Message from discussion
A Sea Story (OT and long)
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NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 00:57:18 -0600
From: "Mike Kanze" <mikeka...@comcast.net>
Newsgroups: rec.aviation.military.naval
Subject: A Sea Story (OT and long)
Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 22:57:06 -0800
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Although off-topic and long, I thought the below interesting enough that
this group might enjoy. It is a good illustration of the complexities of
operating the large tilting aerodrome (even when not at flight quarters),
the value of knowing your stuff, and classy leadership.
I do not know personally any of the protagonists in this story. Rather I
received this from Roger Picquet, a classmate of mine from our Midshipman
days at the University of California, Berkeley NROTC unit.
After a stint as a skimmer, Roger left the Navy for the law and is now a
Superior Court judge in San Luis Obispo County, California.
--
Mike Kanze
436 Greenbrier Road
Half Moon Bay, California 94019-2259
USA
650-726-7890
"One phrase that no Member of Congress should ever use lightly is 'political
hack.' The ironic possibilities are too rich."
- Wall Street Journal (3/7/05)
******
A 30 plus year old Sea Story..Although a bit long, it is Interesting! The
short short version reads....Balls!
A true one experienced by Frenchy Corbeille USN(Ret)
It was Sunday afternoon, early in the month of August, 1968 when USS
Forrestal (CVA-59) was making her way through the Western Mediterranean
during the first days of a 7-month cruise.
I was Officer of the Deck (OOD) on the 1200 - 1600 bridge watch, there were
no ship's evolutions ongoing, and things looked like a "ho-hum" Sunday
afternoon at sea. We were hosting the prospective Commanding Officer of
USS
Independence and our CO had gone with him to the Captain's In-Port Cabin.
Prior to departing the bridge the CO and I had conversed briefly and one of
the subjects breeched was that we had been in the Mediterranean for more
than a week now and we had not yet seen one of those pesky Russian trawlers.
Our Navy had come to hope not to see one because they had a way of getting
in the way whenever we had things to do, such as flight operations, or
underway replenishment. This lack of encounter was about to change.
At about 1500 I called the CO to advise him that we had picked up an
unidentified surface contact on radar, range 22,000 yards (11 nautical
miles). It appeared to be on our reciprocal course at a speed of 8 knots
and in the absence of any changes, the closest point of approach (CPA) would
be 6,000 yards on our port beam. "Very Well" and the customary "Thanks,
Frenchy" constituted the CO's response.
I had no more than hung up the phone when the contact changed course. I
could identify 2 sticks over the horizon, looking through the 7X50 OOD
standard equipment Bausch & Lomb's, but could make out nothing of the
vessel. However, the two sticks bore a strong resemblance to the pictures
we had on the bridge of known trawlers that had frequented these
waters. I called the captain back to advise him that the unidentified
contact had indeed made a 90-degree course change, was still doing 8 knots,
and his present course/speed would take him across our bow at 6,000 yards (3
miles). We were doing 20 knots, on some kind of a "sustained speed
exercise" for the engineers, and preferred to alter neither course nor
speed unless absolutely necessary. I advised the captain of my suspicions
concerning the vessel's identity and advised him that I had ordered the
Intelligence sighting team to the bridge. It being a Sunday stand down
with little to occupy the idle time, we soon had the entire Intelligence
staff scattered about on the bridge and the signal bridge, with a few photo
types thrown in.
The contact was still hull-down over the horizon but the visible masts more
and more took on the resemblance of our Russian trawler pictures. I also
advised the captain that, in accordance with the International Rules of the
Road, Forrestal was the privileged vessel; the vessel crossing our bow was
coming from our port side and was therefore the "Burdened" vessel. In
accordance with the Rules, the privileged vessel is REQUIRED to maintain
course and speed. The Burdened vessel is responsible for maneuvering as
necessary to avoid collision. The Captain said "Very Well, Call me back
if he does anything funny, and let me know what the intelligence folks come
up with."
Only moments later I was back on the phone, advising the Captain that we
had positive ID on a Russian ELINT (Electronics Intelligence) trawler, and
he had indeed done something "funny" - He had reached our intended track at
a range of 6,000 yards, and had then executed another 90-degree turn to
port; he was now on the same course as Forrestal, dead ahead, at speed 8
knots. So we had a 12-kt speed advantage, and 3 miles to contact. That
meant that in 15 minutes one or the other of us must turn or he, the Russian
trawler, would get run over. I advised the captain that in accordance
with the International Rules, he was burdened when he came in from our port
bow. Now that we are on a course to overtake him, he would like us to
believe that Forrestal, as the overtaking vessel, is the newly ordained
BURDENED vessel. I reminded the captain of another clause in the rules
that says once a vessel is burdened, it may not maneuver to shift the burden
to the other vessel. He stays burdened until danger of collision is past.
The captain agreed with my assessment and asked what I
recommended we do. I recommended we hold course and speed until
"EXTREMIS" - that sketchy point at which somebody has to do something or
there's going to be a crunch, then order up "All Back Emergency Full",
"Right Full Rudder", and we would miss him. I had identified that point as
400 yards astern but threw in 100 yards for cushion. The captain once
more came back with his cheerful "Very Well" and added "if he's still there
at 1,000 yards, give me a call back." "AYE AYE, Sir!" Now we've eaten
up about 1/3 of our cushion and the squawk box came to life. "Bridge,
Flag Bridge" "When does Forrestal intend to maneuver to avoid that
Privileged vessel ahead?" There was no race by other members of the bridge
team to answer that one, so I got it myself. "Flag Bridge, Bridge - This
is the Officer of the Deck speaking. That vessel ahead is not privileged -
he approached from our port side, therefore is the burdened vessel, and he
can no longer maneuver to shift his burden to Forrestal." "Flag Bridge Aye"!
I could envision some hot shot flag watch officer
digging the Admiral's shoe out of his ass, and smiled inwardly. I didn't
hear the Admiral's voice, but I knew he was watching from his favorite
perch.
Somewhere about then I had the signal gang close up "Uniform" on both
halyards - "U" is the international signal that says "you are standing into
danger". Then our navigator got into it. First he told me I was going
to have to turn the ship and he was working on our new course. Since he
was a commander and I was a lieutenant, I explained as tactfully as I could
that we were not going to turn, leastways not to a pre-planned course. We
were the privileged vessel, and as such, were REQUIRED to hold course and
speed. Next thing I heard from him was "Mr. Corbeille, I'm ordering you
to turn this ship." With no attempt at tact, I advised him "Commander,
you cannot order me to turn this ship. If you believe the ship to be
sufficiently endangered, you, as Navigator, can summarily relieve me as OOD.
Then you can turn left, turn right, or come dead in the water. But you
cannot order me to turn. Do you want to relieve me?" Rather truculently,
he then asked if the Captain knows about all this. I told him yes indeed,
and at contact range of 1,000 yards, I was to notify the Captain again.
"You better call him again - right now!" "No Sir, we still have a few
hundred yards to go."
At this stage, I don't recall the exact time, the bridge relief crew was
coming on deck, but no one was ready to be relieved. I spied my relief
OOD waiting in the wings and he wanted nothing more than to stay out of the
way. Admittedly, I got a bit nervous, and I called the captain back when
the trawler was 1,100 yards ahead. His only response was "I'm on my way
up". He arrived momentarily with the PCO of Independence following in his
wake. He hopped up in his chair, says "Boy, he is pretty close, isn't
he." Then he asked "and when do you plan to make your big move?" I told
him that if it closes to 500 yards, we can order up All Back Emergency Full,
Right Full Rudder, and we will miss him. He asked: Is that what the book
says? I told him "No Sir, The book says 400 yards, but I was leaving in a
little cushion. He said "We need only to maneuver in extremis to MINIMIZE
DAMAGE". That is a slight departure from international rules, but was our
standing order, arrived at specifically to contend with harassment vessels.
This is kind of a delicate point here because International Rules of the
Road says the "privileged vessel must maneuver when in extremis to avoid
collision". U.S.S.R. (Soviet Union) was not signatory to the International
Rules of the Road, therefore her vessels were not bound by them. It must be
pointed out that Russian ships, merchantmen and men-of-war alike, followed
the international rules of the road anyway, and knew them well enough to
"play chicken" with U.S. ships, mostly to our embarrassment. That was a
game that our Navy had long since tired of, hence the new guidance to
maneuver only in extremis to minimize damage. Naturally, it behooved one
to be
absolutely certain that he was absolutely right, if he were going to take a
Navy man-of-war down to the wire in a potential collision situation. I'm
sure there are readers who have more background concerning our maneuvering
instructions, but we believed we understood them perfectly. I still
believe that we did.
Having thus indicated his intentions, the Captain then asked "So how close
can we take her?" I told him 400 yards would provide a grazing situation,
and then ordered the engine room to stand by for Emergency Backing Bells.
We were still closing and had reached the 500-yard mark when the trawler
put in left full rudder. His rudder was not the size of a barn door - It
had to have looked like the side of the barn itself! That guy turned 90
degrees left in a heartbeat!
We never flinched, never wavered, and the trawler passed close aboard to
port - so close, if fact, that the hull was not visible alongside our flight
deck. All that was visible from the vantage point of our bridge were the
two masts as they went rapidly down our port beam. Then we launched a
helo for some photo work and a big sigh of relief went up from the bridge.
The navigator started lobbying for us to file a harassment report, but since
we had altered neither course nor speed to accommodate the trawler, it was
hard to make a case for harassment. I wanted to make out a harassment
report on the navigator but the CO calmed me down on that score.
The Prospective Commanding Officer (PCO) of Independence, bless his soul,
took in the whole affair after arriving on the bridge with our Captain, and
never interjected one word. When it was all over, he moved directly in
front of me and said, loud enough for almost everybody on the bridge to
hear, "No one could have done better." Our CO joined right in and said
"Frenchy, You handled that perfectly". At that point I realized I wasn't
going to be a lieutenant forever, my advice to the Captain had been sound,
and I knew our Captain appreciated it. My breathing gradually returned to
normal. For his part, Captain Hill, for that, as I recall, was his name,
went on to become CO USS Independence. He assumed command while anchored
in some Sicilian Bay, and when Independence stood out to sea "under new
management", there was a Russian ELINT trawler, just outside territorial
waters, making slight way on Independence's intended track.
A friend serving on that fine vessel told me that the new CO's order to CIC
was "Combat, give me a collision course on that trawler at 30 knots!" I
heard the same refrain from several other people and I believe it to be what
happened. For our part, we spent the remainder of our cruise unhampered
in any way by any Russian flagged ship. We continued to see an
occasional trawler, but when we came into the wind to launch and recover
aircraft, they vanished as if by magic. The word seemed to have leaked out
that this carrier has an attitude problem - he'll run right over you! And
the Chief Engineer was happy because he got his uninterrupted 4-hour
sustained speed run at 20 knots.
Life was not the same for me after that. Our captain made me "Command Duty
Officer Underway". I was already the General Quarters OOD and Sea and
Anchor Detail OOD, so I wasn't sure what this new designation would lead to.
I soon learned that I was to be on the bridge whenever Forrestal was in
formation with other major combatants, (destroyers didn't
count, but cruisers did), and that I was to provide training to all
prospective Command Duty Officers.
Anytime there was underway replenishment, there was a "formation", so I got
to spend a lot of valuable time on the bridge, learning all I could absorb.
Our great captain, nameless up to now, was Robert Bemus Baldwin, born in
Bismarck, North Dakota.
He was promoted to RADM upon leaving Forrestal, and the last time I spoke
with him he was Vice Admiral Baldwin, COMNAVAIRPAC. I believe he lives in
or near San Diego, and remains the most admired man of my 30-plus year Navy
career.
CAPT R. CLAUDE CORBEILLE USN (RET)
Castle Rock, WA
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