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If you read my article on the
Michelson’s trip
through the Panama Canal and her subsequent visit to the shipyard in
Oakland California, you know the first part of the story.
I do not know the precise reason for her shipyard / dry-dock visit in
Oakland. My best guess is that since the Mike had last been in dry-dock
early in 1963, and it was now late 1964, it was time for her annual
yard-period. Maintenance of the ship’s bottom and Sonar Array domes
necessitated dry-docking; installation of new washing machines in the crew
laundry and other maintenance tasks were accomplished in preparation for our
upcoming Far-East operations. (Go
here
for my story about the washing machines.)
We spent two or three weeks in the Willamette Iron and Steel Works dry-dock
before moving to the Oakland Army Terminal for provisioning. Our scheduled
stay at the terminal was about four days, which was during late October or
early November 1964. On the morning of our scheduled departure, all hell
broke loose; fire alarms sounded and there was a call to GQ. As it turned
out a fire (sort of) had broken out in cargo hold four; it is the hold
immediately aft of the superstructure.
The fire turned out to be mostly smoke caused by chlorine bleach leaking
into boxes of dry laundry detergent. The ship’s crew and Army Terminal Fire
Department personnel sprayed a large quantity of water into the hold and
onto the source of the smoke.
Once the threat of fire was eliminated, a cleanup operation commenced.
Everything in the cargo hold that had received a drop of water was removed
and tossed into dumpsters. Fortunately, I was there “supervising” the
removal of the “damaged” goods. As wet boxes came out of the cargo hold, I
noticed new Extreme Foul Weather Jackets in boxes that were barely wet. I
asked the real supervisor what they were going to do with them. He said they
were being scrapped. I asked if I could have one and he said, “Take all you
want before we haul them away.” I grabbed two jackets, depositing one in my
room and the other I gave to our OIC, LCDR Guy Trotter. I then spread the
word that new foul weather jackets were available for the taking. Everyone
scrambled to the area where they were dumping them, grabbing themselves a
new jacket.
Our departure from Oakland was delayed about three days. When we finally
sailed for Japan, each of the Ocdet Navy crew had a new Extreme Foul Weather
Jacket. Before we were underway, I packed my jacket in a box so I could ship
it home once we arrived in Yokosuka. Upon arrival, I took the box to the
Navy Exchange and mailed it.
Eventually, we had a change of command, which meant a new face and new
rules. One of those rules, not well received by the Navy crew, was that each
Ocdet crewmember that had a jacket had to turn it in to the storekeeper for
inventorying, numbering and subsequent checkout back to the crewmember.
Since I did not have one, technically speaking, I did not have to turn one
in. From that point on, the jackets became the official property of the
Ocdet; when an Ocdet crewmember transferred off the Michelson, he had to
return his jacket to the storekeeper. I believe LCDR Trotter and I were the
only two who managed to retain custody of “our” jackets.
As you can see from the
photos, my jacket is almost like new. I wore it when I had a service
station, getting it filthy from grease and grime while working on cars,
trucks and anything else with wheels. Eventually I had it dry cleaned; to my
surprise all stains vanished and the jacket looked new again, as it does to
this day, albeit almost 46 years after the fact.
Copyright ©
2010 Chet Headley
All Rights Reserved
Used By Permission
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