The Sinking Of An Aircraft Carrier | USS Oriskany: The Sinking Of An Aircraft Carrier | USS Oriskany The " BIG "O" The USS Oriskany: she was a fearsome presence in the wars at Korea...

Oldsailor65 Loc: Iowa

The Sinking Of An Aircraft Carrier | USS Oriskany
The "BIG "O"

The USS Oriskany: she was a fearsome presence in the wars at Korea and Vietnam. She hasn’t served the US Navy in more than 30 years, now a rusted veteran, awaiting burial at sea. But, the Oriskany has one final mission, before she’s laid to rest; a salvage crew races the clock to strip the last of her riches.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2-Aew7SMO8

ImLogicallyRight

Thank you for posting this piece. I served aboard the Oriskany in 1963 to 1964. I picked up the Oriskany while it was in port in Iwakuni Japan. At that time I believe we were the most powerful ship in the world, not just because of our weapons systems, but the latest electronics and computers that were really a new thing. I was trained on maintaining these computer systems so I know of what they were capable of. We sailed south and eventually off the coast of Vietnam where we flew a sortie over Vietnam in a show of support for the South Vietnamese Government during a c**p attempt. That is how I understood it. That qualified the entire task force as Vietnam Veterans even though the war hadn't really started yet. We also had port calls in Hong Kong, which sent tingles up my spine when I first saw it. I still have a special feeling for that city, but more as it was then and not now. We also pulled into Subic Bay for about a week. Played in a ships basketball tournament and made numerous trips into town for liberty and the company of the beautiful Filipino ladies and the good San Miguel beer. I remember going to a movie one day with this girl I was h*****g around with. Sayanara, with Marlon Brando. It was really strange sitting there with my arm around a beautiful Filipino girl, as was most of the theater, and watching a story about the U. S. military and their attitude and prejudices of the time about dating and marrying Japanese women during the Korean War era. From there we sailed back to San Diego for a month of in port time and then the ship went to Seattle, Bremerton Washingtom for dry dock time and retrofitting the ship and bringing aboard the latest equipment. After this time in dry dock, we went back to San Diego for several months of sea trials before heading back to Vietnam and the now on going war. Because my time was getting short, I was t***sfered to another ship, the USS Kittyhawk, another carrier, and in dry dock back in Bremerton Washington. Might have saved my life. The Oriskany eventually had a major fire on its hanger deck, where I often would pass, and about 75 sailors were k**led. Might have been me without that t***sfer. So, that is my Oriskany adventures or some of them, for what it is worth.

Logically Right

nonalien1 Loc: Mojave Desert

ImLogicallyRight wrote:

Thank you for posting this piece. I served aboard the Oriskany in 1963 to 1964. I picked up the Oriskany while it was in port in Iwakuni Japan. At that time I believe we were the most powerful ship in the world, not just because of our weapons systems, but the latest electronics and computers that were really a new thing. I was trained on maintaining these computer systems so I know of what they were capable of. We sailed south and eventually off the coast of Vietnam where we flew a sortie over Vietnam in a show of support for the South Vietnamese Government during a c**p attempt. That is how I understood it. That qualified the entire task force as Vietnam Veterans even though the war hadn't really started yet. We also had port calls in Hong Kong, which sent tingles up my spine when I first saw it. I still have a special feeling for that city, but more as it was then and not now. We also pulled into Subic Bay for about a week. Played in a ships basketball tournament and made numerous trips into town for liberty and the company of the beautiful Filipino ladies and the good San Miguel beer. I remember going to a movie one day with this girl I was h*****g around with. Sayanara, with Marlon Brando. It was really strange sitting there with my arm around a beautiful Filipino girl, as was most of the theater, and watching a story about the U. S. military and their attitude and prejudices of the time about dating and marrying Japanese women during the Korean War era. From there we sailed back to San Diego for a month of in port time and then the ship went to Seattle, Bremerton Washingtom for dry dock time and retrofitting the ship and bringing aboard the latest equipment. After this time in dry dock, we went back to San Diego for several months of sea trials before heading back to Vietnam and the now on going war. Because my time was getting short, I was t***sfered to another ship, the USS Kittyhawk, another carrier, and in dry dock back in Bremerton Washington. Might have saved my life. The Oriskany eventually had a major fire on its hanger deck, where I often would pass, and about 75 sailors were k**led. Might have been me without that t***sfer. So, that is my Oriskany adventures or some of them, for what it is worth.

Logically Right

Thank you for posting this piece. I served aboard ... (show quote)

Thanks for posting . And serving. My hats off to you .

lpnmajor Loc: Arkansas

ImLogicallyRight wrote:

Thank you for posting this piece. I served aboard the Oriskany in 1963 to 1964. I picked up the Oriskany while it was in port in Iwakuni Japan. At that time I believe we were the most powerful ship in the world, not just because of our weapons systems, but the latest electronics and computers that were really a new thing. I was trained on maintaining these computer systems so I know of what they were capable of. We sailed south and eventually off the coast of Vietnam where we flew a sortie over Vietnam in a show of support for the South Vietnamese Government during a c**p attempt. That is how I understood it. That qualified the entire task force as Vietnam Veterans even though the war hadn't really started yet. We also had port calls in Hong Kong, which sent tingles up my spine when I first saw it. I still have a special feeling for that city, but more as it was then and not now. We also pulled into Subic Bay for about a week. Played in a ships basketball tournament and made numerous trips into town for liberty and the company of the beautiful Filipino ladies and the good San Miguel beer. I remember going to a movie one day with this girl I was h*****g around with. Sayanara, with Marlon Brando. It was really strange sitting there with my arm around a beautiful Filipino girl, as was most of the theater, and watching a story about the U. S. military and their attitude and prejudices of the time about dating and marrying Japanese women during the Korean War era. From there we sailed back to San Diego for a month of in port time and then the ship went to Seattle, Bremerton Washingtom for dry dock time and retrofitting the ship and bringing aboard the latest equipment. After this time in dry dock, we went back to San Diego for several months of sea trials before heading back to Vietnam and the now on going war. Because my time was getting short, I was t***sfered to another ship, the USS Kittyhawk, another carrier, and in dry dock back in Bremerton Washington. Might have saved my life. The Oriskany eventually had a major fire on its hanger deck, where I often would pass, and about 75 sailors were k**led. Might have been me without that t***sfer. So, that is my Oriskany adventures or some of them, for what it is worth.

Logically Right

Thank you for posting this piece. I served aboard ... (show quote)

Such stories really should be recorded, not just for their historical value, which is immense, but as a a way to inspire future Sailors. I never served on a Carrier, but got lost numerous times on them while doing inspections.

Oldsailor65 Loc: Iowa

lpnmajor wrote:

Such stories really should be recorded, not just for their historical value, which is immense, but as a a way to inspire future Sailors. I never served on a Carrier, but got lost numerous times on them while doing inspections.

I served on a Fleet Tug USS TAWASA ATF-92, and a minesweeper USS LOYALTY MSO-457 as a Radarman

ImLogicallyRight

lpnmajor wrote:

Such stories really should be recorded, not just for their historical value, which is immense, but as a a way to inspire future Sailors. I never served on a Carrier, but got lost numerous times on them while doing inspections.

To continue my brief career, I was sent to the USS Kittyhawk in drydock in Bremerton Washington with less then a year left to serve. When people first came to the Kittyhawk in drydock, the yard crews liked to take new people and show then this long passageway. It went almost the length of the ship, which if memory serves me, was over 1000 feet long. You couldn't really focus and see the end and they would hand you binoculars. Narrow with open waterproof hatches the whole way. Now find your compartment. Mine was aft near the fan tail. I checked out the flight deck and we were right next to the USS Missouri where Japan surrendered. As massive as you might think of that battleship, we could have put it on the flight deck and played football next to it. I wasn't really needed here. I had enough rank to not have to chip paint and not enough to really be supervising others. And the ship had a duty of supplying someone on a temporary basis to the permanent Armed Forces Police stationed in Seattle. That was me. On my first night on duty the posted a picture of aa deserter thought to be in the area. Well, I saw the guy the night before while drinking on Pike Street, a major bar area at that time. Thanks to my info we had him in custody within about 2 hours. This was not the normal shore patrol with a night stick. I had to qualify for the 45. They took me to an indoor range and gave me a forty-five and told me to keep shooting until I qualified. And no ear protection. I qualified and my ears were ringing for about two weeks. I still can't hear anything below about 50 decibels but never realized how bad it was until trying to be a fireman at 58 and they pointed it out during a physical. Damn. Actually kind of proud that at 58 I passed the physical to be a fireman, and about then they lowered the retirement age to 62 because so many fireman weren't healthy enough to keep fighting fires after that. So I eventually got hearing aids from the VA. We mostly drove around all night, and near that area where the i***ts caused all of those troubles in Seattle. Occasionally walked the streets. You definitely have a special sense of power walking along with a billy club on your left hip and a forty-five on your right hip. I was involved in quite a few scuffles with various people we were taking into custody so I also have a sense of understanding on how some police officers find themselves in struggles and tragic things happen. We usually ended up with me on my back holding some guy either around his waist or neck with him on top of me. I would constantly be telling him to calm down, etc. My partner would be on top of the two of us with a billy club towards his throat. They always calmed down then. Teamwork. When the ship was ready to leave I returned and for the rest of my short time in the Navy I was on Monday through Friday sea trials prior to the 's**tty' kitty heading over to Vietnam. I was supposed to get discharged on a Monday. But the ship would be heading out to sea at 0800. So they processed me through and let me go on Friday when we pulled into port. And on Monday, President Johnson extended everyone 3 months. I was long gone and in Las Vegas. I had bought a little putt putt motorcycle in San Diego. From there it was on to San Francisco and Vancouver and seeing America on my way to Chicago. About 5000 miles before I wiped out in Nebraska.

Actually I wouldn't have minded getting extended if I thought America was fighting the war to win. I might have even signed up for 6 more years, if we were really trying to win. But I didn't see that happening with us only paying defense instead of actually taking the war to the enemy. The North. So. I was gone and free.

Fun writing that. Brought up some good memories as I rambled along.

Logically Right

Oldsailor65 Loc: Iowa

ImLogicallyRight wrote:

To continue my brief career, I was sent to the USS Kittyhawk in drydock in Bremerton Washington with less then a year left to serve. When people first came to the Kittyhawk in drydock, the yard crews liked to take new people and show then this long passageway. It went almost the length of the ship, which if memory serves me, was over 1000 feet long. You couldn't really focus and see the end and they would hand you binoculars. Narrow with open waterproof hatches the whole way. Now find your compartment. Mine was aft near the fan tail. I checked out the flight deck and we were right next to the USS Missouri where Japan surrendered. As massive as you might think of that battleship, we could have put it on the flight deck and played football next to it. I wasn't really needed here. I had enough rank to not have to chip paint and not enough to really be supervising others. And the ship had a duty of supplying someone on a temporary basis to the permanent Armed Forces Police stationed in Seattle. That was me. On my first night on duty the posted a picture of aa deserter thought to be in the area. Well, I saw the guy the night before while drinking on Pike Street, a major bar area at that time. Thanks to my info we had him in custody within about 2 hours. This was not the normal shore patrol with a night stick. I had to qualify for the 45. They took me to an indoor range and gave me a forty-five and told me to keep shooting until I qualified. And no ear protection. I qualified and my ears were ringing for about two weeks. I still can't hear anything below about 50 decibels but never realized how bad it was until trying to be a fireman at 58 and they pointed it out during a physical. Damn. Actually kind of proud that at 58 I passed the physical to be a fireman, and about then they lowered the retirement age to 62 because so many fireman weren't healthy enough to keep fighting fires after that. So I eventually got hearing aids from the VA. We mostly drove around all night, and near that area where the i***ts caused all of those troubles in Seattle. Occasionally walked the streets. You definitely have a special sense of power walking along with a billy club on your left hip and a forty-five on your right hip. I was involved in quite a few scuffles with various people we were taking into custody so I also have a sense of understanding on how some police officers find themselves in struggles and tragic things happen. We usually ended up with me on my back holding some guy either around his waist or neck with him on top of me. I would constantly be telling him to calm down, etc. My partner would be on top of the two of us with a billy club towards his throat. They always calmed down then. Teamwork. When the ship was ready to leave I returned and for the rest of my short time in the Navy I was on Monday through Friday sea trials prior to the 's**tty' kitty heading over to Vietnam. I was supposed to get discharged on a Monday. But the ship would be heading out to sea at 0800. So they processed me through and let me go on Friday when we pulled into port. And on Monday, President Johnson extended everyone 3 months. I was long gone and in Las Vegas. I had bought a little putt putt motorcycle in San Diego. From there it was on to San Francisco and Vancouver and seeing America on my way to Chicago. About 5000 miles before I wiped out in Nebraska.

Actually I wouldn't have minded getting extended if I thought America was fighting the war to win. I might have even signed up for 6 more years, if we were really trying to win. But I didn't see that happening with us only paying defense instead of actually taking the war to the enemy. The North. So. I was gone and free.

Fun writing that. Brought up some good memories as I rambled along.

Logically Right

To continue my brief career, I was sent to the USS... (show quote)

I stood SP duty in Hong Kong in 1968, we were anchored in Hong Kong harbor. I was an RD2....at that time...for a while. My SP post was outside of a "Skivvie House" that was off limits to all military personal.
This was before cell phones so I was supposed to go inside of the establishment and use their land based phone to report : POST ### ALL SCECURE every hour.

I was just an Iowa farm boy

The "ladies" there gave me a beer, and had their hands all over me...

I was an Iowa farm boy

Then they took the SP bresard off my arm and reminded me to phone SP HQ every hour...
They were better at standing SP duty than I was.

I was better at being a Radarman than a SP guy.

Marty 2020 Loc: Banana Republic of Kalifornia

ImLogicallyRight wrote:

Thank you for posting this piece. I served aboard the Oriskany in 1963 to 1964. I picked up the Oriskany while it was in port in Iwakuni Japan. At that time I believe we were the most powerful ship in the world, not just because of our weapons systems, but the latest electronics and computers that were really a new thing. I was trained on maintaining these computer systems so I know of what they were capable of. We sailed south and eventually off the coast of Vietnam where we flew a sortie over Vietnam in a show of support for the South Vietnamese Government during a c**p attempt. That is how I understood it. That qualified the entire task force as Vietnam Veterans even though the war hadn't really started yet. We also had port calls in Hong Kong, which sent tingles up my spine when I first saw it. I still have a special feeling for that city, but more as it was then and not now. We also pulled into Subic Bay for about a week. Played in a ships basketball tournament and made numerous trips into town for liberty and the company of the beautiful Filipino ladies and the good San Miguel beer. I remember going to a movie one day with this girl I was h*****g around with. Sayanara, with Marlon Brando. It was really strange sitting there with my arm around a beautiful Filipino girl, as was most of the theater, and watching a story about the U. S. military and their attitude and prejudices of the time about dating and marrying Japanese women during the Korean War era. From there we sailed back to San Diego for a month of in port time and then the ship went to Seattle, Bremerton Washingtom for dry dock time and retrofitting the ship and bringing aboard the latest equipment. After this time in dry dock, we went back to San Diego for several months of sea trials before heading back to Vietnam and the now on going war. Because my time was getting short, I was t***sfered to another ship, the USS Kittyhawk, another carrier, and in dry dock back in Bremerton Washington. Might have saved my life. The Oriskany eventually had a major fire on its hanger deck, where I often would pass, and about 75 sailors were k**led. Might have been me without that t***sfer. So, that is my Oriskany adventures or some of them, for what it is worth.

Logically Right

Thank you for posting this piece. I served aboard ... (show quote)

Thank you for your service!

billy a Loc: South Florida

Thank you all for your Service. Sincerely.
In the 70's I worked with a guy who was an M.P. in Korea. When confronted with a violent and drunk service-man, the M.P. would spit his dentures into his hand, distracting the poor guy, and finish the arrest with his night-stick.
God Bless America.

Don G. Dinsdale Loc: El Cajon, CA (San Diego County)

ImLogicallyRight wrote:

Thank you for posting this piece. I served aboard the Oriskany in 1963 to 1964. I picked up the Oriskany while it was in port in Iwakuni Japan. At that time I believe we were the most powerful ship in the world, not just because of our weapons systems, but the latest electronics and computers that were really a new thing. I was trained on maintaining these computer systems so I know of what they were capable of. We sailed south and eventually off the coast of Vietnam where we flew a sortie over Vietnam in a show of support for the South Vietnamese Government during a c**p attempt. That is how I understood it. That qualified the entire task force as Vietnam Veterans even though the war hadn't really started yet. We also had port calls in Hong Kong, which sent tingles up my spine when I first saw it. I still have a special feeling for that city, but more as it was then and not now. We also pulled into Subic Bay for about a week. Played in a ships basketball tournament and made numerous trips into town for liberty and the company of the beautiful Filipino ladies and the good San Miguel beer. I remember going to a movie one day with this girl I was h*****g around with. Sayanara, with Marlon Brando. It was really strange sitting there with my arm around a beautiful Filipino girl, as was most of the theater, and watching a story about the U. S. military and their attitude and prejudices of the time about dating and marrying Japanese women during the Korean War era. From there we sailed back to San Diego for a month of in port time and then the ship went to Seattle, Bremerton Washingtom for dry dock time and retrofitting the ship and bringing aboard the latest equipment. After this time in dry dock, we went back to San Diego for several months of sea trials before heading back to Vietnam and the now on going war. Because my time was getting short, I was t***sfered to another ship, the USS Kittyhawk, another carrier, and in dry dock back in Bremerton Washington. Might have saved my life. The Oriskany eventually had a major fire on its hanger deck, where I often would pass, and about 75 sailors were k**led. Might have been me without that t***sfer. So, that is my Oriskany adventures or some of them, for what it is worth.

Logically Right

Thank you for posting this piece. I served aboard ... (show quote)

--------------------------------------------
Good Story, I Have One Similar But On The Lexington (Two West Packs) And a Trip Around The Horn, Then The Cuban Thing... Do You Know Who Started That Fire, None Other Than Lt. John (F**k Up) McCain... Don D.

Oldsailor65 Loc: Iowa

Don G. Dinsdale wrote:

--------------------------------------------
Good Story, I Have One Similar But On The Lexington (Two West Packs) And a Trip Around The Horn, Then The Cuban Thing... Do You Know Who Started That Fire, None Other Than Lt. John (F**k Up) McCain... Don D.

Yes I knew that.