During the Swan Song Voyage of the Byrd, UNITAS XXX, we had a great many ports of interest, but one of the most interesting for me for Talchuano, Chile.  The XO made very clear on the 1MC what part of the city to remain clear of, which all sailors know is excellent press for the establishments found there.  Our travels found us in a top rate dive called "Wacos" which had a good house band called The Bats and a cool atmosphere.  As was my custom, I befriended the band and asked if I might join them for a set.  With me on lead guitar and vocals, Darrel Ritchie on drums, and the rest of the band we preceded to make a little South American Rock and Roll history.  We did sound pretty good, but I digress.  The impromptu concert drew a crowd of  Byrd Sailors, Officers and enlisted alike and a good time was had by all.  Little did anyone know, there was a reporter in the crowd.  This reporter wrote an article which ran as a companion piece to a series of articles about the UNITAS XXX port call. It was, of course, in Spanish. The CO was so proud to see what seemed to be positive press about his men he ordered the article be translated.  For the next two days I was approached by Officers and CPO's who stated simply "Darin, Buddy, I wasn't there, you didn't see ME".  having been a Sailor and a Musician, I have had to keep my share of secrets to protect the guilty, so this wasn't new territory for me.  To sum up, the CO did later ask me about that article, where we were, who was there, and were any members of his Wardroom in attendance.  I smiled and said with as straight a face as I could muster "Gee Captain, I just don't remember".  He shot back a grin and said with a grin "I thought you'd say that".  So fellas, your secret was safe with me.  (There is a photo of me playing the guitar at "Waco's" in the UNITAS XXX Cruisebook)

I reported aboard late in 87, and in early 88 we went to a private shipyard in Portsmouth, VA. for a "5" mounth overhaul that wound up lasting about 9 months. We finally pulled out of the shipyard for 3 days of sea trials, and all the shipyard workers lined the pier to say goodby. Keep in mind, this was an old looking wooden pier, with seawater piping, fresh water piping, steam piping, LP air piping, etc exposed. All crew members, not on watch, were expected to parade to quarters (man the rails). We were at about a 45 degree angle to the pier with a tug assist, and for some unknown reason, we went all back and rammed the pier with the stern.  Shipyard workers were running, all the piping broke, and needless to say, there was a big mess. The bridge corrected the mistake and we heading forward. Almost all the crew members were laughing. I remember the Weapons Officer, who was in the vicinity of my division on deck, becoming very angry about that.

Howard Ellis relieved me of Comm Off the night before the 7-Day War broke out in the Middle East. Howie can add some info on the USS Liberty. I was lifted off the fantail of the RE Byrd by helo just as the word was coming over the message boards. I remember the difficulty we were having coping radio broadcasts and trying to determine what was going on. In those days, crypto was not "automatic". Gabe S.... Disbursing Off was up many nights helping break the messages with the old wheeled typewriter.

I arrived onboard Richard E Byrd in the wee hours of the morning and was shown to OPS berthing by an extremely intoxicated OSSN Darin Stevens...

Darin insisted on carrying my seabag and when we reached the ladder down to OPS, he promptly fell and rode my seabag down the ladder. He then showed to a "empty" rack where I was awakened a couple hours later by another intoxicated individual (don't remember his name) who whacked me repeatedly with his newspaper and insisted I was in his rack and made certain impractical if not impossible suggestion of what I could do with my gear.

Later that day, I was befriended by some guys from OC Division and the indoctrination went more smoothly. I have a ton of stories of things that went on during my nearly 4 years aboard DDG-23, but with the cast of characters I encountered there, one would expect nothing less.

It's nice to find this site! The first letter i read was tims. The funny part was i left the dicky byrd thier last day in gitmo of 86. I went to school than to the uss whidbey island, we went back to jamacia, on the way down thier the C.O. asked me about the pier, I said i'm only an engineman but I don't think this boat is going to fit without hitting the grain shoot. Pulling in we had to man the rails(in the mean time i spread the word about hitting it) Guess what happened. It took off every hand rail on the bridgewing.  On a lighter note it is nice to see this site. Memories like the B.E.P.C.O flier, the fun and hard times on the byrd.

Navy Life : A Do-it-Yourself Kit

For those who have watched the movie "TOP GUN" and one too many episodes of "JAG," a do-it-yourself kit to sample real Navy life is now available. If you suffer from illusions of liberty in exotic ports and flying Tomcats with Tom Cruise, you can experience real Navy life in the comfort of your own home.  Follow these easy instructions with the aid of your family and friends to recreate the untold joys of Navy life.

One sea story I would like to relate is about a tour that we did in the persian gulf during the year of 80 or 82. On one of our ship counting days we were having a cookout midship when the crew was informed tha a cargo ship was taking on water and sinking. The byrd headed to the site of the sinking and asked the ship captain if he would like our assistance to save his ship. He declined our help saying the breach in the hull was to big and the insurance would cover the loss. The byrds captain said we would stay with the sinking ship to insure no other vessels would be effected by a possible hazard to navigation. What was striking about the cargo ship was that there were two mercedes benzs on the top deck midship. As the ship sank we saw these cars slip off the deck into the water and at the end of the sinking the ship let out one last gasp of air. After the cargo ship went under MM3 Valentine played taps on his trumpet and when he finished we all cheered. Unexpectedly the Captian of the Byrd came on the 1MC and said how dissapointed he was in us, that as sailors we should all be saddened when ever a ship is lost to the sea. Kind of put a damper on the cookout after that.

The Crew of Richard E. in the summer of '81 was as tight as any crew I have ever served with either before or after my stint on the Richard E. Byrd. The Commanding Officer was the nicest Guy you'd ever want to meet. Oft times he'd call out your name or just stop in your office to chat about "stuff". But he was the Captain and everyone yelled "Attention on Deck" when he meandered into a space.Around that time we had an outstanding night Baker who made the absolutely best loaf bread ever, period. His name was Billy Ray. Everyone called him Billy Ray, including the Captain. Billy Ray had one weakness.....he was too nice of a guy. Very often he would allow me and a couple of other guys into the galley to help make bread,and as a reward he would let us scarf some leftovers or make us a pastry. No one was supposed to be in the galley except him or another qualified MS, heads could roll if anyone was caught in there. One night me anda buddy were starving as we had missed the evening meal. The yeasty aroma of Billy Rays Bread would waft over the entire ship, especially into upply berthing where we were. We decided to beg for a hand-out. We offered our services to help making bread. He let us in. To our dismay, e advised us that he didn't have any leftovers that night, but he said "I'll turn on the grill and fix you a slider". (He had made some fresh amburger buns). Just when the Sliders were getting cooked on one side the door opened and...you guessed it... in walks the CO.  Attention on Deck" someone barked out. Billy Ray's face was transformed into the face of a ghost. We all stood there, petrified, with that Deer in the headlights" look that only being cold busted can produce. The CO looked around the space, and noticed the burgers sizzling on the grill, and once again sized all of us up. You could have heard a pin drop. "What's going on Billy Ray" broke the silence. A sheepish "Not very much sir, ust making some bread... getting ready for Mid-Rats". The CO glanced at the burgers again. "Mid-rats isn't for another hour and a half is it? illy Ray glanced at the floor and said "No Sir it isn't" What are you guys doing? Cooking up a slider? "Yes sir" was the weak reply. "Billy Ray would you mind doing me a favor?" Fully expecting the CO to say "Tomorrow you and Chief Madarang come see me in my office", Billy Ray replied No sir what is it? With a grin the size of New York he said "Throw me two sliders on there too."   After a brief head-call to shake our drawers out, We all enjoyed a burger and talked about the rest of the deployment schedule, and the CO even bought us all cokes.

(Les just may hold the record for longest continuous service on the Byrd!!!!!  see servicelog)

 

I  think DDG-23 probably always carried and lived up to the nickname of "The Shootin' Richard" , but for a while we had a couple of other nicknames........ "The 'Reckin' Richard" ... "The Bump em' Byrd" ..... or "The 'Reckin' E. Byrd".   As a member of the aft line detail I saw more than my share of collisions with piers, other ships, and snapping of mooring lines. On one occasion leaving Norfolk, and the tugs had not arrived on time, the Captain decided to get underway on our own by "springing out" on the bow lines.  We cast off aft, the screws began turning backing us down, but we didn't get the "springing" action we were supposed to,,,,,, we proceeded to back down underneath the bow of a DD parked behind us, the bow of the DD first contacted the aft flag staff and it acted like a large lever bending the center line chock and putting a permanent wrinkle in the deck. The flagpole supports had to be shortened for future use, and we probably had the only perfectly vertical flagpole in the Navy instead of the standard slightly angled version. So if any of you late 70's and 80's shipmates ever sat on the fantail on a cool moonlit night at sea and wondered why the aft most deck was bent and the center eye chock seemed a little out of kilter....... well now you know why.

I remember back when I first got on the Byrd, we went down to Guantanamo Bay in January of 86 for training. We were down there for3 weeks or so and it sucked for me because I got mono while we were there. Well, after the training was over, we got to go down to Ocho Rios,Jamaica for some liberty. As we were pulling in that day, there quite a few happy Jamaicans on the pier to greet us. The dock where we pulled up to had a grain elevator and dumper for cargo ships. Somehow, we got to close to the dumper and our top mast ripped it off its hinges andit came crashing down to amidships. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but I remember that all the joy which had been on the faces of these locals only a few minutes before,now turned to shock and horror. The only thing I remember thinking was "Oh great, here we are, the great merican Navy, coming to this wonderful island for liberty and we just wiped out their only source of exporting food !!".

One particular event that I remember was back in the fall of 1987.  We were doing drug ops (helping the Coast Guard) down in the Carribean nd we came upon a small fishing trawler.  Well it was cloudy that night and there was no moon, and of course we were running dark.  Well e lit ourselves up and hit them with a spot light. How these guys didn't know we were there I'll never know, but you've never seen people jumpike that, guys falling over each other, it was pretty funny.  Then they got the bright idea that they could out run us.  Unfortunately, we weren't llowed to board them and we followed them all the way to the Virgin islands at the top speed of 8 knots.  And, yes, they were eventuallyicked up by authorities with about 10 kilos of pot in thier hold.

Having joined the navy two weeks after my seventeenth birthday and going on to spend three years and eight months on the Steaming Richard , I have many fond memories . Though the sea stories are a book in themselves , I would just like to thank a few people who made it alot of fun along the way . I most likely have forgotten some folks , but here we go SN (Jimmie) Cates , SM3 ( Fat Daddy ) Kolb , SM1 Connoly , SM1 Stewart , SM2 Tanner , SM3 Lindsey , SMSN Dawley , BM3 Johnson, BM3 Boyd , BMC Powell ,GMC Eisenbach, BMCS Moses , BM3 Kinnison ,BM3 Kiesgan ,BM3 Welch , BM3 Sexton and MS1 Abrams.

During our med cruise in 84-85,the electrical shop,em`s,dennis allen,andy cottman and myself got bored and built a kite from bed sheets and curtian rods and 2000 feet of shot line,after a fey hours and afew failed attempts it took to the air carrying our pride and the words BEPCO(byrd electric power company) the captian would even allow us time to fly by turning the ship into the wind ,we even entered the kite in a contest with the rest of our NATO fleet and lost due to fact the cloud cover was so low the judges lost sight of it! the kite still exists to this day and last saw it in 1990 when I took the trip back to virginia from my hometown of Portland Oregon to visit my buddy Dennis Allen, I would like to say hello to anyone who rembers those times and to the guys in our shop:Allen,Cotton,Jennings,EMCS Wright,Garcia,Brown,Bogert,Chrisman,Coors,Bennet,Mapp
happy sailing Mark Edmonds

A Byrd Memory

Now, before I begin this story. Please remember as with all sea stories, events are exaggerated by a clouding of memory. I remember the Byrd in 83 or 84 participated in a NATO exercise in the North Atlantic. While loading stores for deployment we noticed they were taking on baseball bats. We in 51 radar figured they were for diplomacy or some public relations deal. Under way we go across the Atlantic in the winter of whichever year it was. Early on in the cruise we were made aware of the purpose for those baseball bats, Busting ice of the superstructure. The weather was not fit for man, beast or fire control radar directors. The weather outside was getting worse as the cruise went on. The seas were rough and temperatures were ridiculously cold. One morning getting ready to run DSOT'S, every thing seemed normal while lighting off the radar systems. As soon as we released the brakes on the Upper director, (I can't seem to remember the number designation) Bang, Slam maximum velocity slam of the elevation drive. Well after a few hours of trouble shooting, it was found that the gyros were malfunctioning. Now let me tell you. The cold rough seas of the north Atlantic is the last place you want to be doing topside repair. So dressed in our extreme foul weather gear up we go in pairs. The temperature was so low the maximum time allowed in the elements was 15 minutes. And believe me that was a stretch. We finally removed the gyro and brought it down to the control room. We could find nothing wrong with the unit so up we go again. Well to make an even longer story short. The problem turned out to be the gyro heaters weren't hot enough to maintain a constant fluid viscosity. So we're up there trying to adjust this POS. in sub zero temperatures. To make matters worse you had to use a small tweeker to make the adjustment and couldn't hold on to it with those extreme foul weather mittens. Well need less to say we had problems with that director the whole time above the Arctic Circle. Well that's one of the many sea stories of my time on the Byrd.

Thanks for listening
Paul Watson

Fairy tales start out "Once upon a time" while Sea Stories start out "Now this ain't no shit"...

Well this is the latter. I am a former plankowner of the U.S.S. Richard E. Byrd and I gotta tell ya about my last Captain's inspection just before I transferred to ET Instructor duty at GLAKES. All of guys from operations were assembled on the forcastle, better know as the focsill (SP), standing at attention next to Walter Wheeler ET & David Higgins ET. I remember I was on the end of the rank next to Wally. Just bfore Capt. Walter Lessmann came by to inspect, an overflying seagull dropped his bomb that just left a black stripe down Wheeler's dress whites at the pocket. Capt. Lessman saw the stripe as he inspected. He put his white gloved finger on the stripe, rubbed it, put his finger in his mouth and asked Wheeler what that was. Wheeler replied that he did not know "Sir". The rest of that knew what it was almost cracked up but didn't dare. I always wished that that gull had dropped his load on my whites instead. I believe I would have told the Captain the truth and hopefully he would have had that white glove in his mouth. NAW! I had too much respect for Captain Lessmann. In fact a few months later he called on me while I was in class at GLAKES. He then had 4 full stripes and I almost fell over when I say him. Is their anyone out there who remembers this incident at that inspection?
Very best regards

Phil (ED) ETR2 then.
Got out in 1967 as ET1.
Phillip A. Edminster, Sr.
(eBay ID: rrrtifax)
1727 W. 11th. Ave.
Spokane, WA
99204-4160

Howdy,
I served aboard the Byrd from 76 to 80 as an FTM in the 51 radar room. During those days T-div had the amidships highline detail. I had just takenover lead P.O. of this onerous detail from the beloved Les Dunaway (longest duty on Byrd to date fame) when I had the biggest scare of my life.

Of course we always had to do these replenishments in the middle of the night (1400 would cut into the days regular PMCS - huh?). We get called out of the rack at about midnight. Of course we do not pull alongside until about 0200 right? Everybody was laying around the ASROC launcher trying to snooze a little in their kapoks. Finally we get our turn, and we pull along side. Everything is going fine, but the junior officer in charge is hurrying us up so he can look good in front of the old man. Back in those days speed seemed more important than safety (I could understand speed if there were a lurking enemy sub somewhere, but - hey this is 1979). We were trying to disengage from the supply ship when the pelican hook got hung up. I had 2 of the younger guys up on the catwalk trying to get it unhung and this junior OIC yelling at us to hurry up. His voice becoming more falsetto as every second ticked by. The problem was that the tender had pulled back on the cable so that there was tension in the line. In order to reach the cotter pin in the pelican hook, our guy had to reach dangerously far out over the catwalk. So, I climb up the highline, to the catwalk, to help hold onto this guy's belt while he dangles precariously over the handrail. We finally got enough release in tension to pull the hook a little closer. The guy (I wish I could remember his name now) dangling out over the deck pulled the cotter pin and immediately the supply ship started to pull the cable back across. There was just one major problem. The rope line attached to the pelican hook was still entwined between all three of our legs up on the catwalk. As the cable got reeled quickly back over to the tender, this rope was flying in and out around our legs. We all held our collective breaths for what seemed like hours (even though it was just seconds) just waiting for one or all of us to be pulled off the catwalk and into the dark
sea below.

Needless to say that when I climbed down from that catwalk it took a couple of people to keep me from letting that wet-behind-the-ears Ensign know how Ifelt about things. I'll never forget that moment. It is the last time that I enjoyed hearing "Orange Blossom Special".

Bob Thomas