Eisboch wrote:
You were on one of the "new" DE's (before they were renamed "FF")
They were 90-day wonders, designed quick, built cheap, and intended (in
the early 1960s) to replace the WW2 leftovers the Navy was working with
at the time. I think by now most of the Knox class FFs have been melted
down for razor blades.
I was on a couple of the older versions - USS Van Voorhis DE-1028 and USS
Lester DE-1022.
Cool! Didn't know you ever rode around on tin cans! Same class? Looks
like the old twin 4" up front? I think this class was all gone by the
time I signed up. I bet these ships were not designed for comfort!
The whole DE / FF concept is basically to be a torpedo stopper for the
carriers. But at the time I was in (1979-1988), the Navy had enough of
them that we went steaming around on our own a surprising amount of time.
For those of you that really want to know - I posted a pic of the famous
Humpty Dumpty at work on my photo album page. If you look, take a deep
breath before clicking to enlarge .....
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/erikssonrichard/my_photos
Ugh! Glad i never met that one. Let's hope that history has not repeated
itself!
regards
Doug King