Several years of my life were spent at sea, and many more living near the ocean... 75% of the world is oceans... HUH!!

Date:   6/3/2006 8:23:54 PM ( 18 y ago)

  Some of the flags from different places I have been....

We will pick up near where we left off a while back...  I spent my early twenties in the US Navy, served aboard three destroyers, and one Destroyer Tender... Have been to over twenty some odd countries, and traveled from the Arctic circle to well below the Equator, several times...  Have put over 150,000 nautical miles crossing the oceans of the world...  It is here we pick up again...

 U2 Spy plane like one shot down over Cuba 1962...

As the Cuban Missile Crisis was closing out after a month on station at war time cruising; condition Zebra...  Which means limited sleep and continuous battle stations are manned at the ready...  It wears you out ...  

Well we had escorted the USS Oxford; a " spy ship" around the North end of Cuba, then took up station off Havana Harbor, where we watched Fidel Castro, and the Russian ships there...   By now the Russians had blinked and were backing down from our DEF-CON 2 condition; meaning we were deployed, armed and loaded just waiting of condition 1 where the shells and nuclear missiles would fly...  A bad time for this world...   BTW: This is as close to an all out Nuclear war as this world has ever come, but cool heads prevailed and sane minds knew the outcome would be disastrous for who ever won... 

It turned out the Russians were moving missiles, aboard ships that they did not really want us to see...  But once the Russian freighter which came out of port making 17 knots, (fast of a loaded merchant ship) thinking they could out run our destroyer; running on super heated steam at war time cruising (30 some odd knots speed! Dumb idea, even on a good day...

It only took us about fifteen minutes to come along side within haling distance, running at 30 plus knots...  A little info on those blinking lights you always saw on the Navy movies...  First they are a series of Morse code which are set to certain nautical messages and meanings...  These are international and understood by all sea going nations in all languages!   We sent "(a s.-/... " Alpha Sierra; which translates into Heave (stop) to or be fired upon...  That means if you do not stop we will blow you out of the water, in so many words... First there is a shot across the bow of the fleeing ship! Sounds harsh but it does get people's attention rather quickly...

Of course they paid attention and we boarded the ship, and found they had three intercontinental missiles a board; which were now being sent back to Russia...  This is the sort of thing your Navy does to help keep us safe...  

More Navy stuff on the next blog, see ya... Kermit

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