In article , john Szalay says...

Kilgore Trout wrote in

So I was present at several launches, not on the VIP platform but
underneath the hull. offering a prayer that the ship would start
moving as soon as the chocks were knocked out. There were, of
course, hydraulic rams to give it a push if necessary.

When I started in the shipyard in '73, I worked in the Stagebuilders
(66 department, shipwright carpenters), who actually performed the
launch.



So you were there while the Glomar Explorer was being build & launched ?

Yes! I worked on the staging on it, and even lost a lunchbox and paperback book in the inards when
a hull section got added while I was working elsewhere :-)

--
Al McCann
albert(dot)mccann(at)outlook(dot)com