On Fri, 13 Jan 2017 16:12:58 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

Oh, it's lots of fun. I remember my first "underway". It was in the
North Atlantic in January. In those days tradition called for a little
"initiation" for all newbies and I was called up to the bridge for
something having to do with it. I stood horrified as I looked out the
bridge windows at the mountainous waves we were plowing through. They
caused the ship to feel as if it was going near vertical, then the bow
came down ... and down ... and down ... until it was completely
underwater. The whole ship shuddered as the bow slowly rose again out
of the water, shaking all the water off. Oh yes, great fun.

When the galley opened for chow time, the crew lined up along the side
of the ship (outside) waiting to go through the chow line. In rough
seas it was almost like watching the spectator "wave" at football or
baseball games. Everyone in line held onto an overhead rail and pulled
themselves up off the deck when the "greenies" broke over the sides and
flooded where we stood. I think the scariest experience was taking a 56
degree roll. Even the old timer Chiefs paid attention.

The Russians used to stalk us, taking pictures of the special gear we
had and occasionally pulled right up alongside trying to disrupt what we
were doing. In the time honored spirit of American Navy diplomacy, we'd
all man the rail and give them a one fingered salute.

We used to shadow the old russian diesel boats but they wouldn't let
us shoot at them. ;-)
My favorite spot was up in the 5" mount. If the blue water wasn't
breaking over that high, running the mount captain chair all the way
up and riding with your head and shoulders out of the hatch was really
cool. It was also a great place to find a quiet to read or do
correspondence courses. That was one reason I did so many. In addition
to FT I also did GM 3&2 and AO 3&2 was most of the way through DC 3 by
the time we got back to Norfolk on the Bravo patrol.