I
Was A Sailor Once ***
I liked standing on the bridge wing at sunrise with salt spray
in my face and clean ocean winds whipping in from the four quarters of
the
globe - the ship beneath me feeling like a living thing as her engines
drove
her swiftly through the sea. ***
I liked the sounds of the Navy - the piercing trill of the
boatswain's pipe, the syncopated clangor of the ship's bell on the
quarterdeck,
the harsh squawk of the 1MC, and the strong language and laughter of
sailors at
work. ***
I liked Navy vessels -- nervous darting destroyers, plodding
fleet auxiliaries and amphibs, sleek
submarines
and steady solid aircraft carriers. ***
I liked the proud names of Navy ships: Midway, Lexington ,
Bunker Hill, Saratoga , Coral Sea, Antietam, Valley Forge - - memorials
of
great battles won and tribulations overcome. ***
I liked the lean angular names of Navy "tin-cans"
and escorts - - Barney,
Dahlgren, Mullinix, McCloy, Damato,
Leftwich, Mills, Stickell, Noa,
Paul, Coontz,
T.C. Hart, Glover - - mementos of heroes who went before us. And
the others - - San Jose, San Diego, Los Angeles, St. Paul,
Chicago - named for our cities. ***
I liked the tempo of a Navy band blaring through the topside
speakers as we pulled away from the oiler after refueling at sea.
***
I liked Liberty Call and the spicy scent of a foreign
port. ***
I even liked the never-ending paperwork and all-hands working
parties as my ship filled herself with the multitude of supplies, both
critical
and mundane in order to cut ties to the land and carry out her mission
anywhere
on the globe where there was water to float her. ***
I liked sailors, officers and enlisted men from all parts of
the land, farms of the Midwest, small towns of New England , from the
cities,
the mountains and the prairies, from all walks of life. I trusted
and
depended on them as they trusted and depended on me - for professional
competence, for comradeship, for strength and courage. In a word,
they
were "shipmates"; then and forever. ***
I liked the surge of adventure in my heart, when the word was
passed: "Now
set the special sea and anchor detail - all hands to
quarters for leaving port," and I liked the infectious thrill of
sighting
home again, with the waving hands of welcome from family and friends
waiting
pier side. ***
The work was hard and dangerous; the going rough at times; the
parting from loved ones painful, but the companionship of robust Navy
laughter,
the "all for one and one for all" philosophy of the sea was ever
present. ***
I liked the serenity of the sea after a day of hard ship's
work, as flying fish flitted across the wave tops and sunset gave way
to
night. ***
I liked the feel of the Navy in darkness -- the masthead and
range lights, the red and green navigation lights and stern light, the
pulsating phosphorescence of radar repeaters - they cut through the
dusk and
joined with the mirror of stars overhead. And I liked drifting
off to
sleep lulled by the myriad noises large and small that told me that my
ship was
alive and well, and that my shipmates on watch would keep me
safe. ***
I liked quiet mid-watches with the aroma of strong coffee --
the lifeblood of the Navy permeating everywhere. ***
And I liked hectic watches when the exacting minuet of
haze-gray shapes racing at flank speed kept all hands on a razor edge
of
alertness. ***
I liked the sudden electricity of "General quarters,
general quarters, all hands man your battle stations," followed by the
hurried clamor of running feet on ladders and the resounding thump of
watertight doors as the ship transformed herself in a few brief seconds
from a
peaceful workplace to a weapon of war -- ready for anything. ***
And I liked the sight of space-age equipment manned by
youngsters clad in dungarees and sound-powered phones that their
grandfathers
would still recognize. ***
I liked the traditions of the Navy and the men and women who
made them. I
liked the proud names of Navy heroes: Halsey, Nimitz, Perry,
Farragut, John Paul Jones and Burke. A sailor could find much in
the
Navy: comrades-in-arms,
pride
in self and country, mastery of the seaman's trade. An
adolescent could find adulthood. **
In years to come, when sailors are home from the sea, they
will still remember with fondness and respect the ocean in all its
moods - the
impossible shimmering mirror calm and the storm-tossed green water
surging over
the bow. And then there will come again a faint whiff of stack
gas, a faint
echo of engine and rudder orders, a
vision of the
bright bunting of signal flags snapping at the yardarm, a refrain of
hearty
laughter in the wardroom and chief's quarters and mess decks. ***
Gone ashore for good they will grow wistful about their Navy
days, when the seas belonged to them and a new port of call was ever
over the
horizon. |