opened and because of the agreement to hand back Hong Kong to the Chinese in 1997 the search began for a suitable successor to the China Fleet Club in the UK.

1986 – A proposal to build the China Fleet Country Club at Saltash in Cornwall was put to the Hong Kong Sailors committee and Trustees.

1987 – The feasibility study was approved by the Hong Kong Sailors committee, the land was purchased and design of the complex began.1989 – Building work began on the 180-acre Saltash site.

1991 – The new China Fleet Country Club was officially opened on June 1st along with it’s prestigious golf course. The designer of the golf course was Dr. Martin Grant Hawtree who worked on the controversial course for billionaire Donald Trump in Scotland.

1992 – On 30 November 1992 the Hong Kong China Fleet Club closed its doors for the last time ready for the Chinese takeover of Hong Kong.

by Peter T. Yeschenko

ATTACK ON THE AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULT SHIP USS LSM-188

On the night of 28-29 March 1945, the amphibious assault ship LSM-188 was conducting an aggressive harassment patrol only eight miles off the town of Naha, Okinawa Jima.

At 0557 on 29 March, Japanese suicide dive-bombers appeared overhead, and the crew quickly went to battle stations, with the antiaircraft battery immediately opening fire.

With one enemy plane shot down, a second kamikaze came under fire. As three or four of the Japanese dive-bombers passed overhead, one enemy pilot circled from starboard to port and received the bulk of the gunnery crews’ attention.

The ships 40-millimeter guns opened fire and set the enemy aircraft afire, at a range of only 150–200 yards.

As the kamikaze passed over the ship, part of the plane broke off, causing an explosion on deck. The dive-bomber crashed into the sea only 75 yards to starboard, burning intensely before sinking.

Later, an intelligence officer asserted his opinion that the evidence of a high-order explosion onboard resulted from a combination of the flaming debris of the aircraft, and the pilot managing to drop a bomb on LSM-188.

The explosion on board LSM-188 destroyed her 5-inch gun director tower, leaving a large hole in the main deck where it once stood.

Watertight doors were blown open, while bulkheads and decks throughout the compartments just below and off the main deck splintered and buckled inwards.

Radio communications failed throughout the ship, while fires raged topside and below, threatening rockets stored in ready service racks on the main deck. Fortunately, the fires never reached the rockets’ fuses, avoiding further catastrophe.

One of the first Sailors killed was Pharmacists Mate First Class Harold C. Zahn. The loss of the amphibious assault ship’s corpsman was felt as several wounded Sailor’s cried for the well-respected “Doc” at first went unheeded. About three-quarters of an hour later, LCI-452 came alongside to drop off PhM1/c William W. Lowder, replacing the fallen corpsman Zahn.

While the crew of LSM-188 battled to put out the fires, APD-56 and battleship USS Arkansas BB-33 passed “badly needed” blood plasma to the stricken amphibious assault ship for treatment of her wounded.

Nine Sailors were cited in the after-action report for gallantry during the short but otherwise deadly fight with the enemy.

Seaman First Class Michael R. Masoka, despite burns to his eyes and face from the explosion, managed to drag his gun captain to safety from their 5-inch gun mount. Despite being unable to see due to cuts suffered from flying glass, S1/c Masoka also helped care for his fellow wounded shipmates.

After observing the death of PhM1/c Zahn, Yeoman Third Class Fred N. Piedmonte sprang into action, procuring medical supplies, dressing wounds, and performing other duties normally only performed by trained corpsmen. Gunners Mate Second Class Walter R. Venters, despite serious burns to his body, toured the ship after the explosion on board, turning on the remote control magazine sprinkling valves.

GM2/c Venters made it possible for extinguishing the fires as soon as pressure resumed to the water mains. He also went on to treat the wounded until he received orders to “lie down and submit to treatment.” His commanding officer, Lt. Harry C. Crist, noted, “The work of this man was largely responsible for the saving of the ship.”

After the incredible damage control performance in saving their ship, LSM-188 and her crew steamed under her own power to the island of Ulithi. Despite the loss of radar, communications, and all aft guns, the amphibious assault ship underwent repairs and rejoined the battle as an ammunition carrier. In all,

LSM-188 had 15 Sailors killed in action and 32 wounded, providing a grim preview to the heavy casualties sustained by the Navy during the Battle of Okinawa.

by MM1 John Petersen, EMO2 LPO ’90-93

Wrote this a couple years ago, thought I would share it again. Nostalgia works in funny ways…

In 1959, the authorization was given to build another ship. Meaning no less than job security at the time for countless engineers, welders, crane operators, electricians, the list goes on, this order was to them part of the routine, finish one job and start another. Puts food on the table, affords a comfortable life for the family. a good career to get into.

The ship that is ordered, not surprisingly, will be similar to those that were constructed before her, but as with all other ‘clones’, there will be differences, slight upgrades, improvements if you will. But as long as the prints are true, she’ll become a sea worthy vessel, her capabilities beyond her predecessors. She’ll be faster, a bit more streamlined, her armorment in keeping with the demands of global needs. She’ll be as well protected as can be made, for her crew will depend on her to ensure their safety, this crew that will shed tears, hugs and kisses as they ride this vessel away from home for parts that to many aboard will be unknown, for lengths of time most will not be used to.

Everything about her as she is being pieced together must be perfect, no room for mistakes, no room for anything that would be detrimental to her crew be left out. She must be strong, forebearing, able to defend not only the battle group she’ll be assigned to but also herself and her crew, for this ship will be home for her crew, the one place where they will work, eat, sleep, and relax. Basically, their lives within several hundred feet. She’ll be formidable in appearance, her profile well known world wide. She’ll find herself in the heat of global tensions several times in her life, always proving to all that she’s there when needed. She’ll have every bit of technology available at her birth to give her crew the upmost advantage in any situation said crew may be faced with. In no way, through her design, will she allow her crew to be endangered, and she will give all she has to ensure this.

As this ship is built for the soul purpose of defense and protection of the seas, she will also have within her design comforts for those that will become her, for want of a better term, circulatory system. The requisit berthing spaces, of course, modern galley and messing areas, the ships store, ships library, all maybe small in size but for extended months at sea large in stature. Closed circuit TV. Maybe even satellite TV to catch the Super Bowl while in the Gulf.

Those that build her, they know, that she has a shelf life, and that one day her time will come. They know that she’ll sail countless nautical miles, fight countless battles. They, as well as you and I, know that not all is perfect, that throughout her life there will be lives lost within her shell, yet those lives will not be lost in vain, rather they will be valiently sacrificed in the needed effort to save this ship and their shipmates from an untimely demise. One would think that this thought alone is the major driving force of those that put this ship together make sure everything is as close to perfect as they can make it.

Throughout her years defending this country, Thousands will have done their designated jobs to keep her going strong. Each and every one of these thousands will, when called to duty at yet another ship or shore station, carry forever with them the memories of their shipmates, those who for that short period of time became no less than family. Countless numbers will keep in touch with others, countless will most likely not. Regardless of that fact, all who serves on her decks are connected forever, period.

In time, her end will come, simply outdated and technologically behind the times. She’ll have been upgraded several times in her life, but life itself will ultimately overtake her. With tears in the eyes of many who kept her heart beating, she’ll be retired, her plants never to steam again, the heart stopped forever. She’ll be replaced by newer ships, each filled with the latest in technological wonders, some of which have probably yet to be discovered. But she was advanced for her time, remember that she was the new replacement for the ships before her. Yet it still hurts.

Proudly, some ships become museums, an open venue for those who have never been aboard a ship, to provide a bit of history for the masses. Others, sadly, are uncerimoniously cut apart, for a profit to individulas who care not one bit the history or legacy of the ship they’re torching. Then there are the ships that, after proudly serving their time, are sent to to sea floor, a ‘burial at sea’ if you will, which is the highest honor these vets could receive. A send off this particular ship should well be afforded.

Conceived by the ink of a pen in 1959, roughly 35 years of distinguished service, and taken from the fleet 28 Jan 1994. Thousands of proud individuals made her the ship she was, and in our memories always will be.

She was a force to be reckoned with, her mere presence anywhere she went was never forgotten, and never will be.