As I remember, we were on our way up to Alaska for a NORPAC operation. We were several days at sea when I was pulling a 2000-2400 Sounding/Security watch. It was a real walk in the park for me 'cuz I enjoyed wandering around the ship when everyone else was kicking back or getting sack time. To me Mobile was an engineering marvel. Everything had a designed purpose and she required relatively few sailors to complete her assigned tasks.
Scuttlebutt I heard that there was quite a bit of racial problems aboard Mobile prior to my tour on board. The tension on the ship was still great the crew just seemed to hate each other for no apparent reason. When I first came aboard, I couldn’t find a dogging wrench anywhere except to be used as weapons and kept under pillows in the crew's berthing spaces. It was rumored that people were stabbed in there racks in the not too distant past. Guys in ‘Repair’ Division preferred the top or bottom racks to sleep in, since the middle ones left you vulnerable to an attack while you slept. Being the new guy I had to sleep in a middle rack.
So anyway, here I am trying to finish up on my S/S watch. I'm on my way down to the seventh deck, reefer compressor room. The area I'm in is a small room filled with refrigeration compressors. My purpose is secure this area, and to mark off a check off list as to the condition of this reefer equipment, making sure its running up to snuff. It's awfully noisy, so I don a pair of ear muffs just to hear myself think. Just forward of this compartment is a passageway abeam of the ship. At each end of this passageway(port and starboard) are ladders leading out of the space. Forward of the compressor room passageway are the cold storage freezers and dry storage compartments. Each of the Ship's stores are under lock and key.
Like I was saying, I'm trying to hurry through my little assignment, 'cuz I'm on the last leg of my watch, it’s about 2320, and I've still got to climb the mountain of ladders, up to the bridge, for my watch relief. If I hurried, I might be able to make it up to the mess deck in time for some pie and a glass of milk! But then I heard this rattling of a ladder. I stuck my head outta the door and see this little Philipino cook opening one of the big reefer doors. All seems well, so I tend to my own business. But not long after wards, I hear this blood curdling scream! It sounded like one of them hysterical, screaming women getting murdered just like in a slasher flick. Then the screaming seemed to travel up the ladder and out of ear shot. Man was my heart pumping pure adrenalin! The hair on my neck was standing on end!
Scuttlebutt I heard that there was quite a bit of racial problems aboard Mobile prior to my tour on board. The tension on the ship was still great the crew just seemed to hate each other for no apparent reason. When I first came aboard, I couldn’t find a dogging wrench anywhere except to be used as weapons and kept under pillows in the crew's berthing spaces. It was rumored that people were stabbed in there racks in the not too distant past. Guys in ‘Repair’ Division preferred the top or bottom racks to sleep in, since the middle ones left you vulnerable to an attack while you slept. Being the new guy I had to sleep in a middle rack.
So anyway, here I am trying to finish up on my S/S watch. I'm on my way down to the seventh deck, reefer compressor room. The area I'm in is a small room filled with refrigeration compressors. My purpose is secure this area, and to mark off a check off list as to the condition of this reefer equipment, making sure its running up to snuff. It's awfully noisy, so I don a pair of ear muffs just to hear myself think. Just forward of this compartment is a passageway abeam of the ship. At each end of this passageway(port and starboard) are ladders leading out of the space. Forward of the compressor room passageway are the cold storage freezers and dry storage compartments. Each of the Ship's stores are under lock and key.
Like I was saying, I'm trying to hurry through my little assignment, 'cuz I'm on the last leg of my watch, it’s about 2320, and I've still got to climb the mountain of ladders, up to the bridge, for my watch relief. If I hurried, I might be able to make it up to the mess deck in time for some pie and a glass of milk! But then I heard this rattling of a ladder. I stuck my head outta the door and see this little Philipino cook opening one of the big reefer doors. All seems well, so I tend to my own business. But not long after wards, I hear this blood curdling scream! It sounded like one of them hysterical, screaming women getting murdered just like in a slasher flick. Then the screaming seemed to travel up the ladder and out of ear shot. Man was my heart pumping pure adrenalin! The hair on my neck was standing on end!
I did what any brave S/S watch would do; I locked myself into the compressor room! I had a 14 inch pipe wrench in one hand and a billieclub in the other. I wasn't going down without a fight. I tried to call out to the bridge and D.C. Central on the sound powered phone in the compressor room. Either it didn't work or nobody was answering their phones tonight. After a few moments that seemed an eternity, I cracked the door open to see if I could spy the dead body that I was sure was there. What I saw didn't really look promising! Nothing but luncheon meat and sliced cheese scattered about the green tiled deck. Where's the body and blood? Hmmmm. I was going to miss mid-rats if I didn't shake a leg. So I swung the compressor room door open and hit the forward bulkhead with my back, ready to cream anything that moved. But the only things moving were the unlatched reefer door that kept banging against the bulkhead as the ship listed and the spooky, foggy mist pouring from out of the opened reefer doorway. I didn't care for this at all! I can't convey how creeped out I was. I checked out the passageway to make sure I was alone and latched the reefer door in the opened position. Then I proceeded to check out the reefer room. A big aluminum was tray lying on the deck. Not long ago there had been a variety of luncheon meats and cheese neatly laid out upon it in an attempt to nourish the oncoming watches at mid-rats. As I stepped over this mess, I was ever so aware of my surroundings.
As I went deeper into the reefer to investigate, I was ever so sure that beneath this thick fog was either a dead body or some sort of boogie man. "Something" made a grown man scream like a little girl! To my relief, everything seemed in order, except for the big mess on the deck out side of the reefer. The hair on my neck was starting to settle down. As I was on my way out of the reefer, I noticed several cardboard signs hanging from these large metal containers. One sign said 'chocolate', another 'maple nut','vanilla', etc. There were two stacks of three of these rather large and long aluminium containers. They were about two by two by seven feet. Like I said, each had it's own ice cream flavor sign attached to it. Well I figured if I was going to go through all of this business of being scared to death, late for my watch relief and then miss midrats... by golly a five gallon bucket of ice cream would be a nice reward.
It looked like it might be a hassle to remove the lids of these containers. So I went for the one marked "Neopolitan" since it was part way opened up. I had to clamber over some stacks of frozen boxes to reach into the "ICE CREAM BOX" of my choice. So as I reached for my five gallons worth of frosty reward, I had to push this black plastic looking material out of the way to obtain my prize. Holy! Cow! Cub Fans! Inside the black sack was this Popsicle looking old dead guy!! His eyes and mouth were open, his tongue was sticking out of his toothless lips and he needed a shave badly! It was about this time I decided not to make the Navy a career choice. After I picked myself off of the deck, I locked up the reefer and compressor rooms. Then I high tailed it up to the bridge, eleven decks above me, for watch relief.
Huffing and puffing as I reached the bridge, I tried to calm myself. Still blinded by the white lights in the outer passageway of officer's country, I couldn't see my hand in front of my face as I stepped into the red lights of the bridge. Although I couldn't see anyone, It sounded as though every one on the bridge was going to bust their guts for all the laughing that was going on! Now this is really odd 'cuz were in "God's Country" here. No one ever plays grab ass or jokes around on a U.S. Navy bridge when the ship is underway. Tonight was to be an exception though. It seems as though word got out that the Chief Commissaryman left specific orders with the duty mess-cook, that ice cream be served at mid-rats this evening. Then it dawned on me that those "ice cream" boxes in the reefer contained the remains of old Navy veterans that were to be buried at sea in ceremony within the next couple of days.
As for that little Philipino cook? He never ever went down to the reefer decks again. I guess we fooled him!
dz
As I went deeper into the reefer to investigate, I was ever so sure that beneath this thick fog was either a dead body or some sort of boogie man. "Something" made a grown man scream like a little girl! To my relief, everything seemed in order, except for the big mess on the deck out side of the reefer. The hair on my neck was starting to settle down. As I was on my way out of the reefer, I noticed several cardboard signs hanging from these large metal containers. One sign said 'chocolate', another 'maple nut','vanilla', etc. There were two stacks of three of these rather large and long aluminium containers. They were about two by two by seven feet. Like I said, each had it's own ice cream flavor sign attached to it. Well I figured if I was going to go through all of this business of being scared to death, late for my watch relief and then miss midrats... by golly a five gallon bucket of ice cream would be a nice reward.
It looked like it might be a hassle to remove the lids of these containers. So I went for the one marked "Neopolitan" since it was part way opened up. I had to clamber over some stacks of frozen boxes to reach into the "ICE CREAM BOX" of my choice. So as I reached for my five gallons worth of frosty reward, I had to push this black plastic looking material out of the way to obtain my prize. Holy! Cow! Cub Fans! Inside the black sack was this Popsicle looking old dead guy!! His eyes and mouth were open, his tongue was sticking out of his toothless lips and he needed a shave badly! It was about this time I decided not to make the Navy a career choice. After I picked myself off of the deck, I locked up the reefer and compressor rooms. Then I high tailed it up to the bridge, eleven decks above me, for watch relief.
Huffing and puffing as I reached the bridge, I tried to calm myself. Still blinded by the white lights in the outer passageway of officer's country, I couldn't see my hand in front of my face as I stepped into the red lights of the bridge. Although I couldn't see anyone, It sounded as though every one on the bridge was going to bust their guts for all the laughing that was going on! Now this is really odd 'cuz were in "God's Country" here. No one ever plays grab ass or jokes around on a U.S. Navy bridge when the ship is underway. Tonight was to be an exception though. It seems as though word got out that the Chief Commissaryman left specific orders with the duty mess-cook, that ice cream be served at mid-rats this evening. Then it dawned on me that those "ice cream" boxes in the reefer contained the remains of old Navy veterans that were to be buried at sea in ceremony within the next couple of days.
As for that little Philipino cook? He never ever went down to the reefer decks again. I guess we fooled him!
dz
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