The Fantail

Comment

Comment by NavyDads Admin (Paul) on July 31, 2009 at 10:15pm

you can see whatz next.....there is already talk of banning all tobacco on all naval bases/ships. If that 1 1/8" wrench slips off the nut and bangs your fingers you'll have to call Chief to see if you can say "*$% $!%($^&".......

Comment by Hans, The Old Salt on July 31, 2009 at 10:00pm

I just got an email, from a source which I trust, that included this sentence from a ships notice about liberty policies.... (yes, a real live Navy warship).

"-TIGHTEN COMMAND POLICY REQUIRING ALL PERSONNEL TO CONTACT THEIR CHIEF PRIOR TO CONSUMING ALCOHOL TO DISCUSS THEIR PLANS."



I think this old Chief would be kicked out of todays Navy, cuz I'd tell whoever wrote this to go piss up as rope!

Picture this:

"Chief, this is Petty Officer Jones. My wife and I are celebrating our anniversary with a dinner and a bottle of wine at the Olive Garden. Do you have any advice for me about the wine?"

....or

"Chief, this is Petty Officer Smith. All the guys in Section III are getting together for a softball game on Saturday afternoon. Is it OK if we ice down a couple cases of Bud?"

Is there some civilian Girl Scout Troop Leader in charge of the fleet?

These guys and gals are running the greatest Navy known to man, and have to "contact their Chief" to discuss having a beer?

I think I'm gonna puke.

Comment by NavyDads Admin (Paul) on July 31, 2009 at 9:40pm

Once you start the book Paige you'll find it very hard to put down.....one of the most amazing naval battles ever fought for sure and one of the stellar moments in US Navy history.

Comment by Paige on July 31, 2009 at 9:19pm

Hans, all these discussions about the book "The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" has gotten me very interested in purchasing the book for my son, Billy who will before long be calling the USS Howard home. I'm going to get on-line this weekend and see if I can find the book. I may have to read it myself before sending it off to him.

I learned something today regarding the history and story of the "Fantail" I've never heard of it before you started this group. As a part of our tour of the Howard, we went back to see the "Fantail". It all makes sense to me. What a great place for the sailors to do those things you mentioned. That is also the area where they hold what they call a "steel picnic" every Sunday when on deployment.

Comment by Hans, The Old Salt on July 31, 2009 at 8:48pm

"A giant stalked through the darkness. In the moonless calm after midnight, the great fleet seemed no so much navigate the narrow strait as to fill it with armor and steel. Barely visible even to a night-trained eye, the long silhouettes of twenty-three warships passed in a column ten miles long, guided by the dim glow of the channel lights......."

Thus opens the book "The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" describing the overwhelming power bearing down on a small unsuspecting Task Unit of US destroyers and baby flat-tops defending the landings at Leyte Gulf.

Too weak to fight, and too slow to run, the small task group made it's stand, and against ungodly odds, turned back a far superior jap task force which could have wrecked the US landings at Leyte Gulf.

They fought their ships until their ships were gone, then they fought the sea, the sharks, and the darkness.

This is arguably the most unlikely victory in the history of war at sea, and defines the terms Duty, Honor, and Courage. The battle off Samar one of the finest hours in the history of US Bluejackets, and this book ought to be required reading for anyone associatied with the seagoing Navy.

When you finish reading it, you'll have a new and deeper understanding of the term "sacrifice".

Comment by NavyDads Admin (Paul) on July 30, 2009 at 9:13pm

Also Tin Can Sailors is the name of The National Association of Destroyer Veterans with about 21,000 members.............

Comment by Hans, The Old Salt on July 30, 2009 at 8:11pm

There are several versions of this, each with a slightly different tone. Here's one which I found today.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

"I WAS A SAILOR ONCE"

Sharing a glimpse of the life many so dearly loved...

I liked standing on the bridge wing at sunrise with salt spray in my face and clean ocean winds whipping in from the four quarters of the globe I liked the sounds of the Navy - the piercing trill of the boatswains pipe, the syncopated clangor of the ship's bell on the quarterdeck, harsh, and the strong language and laughter of Sailors at work.

I liked Navy vessels -- plodding fleet auxiliaries and amphibs, sleek submarines and steady solid aircraft carriers.

I liked the proud names of Navy ships: Midway, Lexington, Saratoga, Coral Sea, Antietam, Valley Forge - - memorials of great battles won and
tribulations overcome.

I liked the lean angular names of Navy "tin-cans" and escorts, mementos of heroes who went before us. And the others - - San Jose, San Diego, Los Angeles, St. Paul, Chicago, Oklahoma City, named for our cities.

I liked the tempo of a Navy band.

I liked liberty call and the spicy scent of a foreign port.

I even liked the never ending paperwork and all hands working parties as my ship filled herself with the multitude of supplies, both mundane and to cut ties to the land and carry out her mission anywhere on the globe where there was water to float her.

I liked Sailors, officers and enlisted men from all parts of the land, farms of the Midwest, small towns of New England, from the big cities, the mountains and the prairies, from all walks of life. I trusted and depended on them as they trusted and depended on me -- for professional competence, for comradeship, for strength and courage. In a word, they were "shipmates"; then and forever.

I liked the surge of adventure in my heart, when the word was passed: ''Now Hear This'' "Now station the special sea and anchor detail - all hands to quarters for leaving port," and I liked the infectious thrill of sighting home again, with the waving hands of welcome from family and friends waiting pier side The work was hard and dangerous; the going rough at times; the parting from loved ones painful, but the companionship of robust Navy laughter, the "all for one and one for all" philosophy of the sea was ever present.

I liked the fierce and dangerous activity on the flight deck of aircraft carriers, earlier named for battles won but sadly now named mostly for politicians.

Enterprise, Independence, Boxer, Princeton and oh so many more, some lost in battle, and sadly many scrapped.

I liked the names of the aircraft and helicopters; Skyraider, Intruder, Sea King, Phantom, Skyhawk, Demon, Skywarrior, Corsair, and many more that bring to mind offensive and defensive orders of battle.

I liked the excitement of an alongside replenishment as my ship slid in alongside the oiler and the cry of "Standby to receive shot lines" prefaced the hard work of rigging span wires and fuel hoses echoed across the narrow gap of water between the ships and welcomed the mail and fresh milk, fruit and vegetables that sometimes accompanied the fuel.

I liked the serenity of the sea after a day of hard ship's work, as flying fish flitted across the wave tops and sunset gave way to night.

I liked the feel of the Navy in darkness - the masthead and range lights, the red and green navigation lights and stern light, the pulsating phosphorescence of radar repeaters - they cut through the dusk and joined with the mirror of stars overhead. And I liked drifting off to sleep lulled by the myriad noises large and small that told me that my ship was alive and well, and that my shipmates on watch would keep me safe.

I liked quiet mid-watches with the aroma of strong coffee -- the lifeblood of the Navy permeating everywhere. And I liked hectic watches when the exacting minuet of haze-gray shapes racing at flank speed kept all hands on a razor edge of alertness.

I liked the sudden electricity of "General quarters, general quarters, all hands man your battle stations," followed by the hurried clamor of running feet on ladders and the resounding thump of watertight doors as the ship transformed herself in a few brief seconds from a peaceful workplace to a weapon of war -- ready for anything.

And I liked the sight of space-age equipment manned by youngsters clad in dungarees and sound-powered phones that their grandfathers would still recognize.

I liked the traditions of the Navy and the men and women who made them.

I liked the proud names of Navy heroes: Halsey, Nimitz, Perry, Farragut, John Paul Jones and Burke.

A Sailor could find much in the Navy: comrades-in-arms, pride in self and country, mastery of the seaman's trade. An adolescent could find adulthood.

In years to come, when Sailors are home from the sea, we still remember with fondness and respect the ocean in all its moods - the impossible shimmering mirror calm and the storm-tossed green water surging over the bow. And then there will come again a faint whiff of stack gas, a faint echo of engine and rudder orders, and a vision of the bright bunting of signal flags snapping at the yardarm, a refrain of hearty laughter in the wardroom and chief's quarters and mess decks.

Gone ashore for good we grow humble about our Navy days, when the seas were a part of us and a new port of call was ever over the horizon.

Remembering this, WE stand taller and say, “I WAS A Sailor ONCE."

Captain Lew Thames, U.S. Navy (Ret.)

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