A newsletter for the former crewmen of the USS Kenneth D. Bailey (DD/DDR-713) Vol. XXVI January 2012 #1 MEMORIES OF NOLA By Bob Nowak Continued from September 2011 queasy, but bored as hell with nothing to (Continuation of a recruit’s first voyage write in my notebook but “steaming as be- 2012 USS after boot camp, from New Orleans down the fore”. To break the monotony, I would ask Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico en the helmsman if I could take the wheel, K.D. Bailey route to Havana, Cuba) which always required approval of the OOD. I’d get the course to be steered and settle in Reunion As we exited the Mississippi into the Gulf, to keep the ship on that course, which in there was a wide long plume of mud colored those fairly calm conditions, did not require water; the silt and mud and debris from the much shifting of the helm. In the darkness, Washington, river which trailed out into the Gulf, until sud- the compass repeater glowed brightly, and it DC denly, the water turned dark blue, and we could get almost hypnotic as you stared at were on our way. It was my first time at sea. degree digits shifting as the ship slogged The Gulf was choppy, and the ship met the along. Years later, under different conditions April 12-15 waves with a pitching and rolling motion. The and weather, it would be a wrestling match inclinometer showed the rolls to be about 15 to keep course in heavy weather with waves degrees both ways, as we turned to a south- breaking over the bow splashing up over the Crowne Plaza easterly course towards Cuba. The sun was bridge and rolls from side to side in the 40 National Airport westering towards sunset, and my watch was and 50 degree range. Hotel as a quartermaster striker, keeping the Quar- I thought ahead to Cuba and Havana, termaster’s Notebook, recording events where in 1898 the battleship MAINE had which the Office of the Deck would use to exploded, leading to the Spanish-American write up his deck log, to then be typed by the War with Spain, which then controlled Cuba. Published by: Yeoman into the smooth version. The bridge As we passed south of Pensacola, we spot- Premier Reunion Services watch in the pilot house consisted of myself, ted a large ship, an aircraft carrier, being PO Drawer 11399 Hickory, NC 28603-6402 the helmsman and lee helmsman, the Officer trailed by a ship like ours, as plane guard. of the Deck, and out on the bridge wings, the They were doing carrier qualifications for 828-256-6008 (voice) port and starboard lookouts. The OOD would student naval pilots. The signal bridge iden- 828-256-6559 (Fax) patrol the bridge area, looking ahead and tified her as USS Cabot CVL-27, a ship receiving reports from the lookouts. Occa- whose life began as a cruiser but which be- [email protected] sionally, the Captain or the Executive Officer came a carrier upon completion, an 11,000 [email protected] would appear, converse with the OOD, and ton midget when compared to the monsters the Captain would leave his night order book in the 45,000 ton range. The accompanying WWW.MLRSINC.COM containing his instructions to the OODs, destroyer was the English, a Sumner class /KDB which always ended with the order…”Call me destroyer like we were, and a member of Our Reunions Work So if you need me, don’t hesitate.” our squadron. Signal lights gleamed on the You Don’t Have To. Back on the signal bridge, the signal gang bridges of both ships as greetings were ex- would cluster, sitting on the flag bags, smok- changed between them and us. ing and drinking coffee. Steaming alone, as The next morning, the island of Cuba we were, gave them little to do. appeared ahead of us on the horizon. In- I did not feel myself getting sick or (Continued on page 2) Volume XXVI Issue 1 BAILEY NEWS Page 2 (Continued from page 1) and committed acts of desecration, whale boat!!! Along the way we first credibly green and tropical, we ap- requiring the crewmembers to be res- seemed to be in the bottom of a giant proached her harbor from the north, cued from an angry mob by armed water valley with a wall of water com- passing the Morro Castle on our port sailors from our ships in port. pletely blocking our view of our ship side and La Punta castle on our I spent my time ashore like a tour- or the sub. I wonder if the children of starboard side. The Del Puerto high- ist with a couple other “boots” like my- Israel got to see the same wall of way, running alongside the water- self, getting tipsy on rum, smoking water as they were escaping from front, was busy with vehicular traffic, cigars, ranging through the palatial the Egyptian army in the Red Sea. and the site of many beautiful hotels. hotels, and sitting on benches near Next, we were riding the crest of a The Castro regime was many years the beaches, admiring the local gigantic mountain of water where our to come in the future, and Havana “scenery”. At the Royal Palm Hotel, ship and the sub were clearly visi- was well known for its gambling we were treated nicely by a wealthy ble—plus miles around us for 360 clubs and shows, hotels and gen- American banker who bought us degrees. Well, getting the vanilla eral “good time” resorts for American drinks and a sumptuous meal. sheet cakes took a little maneuvering tourists. We proceeded to the inner Then, all to soon, it seemed, we as we came alongside the sub. I was harbor, where we tied up alongside were underway again to return to New given charge of one of the cakes— a pier near several merchant ships, Orleans, but the sea stories ranged which I held tightly in my lap. The trip whose crewmen leaned on the rail- on and on as we made our return trip back to the Perry gave us the same ings, watching us with curiosity. upriver. I now considered myself quite AWESOME view! Plus, we got a A few hours later, liberty was an old “salt”, something I learned in charge from our radioactive energy called, but not after the Exec gave years to come had been very prema- baked cake. all hands a lecture about proper be- ture. havior ashore. Some years later, a REALLY SCARED: In October of rowdy group from another destroyer Robert L. Nowak, QM1, USS Waldron 1962, our normal routine as school had created an international incident DD699 and USS K.D. Bailey DD713 ship for the Fleet Sonar School in when drunken crewmembers __________ Key West was interrupted that morn- climbed up on a statue of Fulgencio ing at the Naval Station annex. The Batista, a former President of Cuba CO was having an emergency meet- ing with the DESDIV 601 Headquar- ters while our crew and the sonar MEMORIES OF THE SEA students waited to go about our regular sonar training. When the CO came back to the ship, the students Editor’s Note: In an e-mail we asked AWE OF THE VAST OCEAN: were ordered back to the awaiting for you to share your stories about While serving on the destroyer es- school bus and we got underway “THE SEA” —storms you experi- cort USS John R Perry (DE 1034), without them. We headed south to- enced, creatures you saw in the we served as downrange communi- ward Cuba without a word for our ocean, how the different oceans cation ship for several Polaris mis- sudden change in routine. Not know- were different from one another, sile shoots. We were deployed ing cast a pall over the crew and the times you were really scared, other somewhere in the middle of the At- tension became palpable. Why? ships you encountered on the sea, lantic west of Bermuda. At the end Why? Later on that day we heard how much in awe you were of the of one of those deployments, I was President Kennedy give his “Missile vast ocean, beautiful scenes from standing afternoon sonar watch of October” speech over WKIZ, the on board, etc. Here are your stories: when we got a message over local Key West station. We were in “Gertrude” (our underwater commu- the big middle of it all! One of my From Jerry Rogers: nications system). The message shipmates commented, “I have not OTHER SHIPS: During the Cuban was from the nuclear sub’s CO to been to Mass for a long time! If the Missile Blockade aboard the Perry, our CO asking if our crew would like Lord will get me out of this mess, I we got to see several Russian some sheet cakes baked with will get myself out to the next freighters and “fishing” boats flying atomic energy. If so, the sub would one!” (Note: When he did get a the hammer and sickle. It was surface and we could launch a mo- chance to go ashore, he went to a strange to see our enemy flag in tor whale boat over to them to re- bar—not to Mass). As far as being such a close proximity to our shore. ceive our treat! Well, of course our scared, I guess I was too ignorant of One morning we passed by a large captain said yes when he answered the situation to be that way.