What it was like to have service at sea aboard a submarine.
The first thing I learned about being in the Navy is that if your destination is a ship and it moves across the ocean, sometimes it takes you a long time to reach it, get on it. That was the deal with this ship, and also with the destroyer it was on. It took me almost a month to reach the destroyer I was stationed on. It didn’t take me that long to reach the ship. The ship was heading to Subic Bay, in the Philippines. And I was going to meet him at the pier, when I finally got there.
After arriving in Manila, me and some other guys who were heading to the ship, we spent the night in Manila, the first night. That was the first night I spent in another country, in my life. There were several of us, who flew to Manila that same day, and we had to take a taxi about 2 hours south, to meet the ship.
We got a nice hotel room in Manila, it had views of the streets below, where all kinds of vendors and jeeps like taxis were everywhere, honking non-stop. We didn’t know what to do, so we stayed in the hotel lounge. That first night, we all drank right there in the living room, and we stayed there. We had been traveling for a while, and they told us not to party, but we partied a bit, but only in the hotel lounge.
The next morning, a white, air-conditioned van came and picked us up. He took us to the town where the ship was waiting. Along the way, I could see many different types of taxis and tons of fields, which we all assumed were rice fields.
Taxi drivers seemed to drive crazier than in America. They veered off into things, barely slowing down to let anyone cross the street, they had tons of ornaments plastered all over the place, and it was all of them that heavily decorated their cabs. They would honk constantly and sometimes if you’re looking at the driver, just honk to honk. There were three-wheeled motorcycle taxis called tricycles everywhere. They were the cheapest way to get around.
I consider myself a good motorcyclist as I grew up on dirt bikes and motorcycles all the time. One day, I asked one of the tricycle drivers if I could drive his 3-wheeled motorcycle taxi. He said he would have a hard time, as he had never done it before. I told him I rode motorcycles my whole life, I can ride his. He bet me 50 pesos, which is around $ 1, that I couldn’t ride it from one place to another. Wow, I drove it just a little bit, and I couldn’t get it to spin for me, so I was right, you have to practice riding on those things, to figure it out.
I was the “fresh meat” guy, again, on the boat. This was finally going to be, the real Navy. A ship with more than 1,300 people on board. Our office was almost at the top of the ship. All administrative, legal, public affairs, recreation, CO, XO, and Command Master Chief offices were interconnected. The offices are interconnected, so we can all use some of the same spaces. You had to do the usual tasks that anyone on board a ship would have to do. Firefighter training, drills, man overboard, abandon ship, nuclear spill and other types of drills.
Everyone does special training and you learn other things about the ship. One of my first duties, besides being a landowner, was that you had to stand watch, or serve in a flight crew, or a salvage crew, or something like that. Even if you are working in an office, at any time, and even at 3:00 am, they can decide to do a drill or something real.
One of my jobs as a sailor in the Navy, and working in the administration department, was during special maritime procedures. We could be getting supplies from another ship, which is traveling thrown the water, say, for example, at 20 knots, and we are traveling thrown into the water, also at the same speed. We can transfer fuel, supplies, food, mail, people, whatever.
They can use a helicopter to carry supplies, from ship to ship, and all this time, the Captain is on the bridge, towering over the wings, directing the ship how fast it should be, what course it should take. he must be on, and during all this time, he always has a young naval officer, by his side, as he is always training officers, at all times.
The captain, I must have seen 50 different officers train with the same thing, over and over again. Here we are, traveling at high speeds, two boats no more than 100 feet from each other. There will be a young ensign, or junior rank lieutenant, standing on the wings of the bridge, trying to give speed and heading to the quartermaster and helmsman. Also, at the same time, he has the captain behind him, pushing him a bit, telling him what to do and asking him a lot of test questions, and always testing and training them.
My job was to keep track of our speed and heading at all times. The young officers were confused and did not remember which course or speed we were going. Usually you just have to adjust your course and speed, once in a while back and forth, just a little bit, but always back and forth, and the boats will be fine.
It looks really impressive, amazing and powerful, to be in the sea, thousands of men working, a bright sun, crystal clear waters and your ocean cruise, at pretty fast speeds, and you can see the cargo and other items being transported. transferred from ship to ship, and you think, wow, how cool is this.
One day the captain was on the bridge and he was a pretty nice guy, he said “Petty Officer Stead”, even though I was still just a sailor at the time, he always likes to call people for a higher rank. . Said, “You must have heard me say these things over and over a thousand times, I bet you could drive this ship better than these officers.”
I always knew when it was time to change course, I could have done what those officers were trying to learn, just because I was there every time with the captain, when he was always training someone. It was never just the captain doing something for himself, it was always a drill, an exercise or a supply mission, he was always training junior officers, in everything he did.
One of my jobs was to be the telephone interlocutor for the CO during emergencies and drills. During battle scenarios and other things we do, each department would have a person talking on the phone, like the repair department, the medical department, the damage department, and all the other people connected.
The captain was yelling orders and I was yelling orders to the other departments, it was like I was yelling orders, and it was kind of funny, because everyone took it very seriously, and from where the captain was, there was always a good view.
On this ship, the captain had his own kitchen and cook. The cook was part of our department, since the Supply Department and the Executive Department shared the same docking space. So we always shared our berth with cooks and suppliers.
The cook of the CO, was selected as sailor of the year, for the boat, and he was a good guy. His dream was to work at the White House, and he applied, but was turned down for the job. The captain had his own stove, refrigerator and all the things that one would have at home, in a kitchen. The cook would ask the CO what he would like to eat for each meal and then prepare it for him. The patron might respond: I want a light salad, a steak, and whatever else I want.
Everyone new to the ship and just starting out in the Navy is required to do 90 day duty, somewhere in the kitchen section. Whether as a cook, helper, cleaner or whatever. My job ended up being in charge of about 3 frozen food lockers. Now on the ship, there must be at least 12 storage lockers, for milk, food, bread, hamburgers, whatever.
We had a lift at each entrance and at the top of the ship we had our own crane. Before going out to sea, some trucks with semi-trailers would come and we would load the boat with fresh food and lots of it. On the ship, you can usually have 4 meals a day, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and one at midnight again, called intermediate rats, for people who are still hungry, or people who are on duty or get off. guard. When you have 1,300 people, you need a lot of food.
Working in the food storage department for 90 days was fun, the guy in charge of us was great. We were always allowed to have the day off, as soon as you finished your work. That meant all of our work, so if someone finished, we would help the next guy do his job, until all the things were done, and many days, we would finish work at noon and leave for the rest of the day. It’s really not a bad job.
