MANTA, ECUADOR – ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL! JOHN’S STORY (6 of 6)

When a ship is anchored out, running the tenders between ship and shore for Cruise Ships or liberty boats for a Navy crew usually is without incident. You must always be mindful as you step between the more stable ship to the smaller tender or liberty boat.

Yes, this is another Navy Sea story, Sue may be rolling her eyes.

This happened in Naples, Italy harbor. The ship was an ammunition ship, USS Suribachi AE-21, deployed to the Mediterranean for a six-month January to June 1974 Deployment. I was a young Lieutenant on my first Department Head assignment. The Suribachi was 512 feet long, a beam of 72 feet, and a draft of 28 feet. She had two 600 psi Boilers and a single shaft and displaced over 17,000 tons fully loaded. The Suribachi carried a crew of over three hundred and a standard complement of 20 officers, but due to personnel shortage we only had 13 officers on board. The ship’s Captain was a full Commander, the Executive Officer a Lieutenant Commander and even as a young Lieutenant, I was the third senior officer on board.

We had just finished a busy couple of weeks in a training exercise transferring ammunition to the Carrier. We were at anchor in Naples, Italy, late on a Friday afternoon for a welcomed weekend of R & R. The weather was exceptionally pleasant for that time of the year, so the Captain and the Executive Officer (XO) decided to take the Captain's Gig (his private boat) ashore for dinner for a couple of hours. It was not the norm for both the Captain and the Executive Officer to go ashore together. Not against regulations, just not the regular routine.

When the Captain is ashore, a Command Duty Officer (CDO) assumes all duties and responsibility until the Captain returns. I was CDO that night, and my good friend Jim was the Chief Engineer. Jim had come up through the ranks from Enlisted status, with an engineering background, so I felt secure with Jim’s experience. I was confident we had the ship well in hand.

The ship was on a one and three watch bill, meaning that one third of the crew could be on liberty ashore when we were in port. The liberty boats were making trips from anchorage to shore every half hour. While making my rounds on Deck at sunset, I noticed the wind had picked up and an ominous black cloud was moving ashore from the direction of The Isle of Capri, twenty or so miles out from Naples Harbor.

As the wind and waves increased, I made the decision to halt liberty boat operations until the weather improved. By radio, I notified the liberty boat that was about to return to the ship to temporarily halt operations until the weather improved. This decision meant that over a hundred men, the Captain and XO included, were stranded on the beach!

Within very short order, the weather front engulfed the harbor with near gale force winds. As CDO I radioed the Shore Patrol and asked if the captain and XO had returned to the pier. The report was they had not and were somewhere still in town. I notified the Shore Patrol that I was securing all Liberty runs until the weather improved. At this point, those ashore would have to remain until the weather improved, possibly all night.

We were anchored in fifty feet of water. As we anchored the Captain made the decision to lay out a 5:1 scope of chain between the ship and the anchor, an appropriate length in mild/calm weather. (one scope of chain equals the depth between the ship’s keel and the bottom)

I immediately went to the Bridge and called Jim in the Engine room to alert him to the changing weather conditions. The wind and waves began to push the ship backwards towards shallow water and rocks behind us. I instructed the Deck Department to let out another scope of chain. Now, even with a 6:1 scope of chain, we continued to drag anchor toward the “Rocks and Shoals,” only 1,000 yards behind us. (1,000 yards is approximately one half a nautical mile. A nautical mile is slightly longer than a land mile. A nautical mile equals one minute of Latitude.)

I contacted Jim in the Engine Room, and we agreed to put turns on the engine to counteract the wind and water. Even so we continued to drag our anchor. We “set” the Sea and Anchor Detail in preparation for getting the ship underway. We hauled the chain into Short Stay. (Short Stay is when the anchor chain is tight, leading straight down from the ship to the sea floor).

I must confess I was so busy, contacting the captain ashore on our two-way radio was not on my mind.

Aware of the changing weather conditions, the Captain contacted me on the radio to inquire about the condition of the ship. I informed the Captain we were dragging anchor even with a 6:1 scope of chain, and with shaft turns on the engine. I told the Captain I set the Sea and Anchor Detail in preparation of getting the ship underway out into open water for the safety of the ship.

The captain screamed over the radio, “DO NOT GET THE SHIP UNDERWAY.”

I replied, “Captain I have no choice, for the safety of the ship I must get underway for safer water.”

The Captain screamed again this time swearing at me over the radio, “If you get this ship underway, I will see you Court Martialed.”

I answered, “Captain I am sorry, I have no choice but to get underway.”

There were more swear words, and the radio went silent.

Fortunately, at that moment the wind lay, and the storm passed. Relived to say the least, I ordered the Deck Department to let out a 6:1 scope of chain, and the ship held firm.

We were never Underway in legal Navy terms, though with the increased turns on the engine and the anchor at Short Stay, the Suribachi did move forward some number of feet.

The Captain and XO returned to the ship within fifteen minutes. The Captain glared at me, but said nothing to me about the incident, that night or later.

Two weeks later we were back at Naples, anchored on a bright sunny Saturday morning. I spotted an Admiral’s Barge approaching flying the two-star flag of the Admiral in charge of the 6thFleet in the Med. When the Admiral came aboard, He asked “Where is your Captain?”

The Admiral relieved our Commanding Officer FOR CAUSE! The Commander accompanying the Admiral was our new Commanding Officer. So began some of the most enjoyable years of my twenty-year career. Forty years later, Just few months before he passed away, I made contact with that new Commanding Officer and told him how much I admired him as CO.

The Captain that was relieved had other issues, so I have no reason to believe the situation above was the cause of his replacement but, rumor has it that the 6th Fleet HQ in Naples monitored all Navy radio traffic.