Happy Hour and the Bicycle



It was May 1962. VF-132 had just completed the" Shake Down Cruise" on the USS Constellation CVA-64. It was a three month cruise to Gitmo and the Caribbean. Coincidentally the year after the "Bay of Pigs". But that's another story. Back at NAS Cecil Field,Florida, after working on the flight line, we would head to the "Crow's Nest", the enlisted men's club. We could in wearing dungarees until 2000 hours. Then only civilian clothes ,or the undress uniform of the day. We went back to the Barracks, showered , changed into the uniform of the day. We went to the "EM" club and had a few beers. It was still light out in Jacksonville, when we decided to head back to the barracks. Outside to the club's front door was the "Duty Messenger " bicycle. The bike was used to hand deliver messages to various parts of the base. It shouldn't have been there, at the club. Having established a nice beer buzz, I said to Larry Purser,"get on". He alertly asked ,"Get on What"? I picked up the bike and gestured to Larry to get on the handle bars. We would ride back to Barracks 93. Peddling the two of us, down the road between the semi circle of barracks and the hangars, I turned left toward the hangars. It was after 2000 hours and the fire and line watches had been deployed. Larry, riding the handlebars said "wrong way". I kept pedalling toward the flight line of base aircraft. I zipped toward the jet trainers parked wingtip to wingtip, with a small opening between each wing. Larry rising up from the handlebars, blocking my view, excitedly said" Tip tanks, Tip tanks". We barely made it through. The line watch challenged us. "Halt, who goes there"?"Friend or foe"? That challenge is printed on the plastic clipboard attached to the duty belt. We ignored the challenge and turned right in front of the hangar doors, retracing our tracks through the flight line. Again we were challenged. "Halt, who goes there"? The line watch must have been right out of boot camp. He stopped challenging us and started blowing his whistle. "Tweeeeeeeeeeeet, tweeeeeeeet." Time to exit stage right. Dusk had turned to night, and the red flashing lights on the "Fleet Air Duty Officer"( FADO) bounced off the hangar doors. I peddled as fast as my beer soaked legs could pump, and stopped at Barracks 92. Larry excitedly shouted " Wrong barracks". I said "Follow me". We ran through the back door of the barracks and down the first floor, out the front door an into Barracks 93. It was "Lights Out" in all barracks as we ran panting, sweating, and laughing. we could hear the Duty Officer running through Barracks 92, shouting challenges. He would be here next. I was able to get undressed and hid under my blanket, sweating some of the beers out. The Duty Officer was getting closer. Larry couldn't stop laughing. I thought the jig may be up. Someone three cubicles over shout at the Duty Officer,"Shut the F@#k up. That was all the newly commissioned ensign needed to divert his attention from the bike riding pranksters to the poor guy who was trying to sleep.The next morning at 0800 muster, our squadron's leading chief told all to be on the look out for the beer buzzed pranksters who stole bicycles. For some reason,he was looking right at us as he warned the rest of the squadron.

Phosphorescence and Flying Fish

Shipboard life, on the carrier, in the early 1960's, didn't have many of the modern gadgets to occupy one's free time. No computers or Emails. Contact from the States was a letter or package fro home. It usually took three days for a letter from home t be delivered on the "COD", or Carrier OnBoard Delivery. The COD was T2F Trader from VR-6 out of Italy. Right after Thanksgiving, at sea, we on the Flight Deck noticed one of VR-6's planes had a rather unusual paint scheme. They had painted Santa Claus straddling the planes nose cone, as if the plane had hit Santa. Arms and legs straddling the radar cone. It was funny, but we knew Sana would visit us in Naples, on Christmas Day. We had been good all cruise. Well maybe our liberty in Cannes, France may be a mark against us. But that was during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and all bets were off.
Often, after Flight Quarters secured, I liked to go down and stand on the sponsons and weather decks off the Hangar Deck. I found watching the ship's wake to be relaxing. Often, flying fish, could be seen flying into the ship's waves from the bow. Sometimes at dusk, we would sail into phosphorescence. It was something to see, flying fish jumping into the shimmering, glowing sea. Once, I saw a rather large mammal porpoising. I'm guessing it was a porpoise.

Nuclear Weapons Watch

On any giving day aboard the carrier Franklin D. Roosevelt, there are a number of Drills. Practise for any potential situation the ship may encounter. "Man Over Board", General Quarters9 Battle Stations",to NBC Warfare. NBC meaning Nuclear, Biological, Chemical warfare. Each carrier, on station, has a cache of nuclear weapons. The crews assigned to these weapons need practise just like everyone else aboard ship. We were told to ignore the ordinance , and the nuclear tech monitors. That's like saying "don't think of pink elephants", because that's all you are going think about. At times when the nuclear weapon was placed on the plane, it was under armed guard. Except when the ship was in Spain. It was the year after a B-52 collided with an aerial tanker and dropped Nuclear weapons into the sea off Spain. So after "Flight Quarters" secured for the day, Marines, in snappy uniforms, and side arms,would watch over the weapon.
One day when I had the duty, I was asked to report to the Officer of the Deck, the OOD. He informed me that I had the 2000 to 2400 watch, on the nuclear weapon, on the hangar deck. For some reason unbeknownst to me, all Marines were busy. What? How? So I get outfitted, not in a snappy Marine uniform,and side arm, but navy undress whites, with a white helmet, white duty belt, billy club, and a plastic clipboard with directions on how to challenge an intruder. Intruder? On ship? And the best part was, the OOD said I couldn't look at the weapon. Yeah, Right. I saluted the OOD and took charge of the weapon. and I looked at the weapon. Slung under the A4 Sky Hawk amid ship, it hung. It looked somewhat like a drop tank only smaller. It was covered in canvas to hide from prowling eyes.
Watches in the Navy were pretty much alike. The first two hours go by rapidly , as does the last hour. But that third to fourth hour seemed like an eternity. It was quiet in Hangar Bay Three. Lights were dimmed, and"No bright lights shining outboard", or red lights were the plan of the evening. So feeling brave, I stepped inside the roped off area, with the plane and nuclear weapon aboard, and I touched it. How often does anyone ever get to touch a nuclear weapon? About 2300 hours, the Nuclear Weapons team relieved me, as they were returning the bomb to the ship's armory. Or, were they?

During the Cold War it was commonplace for the Soviet Union to spy on the US Navy by having Russian trawlers "shadow" Naval Task Forces. Ours ,Task Force 6, was no exception. They shadow us, our jets buzz them at supersonic speeds to foul up their radar calibrations.

Universal Admiralty Law states , ships must "give to" to any ships approaching from dead ahead to 90 degrees starboard, relative bearing. Or so it seems.

It was the second launch of the day on the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt, CVA-42. The ship had left port in Cannes, France, in November 1963, a few days earlier. The day was gray, and overcast. When the sea turns from its usual azure blue to slate gray, it means a storm is coming.
I was plane captain ( crew chief) on F8E Crusader 201. I was sitting in the cockpit, on the number three elevator, awaiting to be "spotted" for the next launch, when the previous launch was recovered. I got out of the cockpit, as it would be a few minutes before the last jets, A3 SkyWarriors, would be recovered. The A3's had the tanker role on that launch. Fuel for needy aircraft. I hear over the ship's 1MC PA system, "Collision" being sounded. You don't hear that too often at sea., and was puzzled at first. I looked forward down the bow. I see the giant radar antenna of the Russian trawler under the bow and down the port side. The Russian captain was playing chicken, to see if the FDR would change course. We were recovering aircraft, and there was no way the captain would change course, even if it meant cutting the trawler in two, and causing an International incident.
I see the mast of the trawler go down our port side and start to roll sharply to their starboard side. I thought the Russian was going to roll over. The trawler took out several of the FDR's radio antennas. Their large radar antenna on the ship was still and cocked at an odd angle. She rolled back to her port side and stabilized sailing off to the horizon, and repairs. We recovered he rest of the launch. Crusader 201 was spotted port side amid ships for the next launch. i could see our damaged radio antennas. From that day forward we had no problem with Russian trawlers trying to cut in front of us. But we could see them, at a distance, on the horizon.
Then it started to rain, and the storms of November began.