I'm being given orders to what?  We went down to Pearl Harbor for our very first view of an ATF.  Note the porthole that was just removed aft of the wardroom door on Lipan.  Circa summer 1966.
Another shot of my first glimpse of Lipan.  Circa summer 1966.
Nice shot of the bow dipping into the seas during moderate seas.  Taken from the flying bridge.
Another bow shot taken from the flying bridge.
Big wave crashing over the bow.  Photo taken from the gunmount.
Another bow shot photo taken from the flying bridge.
Another bow shot photo taken from the flying bridge.
Lt. Cdr. Joe Demarke, the second of three skippers I served under.   Photo taken near An Thoi Vietnam during the underwater search for a downed P-3A Aircraft.
Bosun McWilliams chops through the manila line holding the Eels anchor in place over the side.   The start of a mission to lay beach gear.  Circa 1966
The fantail while underway circa 1967.
The 3" gunmount.  The seat on the right is where the trainer sat, controlling the horizontal movement of the gun.  The opposite seat on the left is where the pointer sat, controlling the vertical movement of the gun and also the firing trigger. Circa 1966.
View of the gundeck from the forecastle.  Circa 1966.
Unusual view along the barrel of the 3" gun.  Circa 1967.
Me in the pointer seat.   I started out as an ammo handler on the gunmount and eventually ended up in the very same pointer seat for my General Quarters station.   Circa 1967.
Looking aft on the port side 01 level (boat deck near the potato bin) as a following sea slaps into the fantail circa 1968.
Lipan in Midway.  President Nixon wanted to have talks with South Vietnam's Premier Thieu and chose Midway as the site.  A huge communications ship would have to be on scene during the visit and we escorted two YTB harbor tugs all the way from Pearl Harbor just to help it into the harbor.  Circa 1968
One of my seagoing outfits.  I traded my white hat for the cowboy hat of an armed guard at a bar in the Philippines.  Along with my cutoff dungarees (with a chief's belt) and typically white sox.   Bosun McWilliams would look me up and down and shake his head and wonder about his new E-3 Boatswainmate.  That's shipfitter's Trepanier and Rice in the background.  Circa 1967.
A target sled of the era.  Made of heavy timbers, metal pipe staging, and heavy canvass we'd tow it about a mile behind us for target practice by other ships.  Shortly thereafter a new lighter pontoon sled was introduced that made the exercise much easier.  Circa 1967.
One trip to Westpac we hauled two YOG's (Yard gasoline tankers) to Danang.  The craft were needed to haul gasoline around the coast for supply purposes instead of trying to get tanker trucks trough the jungle roads.  Danang was near the border with North Vietnam and the DMZ.  Circa 1967.
Underway with the two tows.  L to R is Ron Prince SN, Jerry Ackerson SN, Rich Tetrault SN, and Mike Spegal SN.  Ron and Jerry were hometown buddies who enlisted together and Mike went on to become our cook and earned the nickname "mother" or "ma" because he cooked and took care of us like a mom would do.
Entering Danang Harbor.  I think the land shown was called Monkey Island (or something like that).  It was dotted with sandbagged emplacements and guard posts.  Circa 1967.
Pulling into Danang Harbor in Vietnam 1967 with the two tows.  Two fishing boats were in the channel and weren't moving.  We weren't stopping and split between them, where they had a rope strung probably with nets.  Good bye rope!
We were greeted by a YTL (small harbor tug) in the harbor that came out to assist us with the two tows.
Take it away Joe.  The YTL takes one of the YOG's to its berth.
The pier in Danang where the the two tows ended up.  The pier where we berthed for a while in Danang was a modern thing that was able to be raised or lowered to facilitate loading and unloading of vessels.
Diamond Head Hawaii, famous inactive volcano profile at Waikiki Beach, as seen from the channel into Pearl Harbor.  Circa 1967.

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