f-stop: "River Boat" Arrival

USNS Patuxent (T-AO 201) arrives in Souda Bay, Crete

The View From 'Baku'

USS Peterson (DD-969) seen from the deck of Soviet carrier 'Baku'

I came across this photo a while back, and couldn't believe my good fortune.

It's 1988 in the Aegean Sea, and USS Peterson (DD-969) has just commenced a surveillance mission against the Soviet Kiev-class carrier 'Baku'. For the next week the crew of 'Peterson' will observe 'Baku's flight operations--including flights of Yak-38 'Forger' fighters--matching the carrier's every maneuver as he (Russian ships are always referred to by the male pronoun) and his consorts proceed down through the Aegean and into the central Mediterranean Sea, eventually reaching the Soviet anchorage off Hamamet, Tunisia. 'Peterson' and her crew will receive praise for their job of recording every action of 'Baku' and this will go down in Cold War history as a near-perfect surveillance operation on the first open-ocean voyage of a Soviet "heavy".

This photo is taken from 'Baku's flight deck, where a Kamov KA-28 helo is spinning-up for launch. It serves to show just how close 'Peterson' maintained station on her "target", and illustrates in turn a piece of personal history for me. Because I was leader of 'Peterson's "SNOOPI" team, and I and my photographers and recorders are there, in this picture, manning 'Proud Pete's signal bridge and midships areas as we expended hundreds of rolls of film and filled logbooks with recorded details of every moment of 'Baku's first foray into open waters.

It was an exhaustive--and exhausting--effort; spending every waking moment glued to DD-969's "big eye" binoculars, coaching photographic teams on to specific features of the huge vessel, directing log-keepers' records of Soviet fixed-wing flight operations. It was hard work, but SO rewarding.

Thus, this picture represents a major event in my naval career--seen from the point of view of our adversaries.
 

f-stop: Meeting the Neighbors

Pakistani frigate PNS Saif in the Arabian Sea

f-stop: "...Never Been This Close Before..."

My first encounter with an Indian frigate--INS TABAR--in the Arabian Sea

f-stop: Menace from the Deeps

Don't make the mistake of violating this critter's territorial imperative!

f-stop: Patrol's End

A Greek Type 214 Submarine Enters Souda Bay, Crete

 

f-stop: Waxing Moon

The Moon Photographed from Souda Bay, Crete, 21 June 2018

Dock of the Bay...

A nice evening of "Long-Eye Liberty". The sun was setting as I set up the little 70mm 'scope on the bow to spend a couple of hours exploring the lunar terminator--that slowly moving line between day and night on the Moon. In the course of the session I was joined by three Shipmates--one of whom had never seen Luna through a telescope before--and took a few minutes to introduce them to our battered satellite's face in close-up, plus views of Jupiter and Saturn.

Alone again, I sought out a few globular clusters in Hercules and Ophiuchus. I closed down just after midnight and only a short time later was dozing-off in my bunk--I don't remember my dreams of last night but suspect that they were happy affairs involving calm waters, dark nights and stars wheeling overhead in a sea breeze.

 That works.

You're In The Navy Now...

I would like to present for your entertainment and enlightenment this wonderful evocation of life in the great gray ships of the Navy. This is the anonymous creation of a Sailor, first posted (as far as I know) in 1998. I'm so glad I stumbled across it again the other day...

“Ah—the Navy—It’s an adventure….The suggestions below are made (for the benefit of) those who think the Navy is a “TOP GUN” existence. You know, those who watched one too many episodes of “JAG”, and think that Navy life is glamorous. To experience Navy life, try a couple of these—right in the comfort of your own homes.

1. Buy a dumpster, paint it gray and live in it for 6 months straight.

2. Run all of the piping and wires inside your house on the outside of the walls.

3. Pump 10 inches of nasty, dirty water into your basement, then pump it out, clean up and paint the
basement “deck gray”.

4. Every couple of weeks, dress up in your best clothes and go to the scummiest part of town, find the  most run down, trashy bar you can, pay $10 per beer until you’re hammered, then walk home in the freezing cold.

5. Perform a weekly disassembly and inspection of your lawn-mower.

6. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays turn your water temperature up to 200 degrees, then on Tuesday and Thursday turn it down to 10 degrees. On Saturdays and Sundays declare to your entire family that they used too much water during the week, so all showering is secured.

7. Raise your bed to within 6 inches of the ceiling.

 8. Have your next-door neighbor come over each day at 5 A.M., blow a whistle so loud that Helen Keller could hear it, and shout “Reveille, Reveille, all hands heave out and trice up”.

9. Have your mother-in-law write down everything she’s going to do the following day, then have her make you stand in the back yard at 6 A.M. and read it to her.

10. Eat the raunchiest Mexican food you can find for three days straight, then lock the bathroom door for 12 hours and hang a sign on it that reads “Secured—contact OA DIV at X-3053”.

11. Submit a request form to your father-in-law asking if it’s OK for you to leave your house before 3 P.M.

12. Invite 200 of your not-so-closest friends to come over, then board up all the windows and doors for 6 months. After the 6 months is up, take down the boards, and since you’re on duty, wave at your friends and family through the front window of your home…you can’t leave until the next day.

13. Shower with the above-mentioned friends.

14. Make your family qualify to operate all the appliances in your home (i.e. dishwasher operator, blender technician, etc.).

15. Walk around your car for 4 hours checking the tire pressure every 15 minutes.

16. Sit in your car and let it run for 4 hours before going anywhere. This will ensure your engine is properly “lit off”.

17. Empty all the garbage bins in your house and sweep your 3 times a day, whether they need it or not.

18. Repaint your entire house once a month.

19. Cook all of your food blindfolded, groping for any spice and seasoning you can get your hands on.

20. Have your neighbor collect all your mail for a month, randomly losing every 5th item.

21. Spend $20,000 on a satellite system for your TV but only watch CNN and the Weather Channel."