During this whole time period, in which I served, I and most of the other sailors were aware that there was a war going on in Vietnam and men were dying by the thousands. But to be honest, I never read much of latest news on the war or watched the war footage on TV. Just occasionally. And occasionally, I thought myself lucky.
No, I don´t seem to recall the noise would have been too much and neither did the crew offer us any ear muffs.
....my first duty was a ''small'' Naval Base where the Marines guarded certain installations....at first, we did not have refrigerators ,,,,,,then when we got them, alcohol not allowed.....my second duty station was a Marine base...I'm guessing we had refrigerators, but I really can't remember ..you were ''allowed alcohol in the barracks ?
The cooks on base at the Bay Hill location on Naval Base Guantanamo Bay Cuba, lived in a little barracks we called The Cook’s Shack. It is now long gone, I am sure. We had about 14 cooks living there working two separate shifts, living in cubicles with two to a cubicle. We were the only living quarters with our own refrigerator as far as I knew, except possibly the chief petty officer’s barracks. We behaved and never caused any trouble for the rest of the “hill” and our barracks was located across from the galley away from general base population. The base police knew we had the booze in our lockers and a refrigerator full of beer, but never bothered us. It helped to give them a few steaks from the galley once in a while. We got the beer and booze from the sailors who lived in the base housing with their wives and children. We traded food for beer with them also. Nobody bothered us.
No, the Medical unit was 24/7 ready for action. No alcohol allowed or you were sent home. I recall a "funny incident" when we were watching the Football Final in January 1997. We went to the US camp to watch it and as everybody had been without alcohol for some months we took a couple of beers and were totally wasted....the other doctor ( there were two of us ) was in charge meantime.
...I did get to go on the USS New Jersey when it was in Hawaii and see the USS Wisconsin at Puerto Rico--fired it's big guns.....we were about 4000m away from impact, but it was still loud ......did not get to see the guns fire--it had moved passed a hill that blocked our view ...but saw, heard, and felt the impacts
A lot has changed since 1968-1969. More modern places to eat etc. from what I understand. The gates were closed after the revolution and the water cut off to the base by Castro. Mine fields between us and them. It’s hot and dry, nice beaches for snorkeling and scuba diving, movies, clubs, horse stable, golf course and iguanas on the cliffs. Harmless. No terrorist prison, not heard of. A water desalting plant added after the water duct was cut. Never leave to sneak into Havana. Not on your life. I guess Americans can still travel to Cuba from the U.S.? But no military can travel from the base as far as I know, to this day. A school for all ages, church, good hospital and pretty decent base housing. Some of those folks loved it there. Probably still do. I found it pretty boring for 18 months. We had leased the base from Cuba for 99 years way back when. The lease ran out, we’re still there and always will be I believe. It’s our only base in the Caribbean for stability and fleet training. They have a Facebook page if you ever care to look it up. I check it occasionally but don’t contribute. I spent a lot of time at the beach snorkeling and sitting on our patio in back of our barracks drinking scotch or beer. I lifted weights. We had our own weight room. Went to the EM club where a beer cost 20 cents a can, or was that a shot of whiskey? I forget, it’s been a long time. I worked from 4:30 in the morning to 6:00 in the evening, when I worked. Port and Starboard, 15 days a month. I had time on my hands. I was a cook. I could go over to the galley at night and make myself a sandwich. 15 days with little to do. But it was better than being in Vietnam. That’s all.
thanks---very interesting...details like that ..they closed Vieques PR...that's where we did live shoots ...it was a training area, really ...in 1987, I was on the USS Inchon...we stayed off Beirut/resupplying for a long time--I thought about 30 days--I think we got a commendation.....on ship that whole time--no liberty....this was when they had all those American hostages over there ...it didn't bother me cause it was my first time on ship ....had ''steel beach'' parties = BBQ on the flight deck ...had Delta Force on the ship .....
wow--being in Cuba at that time is ''historic''/etc = '''not long'' after the Crisis and Bay of Pigs.....like being behind the lines..... can you go into the security/guards/etc?? the Marines guarded the base, yes?
Fleet Marines were stationed there. Marines guarded the perimeter. Still do as far as I know. As well as the prison. I never had much contact with them. They were at the gate between the base and the communist side also. Each day so many Cubans who worked on the base in the galley and other jobs were allowed to come to work and go back on the other side to their homes at night. I don’t know how or if it is the same now. I understand that the hill and barracks where we lived back then has been turned over to the Jamaicans that work on the base.
Ackkk! Elizabeth River . . . Don't eat the fish or crabs . . . better yet, don't put your hand in the water if you want to keep your skin . . . nasty, nasty, nasty. Just some advice from an old Ocean View boy.
Ships are mainly constructed of steel, causing them to disturb the Earth's magnetic field. This makes them easily detected by magnetically activated mines. Ship degaussing is the process of making a (steel) ship's hull nonmagnetic by producing an opposing magnetic field.
I feel it weird that the German magnetic mines could explode under the ship and practically break the hull in two. Would this degaussing remove the torpedo effect or perhaps the steel load of the ship was too much to deactivate the German torpedo??
..thanks for the replies--very interesting--especially since the base is in Cuba.....was the base fenced in --the whole perimeter? it says there are a lot of land mines around
I was never right up to the perimeter. Never interested actually, just what I heard from others stationed there that it was fenced in with some kind of wire and that there were mine fields between the base and the communist side. Some said they had dogs guarding it too. Overall, for me anyway, other than catching a ship headed to Jamaica or Haiti for weekend liberty, it was a boring 18 months of existence. But good snorkeling with beautiful tropical fish.