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Gordon Gordon is offline
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First recorded activity by BoatBanter: Oct 2006
Posts: 878
Default A sea story, a reminder, and a parable (CAUTION: LONG)


These trawlers were a pain in Vietnam also. I was on an old Fletcher
class can and we pulled duty to herd one of these fellows around and
keep him away from the carriers.
We'd go upwind at night and blow stacks all over him just to **** him
off a little. In the morning his captain would chit chat with ours. They
had a standing invite for anyone that wanted to come over and play chess.
We decided to jamb him once. The radiomen rigged an antenna using a
rat guard to make it directional. Came alongside the trawler and turned
on the jambing for a minute or so. Turned it off and all we heard from
the fleet was "What in the hell was that?" Seems we killed everybody in
the Tonkin Gulf. I often wondered if the admiral ever found out who was
responsible.
Normally, a sea going tug was used for this duty which means he could
be physically nudged to a new course if necessary. I guess it isn't a
collision if there is no damage.
Gordon