Fleet Plan of the Day
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!
No commentsEach 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.
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.
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!
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?
Welcome Aboard, John Brandes!
John Brandes registered on the site today, bring the total number of former Commanding Officers of the USS WILLIAM H. BATES (SSN 680) checked in to five, which is half the ten COs that commanded the Bates during her 30 plus years of service.
Some of you remember John as the Engineer between 1979 and 1982, while those of you serving between 1988 and 1991 would have called him Cap'n. Either way, he joins Houley, Uplinger, W. M. Hicks, and Stevens here at SSN-680.org as former COs, and we are proud to have them all.
Shout him out when you get a chance, and make him feel welcome - he's one of us!
It has been a busy quarter. The real world has required my attention to complete a project I've been involved in, and I've had precious little time to dedicate to the site. I've kept up with the postings and communications, but any effort to push the site forward has been on hold.
Recently, however there has been conversation regarding our shipmates that have passed on, regarding who is missing and who is deceased. Until now, my practice was to not post information regarding deceased shipmates until there was some 'official' or 'formal' confirmation, such as an obituary, public record, or notifcation from a family member. This was primarily to protect friends and family from the inadvertent or erroneous announcement of someone's demise.
