On Wed, 31 Oct 2018 12:53:43 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 10/31/2018 12:45 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 31 Oct 2018 07:52:15 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 10/31/2018 1:21 AM, wrote:
On Tue, 30 Oct 2018 23:33:33 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 10/30/2018 10:56 PM, wrote:


HMS Surprise is just another marine museum exhibit.
After dragging them around the Midway, the girls were done with boats
so I did not go aboard.

http://gfretwell.com/ftp/california/...rise%20bow.jpg

http://gfretwell.com/ftp/california/...%20gangway.jpg



So the Brits had a HMS Surprise? I was stationed on
the USS Surprise (PG-97) for a while. Little faster
than it's British namesake:

http://funkyimg.com/i/2MEmU.jpg

What is that on the bow? a 3"/50?
I knew they had an autoloader in an enclosed mount but I never saw
one.
This is more what I have dealt with.
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/New%20Mexic...%20in%2050.jpg


Many post WWII Navy ships had enclosed, radar controlled 3"/50 mounts,
either single or twin. Some had more than one. The patrol gunboats
like the USS Surprise had a single in an enclosed mount. It originally
had a Bofors 40 mm on the aft deck as well but it had been removed and
replaced with some missile launchers when I was on it. Only other
armament were four, 50 cal machine guns. Crew was only about 20 people
total (officers and enlisted) and my general quarters station was
manning one of the 50 cal machine guns.


That explains it. When I was in the CG we had WWII ships, pretty much
unaltered. We even had hedgehogs.
They did take the 40mm off the rear deck and there were places above
the bridge that probably had 20mm guns and they were gone.
The only new thing we had was a pair of Mk44 torpedo mounts. (later
Mk46)
I always called them the doomsday device.
We were told to remove the tompins and pull the salt water plugs as
soon as we heard "this is not a drill". They gave me presets to
manually load into the fish in case CIC was knocked out.
They would go get the sub that sank us as soon as the 02 deck went
under water.

We really thought the first shot of WWIII might be sinking us because
we were SOSUS before there was a SOSUS.

I've described this PG before but what made it unique was it's
propulsion. Two relatively small Cummins diesels for speeds up to about
12 knots and a GE gas turbine for high speed runs. It had a fully
reversible pitch prop that could be engaged at full speed and power,
a procedure they called a "crashback".

Wiki claims these PGs were capable of stopping from full speed (about 50
mph) in two ship lengths. This is not true because I witnessed one of
these "crashbacks" while on the bridge. It stopped and was moving
slightly backward in less than it's own length (164 feet). Hard to
envision given the speed, weight and inertia but it did it. Hull was
aluminum and superstructure was fiberglass.

Biggest problem with this class was they didn't have a great reputation
in heavy seas. Too light.


Those wallowing round bottom tubs (AVPs) we had were horrible at sea
but we were there anyway. They might get 20 kts with a tail wind but
they were originally seaplane tenders so it was really just a big
tanker and we carried enough fuel to go around the world a time or
two, mostly just as ballast I suppose.
It did give us a great loitering ability so they were perfect for
ocean stations. We could stay out there for months if we had to.
Typical patrols were 5 weeks but they routinely ran longer.
Food was a bigger issue than fuel and we made water.



The Coast Guard has a physical requirement of being at least 6 feet
tall so that in the event the boat sinks, the crew could walk ashore.
:-)


Yeah I wanted to be a Puddle Pirate but they put me on a white one and
sent me to sea.
I was actually tricked by the recruiter. I went in there thinking I
could be an ET in a lifeboat station fixing radios and radars. They
made FT school sound so much better without really explaining they
don't really have FTs in the Coast Guard. I was in the Navy Reserve.
I just got hidden in the Treasury (later DoT) budget. AKA an ORTAUG
unit (navyvessel augmentation).
Once I got there, I turned out to be a Gunner's mate. They just
wouldn't let me change my rate ... and I tried, even finishing the
GM3&2 course.