Fleet Plan of the Day
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- Brad Williamson
- POD - SSN 680
More items from the box I recently discovered, full of stuff I somehow thought was not only worth saving at the time, but also worth paying to have shipped across the country in the, let's see, one, two, three...hmmmm...now five times I've moved since I left the boat. Regardless, my suffering is your gain - enjoy this visual feast of new items in the Crew Gallery.
The BART Corner A one time publication of a proposed weekly update of the Bates Anti - Retention Team. My guess is the XO
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- Brad Williamson
- POD - SSN 680
The Crew Gallery continues to grow with the recent addition of Mike Yawn's photos from the 83-85 time period. Now these 52 images were photos that Mike squirreled away for his Navy retirement party when he hung up his LCDR bars just a few months ago. You read that right.
As a result, they are all, well, photos of Mike, but there are quite a few shipmates and exotic locations, and some official Navy photos of the Bates in them as well, so stop by the Up Scope! >> Crew Gallery and check them out. The easiest way to find them is to click on the Last Added link just above the category images.
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- Brad Williamson
- POD - SSN 680
Just heard from Al Frankel the other day about our friend and shipmate Mike Rodriguez.
Mike was the MS Chief from 78 to 83, and was well regarded for his persistent support of the Rec Fund and his familiar 'Better Than Sex!' introduction to the day's menu. I can still hear it now!
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- Brad Williamson
- POD - SSN 680
Each of us probably remember the shipmate assigned to us when we reported on board the Bates. You showed up on your first day on board, and if you had never been on a submarine, it was pretty intimidating. But the U.S. Navy, in its infinite wisdom, saw to it that you were assigned a mentor and, well, baby sitter, in the form of a 'Sea Daddy' who, despite being a complete caricature of a submarine sailor, was knowledgeable and qualified to point you in the right direction and make sure you didn't hurt yourself or someone else. He made sure you had a place to bunk, that you could find the head and the mess decks, would get out of the passageway when an alarm went off, and picked up about 42 pounds of qualification cards. For better or for worse, most of still remember our first 'Sea Daddy'.
But this really isn't about 'Sea Daddies' back in the day.
I'm in the middle of posting another generous contribution of photographs from Michael Yawn related to the period between 1981 and 1985. Now, given that he only kept the ones with him in the picture, you'll get to see quite a bit of Mike, but there are plenty of other shipmates and lots of interesting features worth noting. You'll find them in the Crew Gallery when I finish uploading all 57 of them, but there are already a few new photos in there.
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- Brad Williamson
- POD - SSN 680
You know it's a slow news day when the major news channel are carrying all the 'public interest' stories, and no 'real' news shows up at all. Must have been a lot of that the last few days, given all the coverage that John Lennon has been given. Way to much attention being given to a celebrity musician that was buried thirty years ago.
Regardless, it got me thinking, and I was reminded of the day John died. Turned out that there was a genuine sea story buried in there, one that I had long forgotten about. I took a few minutes to write it up so it could be shared.
You can read it here:
Rest in peace, John. You had some pretty decent music.
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- Brad Williamson
- POD - SSN 680
History from the Bates continues to trickle in.
Joe Smith, a Reactor Operator who served on board during the late seventies and into 1980, recently sent us a file of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard newsletter from April 1, 1977. Not only does it highlight the Bates, but includes some information and a photo of the CO at the time, CDR William Houley.
The newsletter also provides a little insight into life at the shipyard 33 years ago. You can find it here.
Logroom >> Archives >> Portsmouth Periscope - April 1, 1977 - Bates in for SRA
Thank Joe for his submission, and dig through your own mess and see if you can't find something interesting to add to the archives!
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- Brad Williamson
- POD - SSN 680
We have our first listed Honorary Crew Member!
CTT1 John Whitmire was a rider back in the 74-75 time frame. (That would have been my first year at Texas A&M, to put that in the old man perspective!) I stumbled across John on a CT community website, while searching for former crewmembers. John generously agreed to let us post his photo of the boat, signed by CDR Arthur, the Bates' first CO. You can view the Logroom >> Ship's Archive article with photo here.
The Honorary Crew Members menu item under Honors is now active. After wrestling with this concept for a year or so, running across John's info made me realize that the concept of Honorary Crew Member existed way before I thought of it, and there must be many riders, midshipmen, and project staff that carry a Bates Honorary Crew Member card. Of course, that means that we have many more sailors that have served on the Bates under TDY orders that need to be tracked down. Any takers?
