Fleet Plan of the Day
We have places for photos of yourself on the site. By this, I mean a photo that identifies you, like your driver's license or passport photos, as opposed to the ones we took of each other on liberty, or the photo of you getting your dolphins pinned on.
First, there is the photo that you use to identify you on the site, that shows up in the Scuttlebutt forum and is your User Image on your User Profile. This is also called your avatar. To change this image, or to add one, go the the Sailing List and click on your name, or click on your name in the Current Watchsection, or click on Your Profile in the Watch Quarter and Station Bill. Your user profile will open.
No commentsTwo new sections have been added today: Logroom >> Archives, and Photos >> Misc.
Archives is our repository for historical documents that tell the story of the William H. Bates. Newspaper clippings, magazine articles, and other relevant documents will go here.
The Misc. Photos section holds photographs relevant to our history and understanding of the Bates, but not necessarily of the Bates. Take a look and you'll see what I mean. I think you'll find it interesting.
Don't forget to tell your friends and former shipmates about the site and encourage them to register. The easy way to do that is to use the Tell a Shipmate button on the Homeport page. Simply click the button, drop in their email address, add a kind word or two, and send it on it's way. The more we get involved, the more rapdily we can track down our missing shipmates.
Don't forget to check the Looking for Shipmates forum on Scuttlebutt to make sure we have included all the MIAs, and update their status as you go.
It's amazing what you can get done with a few free hours. New items are popping up all over the site. The system error 500 bug is fixed, so you can update your user profiles - note that a biography section has been added. It's only a text area, so it is recommended you write your bio in Word or something else, then cut and paste it. Maybe I'll get around to fixing that one of these days.
This section, the P.O.D., has been added for news and such. Between here and the Scuttlebutt, you should be able to stay current on 'the haps', as Zippy Pinhead used to say.
It looks like we finally squashed the bug causing the system error 500. If it happens to you, try refreshing your browser, forcing a full page reload (hold the shift key down while clicking on the refresh icon), clearing the browser cache, the usual suspects, etc. If it still happens, report it to the Administrator using the link at the bottom of the page.
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
~ 1 John 4:9,10
Christmas – 200 feet deep in the South China Sea
Black steel slid silently through the depths. Somewhere, somewhere else, it was Christmas. But here, in the cold and dark, it was combat. The red control room lighting barely revealed the intensity, but it was real, as real as the rising hackles of a suspicious guard dog.
Somewhere else it was Christmas. Our attack sub was rigged for ultra-quiet; no sound would be allowed to reveal our location. This intercept had been too hard won to betray ourselves with a dropped spoon in the galley, a hatch slammed closed, or…even a Christmas carol.
Moving quietly through the boat, underlining the seriousness of our situation with quiet whispers, it was easy to notice the emptiness of our attempts at holiday cheer. The tinsel in the wardroom, a few battered ornaments in the crew’s mess, and a plastic tree that would have embarrassed Charlie Brown were a painful counterpoint to what wasn’t there. No traditional carols, no holiday music, no warm baking smells, no friends sipping cider, no family. There you had it. Something else sacrificed for the mission. This job was tough enough on a good day, but another Christmas away from family made it pretty easy to feel sorry for yourself.
A brief stop by Radio to check message traffic revealed a single strip of flimsy taped to the door:
Date: 02 FEB 22
From: Brad Williamson, Lead Administrator
RE: Current activity on the coldwarboats.org website.
- Four fully functional sites, in addition to the USS WILLIAM H. BATES (SSN 680). (Located by menu items shaded light orange):
- USS NAUTILUS (SSN 571)
- USS STURGEON (SSN 637)
- USS ASPRO (SSN 648)
- USSVI - USS HADDO Base (Cleveland, TN)
- Two sites currently under development. (Also located by menu items shaded light orange):
- USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (SSBN 600)
- USS LAFAYETTE (SSBN 616)
- Features added:
- File upload capability added for 571, 637, 648, 600, 616 for images and documents. Found at the bottom of each of the four boat menus - The Boat, The Men, The Logroom, The Reunions.
- Historical timelines for 571, 637, and 648, under The Logroom >> History.
- Shipmates Added:
- USS NAUTILUS (SSN 571) All Enlisted Personnel from 1954, registered as MISSING or ETERNAL PATROL, if known.
