SSN 680 Plan of the Day
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- Brad Williamson
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
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
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
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
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!
