USS Momsen

In March, my wife and I travelled out to Everett Washinton to watch my son's ship pull back into port. The USS Momsen, DDG 92, was returning from a six-month deployment in the Indian Ocean comprising mostly piracy interdiction, and training for smaller Indian Ocean nations' maritime forces such as the Maldives and the Seychelles.

According to the ship's captain, Cdr. Wylie, the ship stopped four acts of piracy, sank two pirate boats, and trained themselves and some of our friends in the area on how to deal with the piracy threat.

I'm sure the ghosts of Prebble, Bainbridge, DeCatur, Eaton, and even Presley O'Bannon are beaming with pride at what our Naval Service is capable of accomplishing once we give them the go-ahead.

His official title is Strike Offices, but he recently became fully qualified to conn the ship, and I was quite surprised when Momsen docked, because it was my son on the starboard wing bridge conning the ship into port. He said he was Officer of the Deck through the St. Juan De Fuca Strait and on into Everett.

There were a couple of other older Marines on the dock watching for their children and grandchildren. One was 1st Recon, another was Khe Sanh Arty. We had a grand time talking about how proud we were of our progeny, and how these young men and women volunteered to take up where we left off a few years ago. God Bless 'em all.

After lunch, dinner, and a few nips of fine wine, my son talked about the unabashed temerity with which the pirates operated. We both hoped that our Navy's presence will cause many of the pirates to stay ashore and re-think their career choices.

Finally, my son said: "Dad, the only way we're going to put an end to that insanity is to put Marines across the beach."

The apple never falls far from the tree.

K. Brown

"Ah! The good old time--the good old time. Youth and the sea. Glamour and the sea! The good, strong sea, the salt, bitter sea, that could whisper to you and roar at you and knock your breath out of you."

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Permalink Reply by Paul Myers on June 15, 2011 at 12:55am

Ken, We were there too. Your son did a grand job of guiding Momsen straight in to their parking spot. Our son is the LPO for Deck Div, so he was out on the bow directing the forward lines to get it tied up. Quite an impressive sight

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USS Momsen

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