TYPHOONS AND THE USS HULL

[OLDNAVYMCPO]

Although I have no intentions of watching the documentary on Viet Nam, thinking about that period in my life got my mind all riled up. Like most Viet Nam vets, that time in my life is filled with all kinds of mixed feelings and emotions, some good, some not so much. It was a tumultuous period that took a long time healing. Health issues, disrupted family life leading to divorce, child born with birth defects, all played a major role.

I'm currently reading a book on WWII about an epic Naval disaster involving three US destroyers and a typhoon that sunk all three. The WWII destroyers were the Spence, Monaghan and the Hull. Coincidentally the Hull and I have a connection from the Viet Nam days. Same name, different ship.

My last tour in the Tonkin Gulf, which I have posted about in a different thread, was aboard the aircraft carrier USS Constellation. In the last month of the deployment, I was ordered to NATTC Memphis for instructor duty. To expedite my transfer, I was flown by chopper to the USS Hull (DD945), lowered by wire to the tossing deck and man-handled aboard.

The USS Hull (DD945) was the fifth US destroyer to bear the name. The forth descendant (DD350) was the one sunk by a typhoon during WWII.

Aboard the Connie, I hadn't had a hot shower, hot meal or laundry in many days as we had been on "water hours" because of a fresh water issue. As a Chief, I was treated like a VIP aboard the Hull. Hot shower and hit the rack. When I awoke, all my laundry had been done, uniform pressed and even my shoes spit shined. In the Chief's mess, I was treated to four fresh eggs, all the bacon I could eat, hash browns and strong Navy coffee.

The next four days we spent running in high seas trying to escape the wrath of Typhoon Nora, the forth most intense cyclone on record. Winds up to 185 MPH. No watches allowed on deck during the worst of it, lashed down for the rest. Spent more time underwater than above.

For a carrier sailor, being aboard a destroyer in high seas is a real experience. I had been in the North Atlantic during winter storms, been through the Straits of Magellan and around the Horn of Africa but nothing compared to that typhoon.

We finally made Subic Bay and I was soon on my way to the States via Clark AFB.

I'll never forget that ride and will always have the greatest respect for destroyer sailors.

Photos
1. The Connie
2. My office when not on the flight deck, ( behind the balcony)
3. Me as a Chief on the Connie
4. Chopper leaving the deck
5. USS Hull (DD945)

 

[tlawler]

Oh yeah...I've been pitched up ladders and all sorts of things during my time on a Fast Frigate (reclassed Destroyer Escort). Not long after I got aboard, I was put on "anchor windlass watch" during a transit of the South China Sea. It's in the compartment right below the fo'c'sle where the pitching motion is most exaggerated. We must have been going 30 feet up and down from the waterline. I sat on the deck of the windlass with my arms and legs wrapped around the capstan shaft and hung on for dear life. It felt like a two hour ride on a roller coaster. Funny thing...I never got seasick ever again after that.

 

[LVSteve]

...

Photos
1. The Connie
2. My office when not on the flight deck, ( behind the balcony)
3. Me as a Chief on the Connie
4. Chopper leaving the deck
5. USS Hull (DD945)

Are you sure picture 3 isn't the Formula One driver, Jenson Button?

 

[6518John]

You look like a movie star in a naval movie playing a sailor!

"To expedite my transfer, I was flown by chopper to the USS Hull (DD945), lowered by wire to the tossing deck and man-handled aboard."

Also I hope you did not have to buy a first-class ticket for this flight! I would ask for a refund or at least send a strongly worded letter to the airline.

 

[ameridaddy]

Thanks for the story and your service. Looking at that destroyer, where on earth on that cluttered deck did they put you down? A helipad is one thing, but that looks like you'd been dropped into a tackle box.....
A friend of mine was an engine room guy on a DD, described a horrible ride in a typhoon in the western pacific, and I wonder if it was the same one you described. He said the roll was so bad, maybe 70 degrees at one point IIRC, he had to put out the boiler fires to avoid a steam explosion. He said he had never been so terrified in his life.

 

[OLDNAVYMCPO]

I was lowered to a clear space about ten feet by ten feet near the fantail. I was holding my seabag as I was being lowered, the deck was tossing erratically but four men grabbed me and got me safely out of the harness. It was a tricky maneuver to say the least.

That little ship was rocking and rolling like you won't believe. The Chief's Mess had the only porthole I'd ever seen in the Navy, it was under water most of the time. The pitching wasn't as scary as the wallowing in the troughs between waves. Try eating a meal under those conditions. That was a storm of historic proportions.

 

[STCM(SW)]

All I say is what the commodore asked my CO, "How are you doing?
OK, why?
Well your port screw keeps coming out of the water."

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I am a solid ground kind of guy! My only reference is a Cruise ship vacation. We were in a February storm in the Caribbean (I know that isn't a real storm!) But the 21 foot waves in the harbor of Grand Cayman canceled our stop there. So while cursing to Mexico, a group of us were playing Bridge in the game room on the 14th or 15th deck, The waves were rolling us back and forth 50 to 75 feet- that is with stabilizers! Being on a destroyer or frigate sized ship in a big blow? No thank you!

Ivan

 

[jimmyj]

Your story brings back real memories---Once again I am sea sick !

*** To be a "Shallow Water Sailor" one has to be at least 6' in height in case your craft sinks you can walk to shore.

 

[Tradewind36]

Great story and pics! As an old SH-3 driver I've done a couple of those small ship transfers, a little tricky when the ship is rockin and rolling.

 

[olcop]

Rollin&Pitchen

It's been said that the Radar Picket Destroyers on the Northern route of the D.E.W; should have qualified for Submarine duty pay/ they spent so much time underwater.
I never got used to the ship's movements, I got seasick every time they set the special sea and anchor detail.
olcop

 

[BigBill]

Thanks for your service. Godbless.

 

[vigil617]

Saw the gangway of the Connie in a clip during the Vietnam documentary last night. I'm sure she was in some of the others showing takeoffs for some of the first bombing runs on North Vietnam, too. A good bit of narrative and clips on the destroyers Maddox and Turner Joy in reference to the Gulf of Tonkin incident, too.

 

[jimmyj]

How to get "Keel Hauled" :

1. Wash out the CPO's coffee mug
2. Throw out the old coffee grounds and start a new pot
3. Allow the CPO's coffee mug to get empty and cold

 

[Frank46]

Been trough a couple typhoons during our westpac cruise 66-67. Had a buddy who worked and basically lived in the cat shack. Woke one morning after one such typhoon hit our area and found that the catwalk he was about to step on wasn't there any more. We'd go out on the fantail and was like being on a roller coaster. one minute you'd be looking up at a wall of water, then next would be the sky. Needless to stay as a snipe that was one for the books. Frank

 

[gman51]

I get sea sick on calm waters so I would have died puking my guts up on the ride. I don't know how you soldiers did what you did. Like they say war is hell.

 

[MCorps0311]

You talking typhoon Nora,made me think about the typhoon we got caught in on Operation Sussex Bay in September 1968 Typhoon Bess,I thought the Typhoon was going to kill me and not the VC or NVA. We was on the march trying to get back to base before flooding. We knew that there was a dry bed river when we got there it has flooded,My dumb butt volunteered to let them tie a rope around my waste to see how far I could walk out to cross the river.I didn't get five feet before I was fifty yard down from where I got into the river and they pulled me back out the river. Now that's something to remember and never forget.

 

[Papa32129]

Thanks for sharing,


Papa