"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
news
On Mon, 15 Mar 2004 20:50:46 GMT, "Calif Bill"
wrote:

http://tv-antenna.com/heavy-seas/

My Dad and his war buddies used to tell tales of things like this on
North Atlantic convoy duty - he commanded a DE and often said that he
sometimes spent more time under water than on top of it.

Great pictures. Thanks for the link.

Later,

Tom
S. Woodstock, CT
-----------
"Angling may be said to be so
like the mathematics that it
can never be fully learnt..."

Izaak Walton "The Compleat Angler", 1653

Had a roommate in school that had been on the Bonne Homme Richard carrier
during a typhoon. HE said they had green water tolling down the deck, and
never figured out how the DE's and destroyers survived.
Bill

On Mon, 15 Mar 2004 22:48:04 GMT, "Calif Bill"
wrote:


"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
news
On Mon, 15 Mar 2004 20:50:46 GMT, "Calif Bill"
wrote:

http://tv-antenna.com/heavy-seas/

My Dad and his war buddies used to tell tales of things like this on
North Atlantic convoy duty - he commanded a DE and often said that he
sometimes spent more time under water than on top of it.

Great pictures. Thanks for the link.

Later,

Tom
S. Woodstock, CT
-----------
"Angling may be said to be so
like the mathematics that it
can never be fully learnt..."

Izaak Walton "The Compleat Angler", 1653

Had a roommate in school that had been on the Bonne Homme Richard carrier
during a typhoon. HE said they had green water tolling down the deck, and
never figured out how the DE's and destroyers survived.

My Dad and three his friends (along with others) were co-opted from
the USCG into the Navy expressly for the purpose of DE duty. They
were classmates and all four eventually ended up in the South Pacific
on DDs.

Man, the tales they told - unbelievable.

Later,

Tom
S. Woodstock, CT
-----------
"Angling may be said to be so
like the mathematics that it
can never be fully learnt..."

Izaak Walton "The Compleat Angler", 1653

I always get a kick out of seeing that picture, having spent a good deal
of time on that ship in similar conditions, including one time having to
go forward to close the door on the foc'sle, which led below to the
"rope" locker.

otn

otnmbrd wrote:
I always get a kick out of seeing that picture, having spent a good deal
of time on that ship in similar conditions,

Spent a week in same conditions one Christmas near the dateline on the
"Kenai" running from Valdez to Tsingtao. Winds over 100kn sustained,
waves over 100 feet. On the crests it was impossible to tell the
difference between the air and the water.

The noise alone was enough to write sea stories about. The sound of the
wind was only drowned out by the sound of books, TV sets, refrigerators,
and the contents of closets and desks crashing from bulkhead to bulkhead
in the room above as the ship rolled.

We lost 5 liferafts, about 200 feet of railing, the ladders on the
kingposts, stove in the overhead above the cross passage and wiped off
most of the strain gauges on the main deck. There was no way in hell any
human could have survived a trip to the foc'sle.

Well, maybe Jax could, and he probably did near the rocks off Cape
Hatteras where the Gulf Stream lurks.

Rick

I don't remember, was "Kenai" a flush deck or raised foc'sle ship? (If
flush deck, going to the foc'sle in even relatively calm conditions
could be dangerous to ones health.)
In the storm in question, seas were running @60'. The Captain slowed
down to basically "hove too" and headed directly into the seas. On that
ship, the raised foc'sle was @30'-40' above the water when loaded and in
that condition was only taking spray (trust me, we watched for awhile).
If you look at the picture, you'll see that along the center catwalk,
there are a number of places you could go too (deepwell pump houses) for
protection.
I was able to get forward (damn spray and rain STINGS at those wind
speeds) secure the door, check for other damage (there was a good deal
of it), retrieve the ship's bell (it had been broken off and was lodged
in between some piping) and then head back.
About halfway back, the old man blew the whistle to warn me of a "big
one" coming ..... he says that's the fastest he ever saw me move.
Also, if you look at the picture of the foremast, in this storm the
brackets for all the deck lights (near the top of the mast) were bent up
from seas coming aboard. (Ship in question ... Delaware Trader).

otn

Rick wrote:
otnmbrd wrote:

I always get a kick out of seeing that picture, having spent a good
deal of time on that ship in similar conditions,


Spent a week in same conditions one Christmas near the dateline on the
"Kenai" running from Valdez to Tsingtao. Winds over 100kn sustained,
waves over 100 feet. On the crests it was impossible to tell the
difference between the air and the water.

The noise alone was enough to write sea stories about. The sound of the
wind was only drowned out by the sound of books, TV sets, refrigerators,
and the contents of closets and desks crashing from bulkhead to bulkhead
in the room above as the ship rolled.

We lost 5 liferafts, about 200 feet of railing, the ladders on the
kingposts, stove in the overhead above the cross passage and wiped off
most of the strain gauges on the main deck. There was no way in hell any
human could have survived a trip to the foc'sle.

Well, maybe Jax could, and he probably did near the rocks off Cape
Hatteras where the Gulf Stream lurks.

Rick

otnmbrd wrote:
I don't remember, was "Kenai" a flush deck or raised foc'sle ship? (If
flush deck, going to the foc'sle in even relatively calm conditions
could be dangerous to ones health.)

Kenai has raised foc'sle. We were hove to trying to maintain steerage to
keep the bow about 45 degrees or so to the seas. Making about 40 turns
or so, was really grim listening to the engine, hoping that we wouldn't
lose the plant.

Even hove to we were rolling so badly it tore the Sat-A off the mount
and snapped the HF whips. We had a "hydrostatic" load on board but still
had a good deal of freeboard but there was no way to avoid taking seas
when the roll was out of phase.

It was the most incredible storm I have ever experienced in quite a few
years at sea. No one even spoke for days, too exhausted, too stressed to
do anything other than minimal movement to go on watch, no hot food for
the whole week. What amazed me was the pressure of the water was enough
to bend a perfect curve in the ladders on the kingposts ... the idea
that the water could bend that steel when the only area it found was
about 3 inches wide on the side straps.

The sight of the deck movement was awe inspiring, thank heavens it was
not one of the high tensile hulls like the Keystone Canyon or Atigun
Pass. We found a few cracks on our return though.

The Kenai has shelters and breakwaters at a couple of spots along the
deck but still there was no way to go on deck. Not even on the stern.

One less interesting trip the C/M and bosun had to go forward in weather
to secure something or other in the stores forward. The weather was bad
enough that the deck was secured but it was one of those "had to do"
things. I was watching from the wheelhouse as they made their way
forward from shelter to shelter between seas breaking over the bow. The
water would hit the bow and rise vertically for maybe a hundred feet or
so and crash back on deck just behind the IG vent mast. It looked like
it was just heavy spray from the wheelhouse. They got just behind the
vent mast when a big one hit the bow and came crashing down on them.
They were knocked down like bowing pins and washed back to the pipeline
where they managed to hang on. It was amazing how much weight of water
was in the harmless looking cloud of spray.

Rick

G I've got another one about being on the stern and taking a sea
backwards, over the stern ....same storm .... looked like a drowned rat
in that one.
We had the "American Trader" .... she was a crack, looking for an excuse
to happen.
Glad to see much of that tonnage is and has been replaced, as that run
is a "ship killer".
As for deck movement .... it's an awesome sight to stand in the
wheelhouse of a tanker and watch the hull flex ... especially when the
bow is doing that bounce and twist, seemingly independent of the rest of
the ship.

otn

Rick wrote:
otnmbrd wrote:

I don't remember, was "Kenai" a flush deck or raised foc'sle ship?
(If flush deck, going to the foc'sle in even relatively calm
conditions could be dangerous to ones health.)


Kenai has raised foc'sle. We were hove to trying to maintain steerage to
keep the bow about 45 degrees or so to the seas. Making about 40 turns
or so, was really grim listening to the engine, hoping that we wouldn't
lose the plant.

Even hove to we were rolling so badly it tore the Sat-A off the mount
and snapped the HF whips. We had a "hydrostatic" load on board but still
had a good deal of freeboard but there was no way to avoid taking seas
when the roll was out of phase.

It was the most incredible storm I have ever experienced in quite a few
years at sea. No one even spoke for days, too exhausted, too stressed to
do anything other than minimal movement to go on watch, no hot food for
the whole week. What amazed me was the pressure of the water was enough
to bend a perfect curve in the ladders on the kingposts ... the idea
that the water could bend that steel when the only area it found was
about 3 inches wide on the side straps.

The sight of the deck movement was awe inspiring, thank heavens it was
not one of the high tensile hulls like the Keystone Canyon or Atigun
Pass. We found a few cracks on our return though.

The Kenai has shelters and breakwaters at a couple of spots along the
deck but still there was no way to go on deck. Not even on the stern.

One less interesting trip the C/M and bosun had to go forward in weather
to secure something or other in the stores forward. The weather was bad
enough that the deck was secured but it was one of those "had to do"
things. I was watching from the wheelhouse as they made their way
forward from shelter to shelter between seas breaking over the bow. The
water would hit the bow and rise vertically for maybe a hundred feet or
so and crash back on deck just behind the IG vent mast. It looked like
it was just heavy spray from the wheelhouse. They got just behind the
vent mast when a big one hit the bow and came crashing down on them.
They were knocked down like bowing pins and washed back to the pipeline
where they managed to hang on. It was amazing how much weight of water
was in the harmless looking cloud of spray.

Rick