Navy DD-711 Part IV

There were always watches to be held aboard ship. Since the Greene was now deep inside a Naval Base, watches were mostly to keep an eye out for fire. But we did have some advanced weaponry on board. Beside the cannons and anti-aircraft guns, the torpedoes and depth charges, there were cruise missiles and DASH - a Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopter.

The DASH was pretty cool considering this was all happening more than fifty years ago. So the watches were at least to some degree security minded what with the tactical nuclear devices and all.

Watches were kept 24 hours a day, usually four hours long with the worst being the dreaded 'midwatch' which ran from midnight to 4 AM. The mess always had coffee going and would cook up some chicken noodle soup for the midwatch people so they wouldn't pass out and fall overboard.

I was a little surprised to discover that while in port the concept of 'weekends' existed. I just thought they would work us like rented mules except for rare instances of liberty. But even during the rehab of drydock, if we didn't have duty, we were usually granted liberty. Let me be clear, if we could get off the ship, we got off the ship. Since the drinking age was 18, there were all the bars in the world to choose from.

Along the main drag of Norfolk were bars, cheap restaurants, a couple movie theaters, and at the end of the street, the Douglas MacArthur Memorial. Speaking of movies, this one time I went to town early intending to meet up with my friends at some bar or other. But mid-day, I went to see 'Casino Royale' with Peter Sellers. 

In those days, there was something called 'continuous showings'. When the feature ended, the theater went right into the previews and then the feature started again with no 'lights up' time in between. So I sat there and watched that movie over and over until the theater closed. I've never done anything like that before or since. No other movie ever deserved it.

Even though it was very uneven and had maybe five different directors, Casino Royale was hysterical then and I still watch it whenever it comes on TV. Why, I could watch it again right now!

Practically everyone on the ship smoked and they all made fun of me for not smoking. But even then I just told them I was rebelling against my parents by not smoking. This always amused me. The phrase 'The smoking lamp is now lit' meant nothing for me!

Our days were spent around paint. Paint, paint, paint. Taking paint off and putting it on. Taking it off and putting it on. First red lead, the primer and then some shade of grey. But first we had to take the old, tired paint off. To do that trick, the first tool we used was the pneumatic needlegun which shoots metal rods in a repetitive pattern out of the end of the device with the side effect of loosening your teeth.  
 
Only on infrequent occasions would one of the needles disconnect from their little cage and shoot someone in the leg. The slamming action it performed would burst any loose paint off the surface and into your eyes and mouth where it evidently belonged. The person in this photo is wearing eye protection. Hah! Not in 1967, such an innovation had not been invented.

The other main device was the pneumatic disk sander. The thing would sand the remaining paint off in a dust cloud that would enter your lungs and stay there killing you. The trouble with this monster was that after using it for ten hours, it seemed to actually get heavier. And when you're the tall guy who can reach much higher than other people, most of your sanding is done over your head where it got even heavier.

Sure enough, I brought it down one time right onto my knee. CHING! Cut a huge groove in my kneecap. You might not think there was that much blood in the kneecap area... but there is! Enough to run down your leg and fill up your boot so that as you walked to sick bay, you would leave bloody footprints behind you. And of course, your shipmates are yelling at you because now they're going to have to mop up all that blood and that was inconveniencing them. 

Yes, the scar is still there and the groove is still in my kneecap and I still hate my friends. Good times.