All Plank Owners and former crew members of the USS California are invited to E-mail Me stories about the CALIFORNIA and about her crew.

One of ways that sailors pass the time while on a cruise is the telling of sea stories. These are stories that are mainly the funny little occurrences that break up the monotony of our everyday lives. A pastime for some, a full time job for others, the telling and retelling of these somewhat tall tales has elevated some sailors to a legendary status. Sometimes these tales teach, but they are usually so outrageous that one has a hard time believing them. After all, the easiest way to separate a fairy tale from a sea story is that a fairy tale starts out -"Once upon a time..."- and a sea story starts out -"This ain't no sh**...". As with most tales, sea stories grow and change with each telling and with the passage of time.
To avoid cries of slander or to avoid embarrasment to someone from events that happened many years ago--Please do not use any specific persons name in any uncomplementary story; only refer to them as "an Ensign", or the "Duty Officer", etc. Thank You

Stories Posted By:
Brent Lundgren The California is adrift! 11 November 1997
Ronald Long My wife's in labor! 26 December 1997
Brad Belford Sonar Dome Rupture 26 December 1997
Robert C. Tindall The LVDTs were re-nulled! 15 April 1998
Robert C. Tindall The Chaplain 15 April 1998
Michael Lausin Early Memories 19 May 1998
Dennis Ekardt Irish Pennants 26 August 1998
Hal Russell Early Stories-26 October 1998
Bill Ward What happens to the nuclear portions of a navy vessel. 11/19/99
Steve Waterman Shooting the California-27 July 1999
Tony DillerStorms & Scutttling; 12 August 1999
Richard Abrahall Storm at Sea; 19 May 2002
Janos "John" Vamos Happy Firing; 25 June 2003

-I served aboard the USS Biddle (CG-34) from 1976-1980 as a Machinist Mate, MM2. One time I had the duty and was standing watch in DC Central. There was a storm approaching Norfolk and the Biddle had put out storm lines. Someone came running in and told us that all duty personnel not on watch had to go out on the pier because the USS California had broken her mooring lines. I walked outside to take a look and I saw sailors holding mooring lines trying to keep California from drifting. The stern had stuck the bow of the USS Yosemetie and was dammaged. I don't remember the exact date of the accident. Repairs were started the next day since California was due to leave port a short time later.

Brent Lundgren

Note from the Web Master:
Atlantic 06/06/77: Several U.S. Navy ships, including the USS California (CGN-36) and the USS El Paso (LKA-117), part their moorings and suffer minor damage during high winds in the Norfolk, Virginia, area.

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-I really enjoyed the web pages on the USS California. I was assigned to the ship while it was in the ship yard under construction. I have many fond memories of those days. The construction workers in our area were very friendly. My oldest son caused me alot of excitement. My wife's 'water' broke while we at the deperming piers in the an unknown to me she had a neighbor take her to the Portsmouth Naval hospital, which was within sight of the ship! After the deperming operation we headed out to sea to spend the night before going to the naval weapons facility to get out ammunitions. Just as we were passing the outer lights(bridge type) I was put on a radio connection were they would only tell me my wife was ok. They wouldn't tell me why or what was happening. According to my wife she had called to see if she could get ahold of me and let me know what was happening. When she told the man that here water had broken, he said something like," Lady, if your pipes are broken just call a plumber. We can only pass along emergency messages." After she explained that the was going to have a baby NOW the man informed her that the message had to go thru the red cross. She contacted the red cross and they said they would handle it. They called back later and asked her if she still wanted to send the message. Needless to say she was getting very angry. Fortunately my son waited til I could get there the next morning. There are other stories too. Let me know if you are interested.

Ron Long

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-Fondest memory would be the World Cruise 1987, and having the sonar dome rupture while going around South America. Had to return to port, Rio, and discover the cruzeiro dipped against the dollar 25% since the week before. Payday. Big time.

Brad Belford

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- I noticed one of your fellow plank owners was an ET1 named ______. He was a Chief (made ETCS while I was there) in my day. Just before he departed the ship at Christmas, 1985 he re-nulled the LVDTs without telling anyone...cost me three days of sleep doing prime standards on all our instruments after we used the no-longer in cal LVDTs to adjust all the instruments. We had him in tears in the PI because the division officer gave us all liberty an hour early and we didn't ask him...

Robert C. Tindall

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- Our Chaplain used to bless the weapons systems ( that we may smite thine enemies) and the non-skid (that thine warriors not fall into thine oceans). He wasn't as good as the guy who relieved him...THAT chaplain, every night at seven, began his prayer "Oh God, and give us the strength to ". We were running drills one evening, and a few minutes before 7 they scrammed us out. "Main Control" (who peed on the wall of the Iranian embassy in Karachi...different story) grabbed the 1MC and waited with a s*** eating grin on his face. At 7 the prayer started, and so did "Main Control". "Oh God, SCRAM NUMBER ONE REACTOR, and give us the strength to CROSS CONNECT STEAM PLANTS AFT, CROSS CONNECT STEAM PLANTS AFT!" This, mind you, went to the entire ship because the chaplain had everyone cut in and 1EOS overrides the world. Worst scram recovery you ever saw...mechanics trying to open valves with tears of laughter streaming down their faces...

Robert C. Tindall

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-

• who was the xo that had the yellow vw thing? i know "hoss" miller was still the co then. i remember miller letting him take the ship away from the pier in yorktown and he almost hit a fully loaded ammo barge due to the currents on the river. miller took over and got us away ok, but he also took out a few of the pilings along the pier and we left one of those big black bumpers behind. my division had port & starboard lookout on the flying bridge during sea and anchor detail so we had prime seats.
• how about the 1mc announcments during crew's evening chow: stand by for heavy rolls during high speed turns. picking up your tray and sliding across the floor in your chair as the ship heeled over in 1 direction, and then sliding back and putting it back down when it heeled in the opposite direction. btw, i did ask the captain 1 time why he always did it during crew's chow time. if i remember right, i think he quit doing it after i asked about it. did miller crack 1 prop or both of them from doing that stuff? i know we had them replaced in the yards.
• remember miller's kypiyp? (keep your pecker in your pants)
• were you on when we went to st thomas the first time? there were a bunch of girls selling magazines on the island, and the guys were bringing them back to the ship for a "tour". i think those girls sold a bunch of mags to our shipmates during that visit.
• There are men working aloft! Do not "ratate" or "rodiate" any electronic equipment...
• Anyone remember the 8 hour liberty at Roosevelt Roads? We had been out for almost a week and a half and the Capt. decided to pull into Rosy Roads and called Cinderella liberty for non-duty personnel. It seems one of our shipmates (an ST if I remember correctly) wanted to make sure he (and some friends) had a really good time and "borrowed" a crane that was sitting on the pier and ran it thru a building. Between that incident and an inordinate number of problems with drunken (what else?) sailors, they decided never, ever to have an 8 hour liberty call again.
• Flight ops along the east coast. An air traffic controller lets one of the op aircraft stray out of the op area (without valid IFF, if I remember correctly) resulting in a number of the Air Force finest F-15's being scrambled to go check it out.
• Capt. Miller loved to mess with the Russians trawlers that hung out just off the east coast. The crew also had some fun at the Russian's expense.
• Capt. Miller changed the deck lighting, turned on the friendship lights, put up awnings, and put the guns and missile launchers at odd angles to make the ship look like a cruise ship in anticipation of a Russian bear aircraft fly over.
• Capt. Miller having us tow some barrels to make it look like we were testing some kind of new anti-submarine equipment.
• While on sea trials with the Nimitz, Capt. Miller received an order from the Admiral to not let a Russian AGI get in between the California and the Nimitz. Capt. Miller had the bridge crew let out 5 blasts on the ship's horn (international signal to move out of the way) and then put the ship at flank speed to put the ship between the AGI and the Nimitz. I think we got close enough to the AGI that I could see the rust on the rivets on the AGI's hull.
• During unrep the Russians used to watch us very closely, I guess they couldn't figure out how to do it or something. Occasionally we'd let a box of fruit or vegetables "slip" over the side and they'd pick it up. Usually, if were on one of the upper decks and the Russians were around, we did the wave and smile to them, and they'd wave and smile back. One time we did the wave and smile, the Russians did it back and then my friends and I dropped trou, bent over and shot them the moon. From what we could see they did a double take and then started laughing. The next time we saw that AGI they got the "drop" on us first.
• I don't know if I should confess to this or not, but it's been 25 years so what the heck. Remember that newspaper article about not being downwind of the ship? (See the "NEWS" page) Well, I was responsible for it. I was on duty one day and the toilets in the OE/ON division head had overflowed (again). This was the 5th or 6th time it had happened on MY duty day (and the 5th or 6th time I had to clean up the mess), and I was getting really tired of the whole situation. At the time, it appeared that those above us really didn't seem to care that the toilets were always backing up or about the foul smells that came from them when underway in warm climates. I felt it was time to do something about it, so I anonymously called the Virginian-Pilot and told them about the conditions under which we were living and they did the rest. By the way, the problem wasn't just about deck drains and improper venting but more about design. There appears to be some kind of reaction with waste and the sea water that we used to flush the toilets with. This reaction caused the waste to settle into "bricks" in the pipes. The "bricks" would eventually move to a section of pipe that had a bend in it, causing a blockage of the pipe, which caused the toilets to back up. With 2 other heads "upstream" and the OE/ON division head located at the lowest level before the sewage plant, things could get out of hand (or is that out of toilet?) in a hurry. The waste line for OE/ON division head also ran through OE/ON division's berthing compartment. Whenever there was a blockage, the HT's would have to remove a bunch of bunks near where the pipe ran and open up the pipe. A couple of times the berthing compartment was condemned forcing all of us to find empty bunks in the brig, sickbay, and various OE/ON equipment spaces. Luckily, a number of us had apartments off of the ship and only had to scrounge for a place to sleep on duty days. If Joe Baldachino can be found, he probably has some great pictures of himself and a few other ON division members hamming it up in rubber gloves and gas masks holding fire hoses and mops during one of the clean ups.
• I am glad to see that Lt Brewer made Admiral. He was one of the few officers that you could talk to like a real person, and not have to worry about "the navy" getting in the way. (See previous paragraph. Can he get still get in trouble because he knew who had called the newspaper?)
• I'm sorry to see that the old girl is gone. Let's see... nuclear powered... hmmm, doesn't that mean it doesn't need an oiler tagging along, and that it can get someplace very quickly (not that we ever went anywhere in a straight line) without having to wait for a bunch of fossil burners to catch up? I guess the logic of it escapes those at the top.

Michael Lausin

- We had just been commissioned and steamed over to Norfolk Navy Ship Yard for some rework. We pulled into drydock and the yardbirds were going to pump the water out the next day.
I had the duty that evening and the pleasure of the 16-2000 quarterdeck watch. Being a "salty" E-8 Radioman and fully qualified to stand inport watches, I assume the position, long glass under my arm and commenced a "sharp, squared-away" watch.
There was a lot of hustle and bustle on deck prepping for the next day's evolution, but I maintain a most military watch. About midway through our watch the Messenger-of-the-Watch advised me that he had noticed an Irish pennant on the life line just forward of the brow. I took a look and sure enough some "unsquared-away" shipmate had left a small piece of orange shotline tied to the lifeline. I, in my most military manner, ordered the messenger to remove it. He then told me he notice another one and he removed that one too.
During all this, the alert "Weapons-roving-patrol" was watching and observing my stalward leadership. He then commenced his patrol. About 30 minutes later he reported back to the Quarter-deck and showed me a double handful of the "exact-same-length" pieces of orange shotline. "Ah shit" I sez to myself, "this isn't a coincidence." "This shotline is suppose to be there." So I quietly take all the pieces, put them in the pocket of my bridge coat and hope this all goes unnoticed.
The next morning I am in the Chief's Mess eating breakfast when, in storms a very angry Master Chief (it's been 25 years, but I think it was ENCM Axel Hallen). It seems he spend most of yesterday locating all the over-board discharges and marking them (with orange shotline) so the yardbirds could hook them up in prep for us going dry. I just kept my mouth shut, nodding my head in agreement with the rest of the mess about how some jerk messed up Master Chief Hallen's effort. Until today he didn't know it was the stupid Radioman who did it.
Dennis Ekardt

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- From: HAL RUSSELL

I didn't serve aboard the California in the normal sense of the word--I was a civilian "tech rep" assigned to the California during her first sea trials and the first extensive test of her combat systems. My specific area of expertise was in the area of electronic warfare--Iwas (am) civil service, working for the Navy. All told, I probably spent 8 months at sea with the California on my many "rides."

The last time I was aboard her was in late summer 1993 in Hawaii. I was very upset to learn of her scrapping--I heard our VP (Gore) brag about doing away with the nuclear ships to make the ocean safer. Do you know what they do with the reactors after scrapping the ship--they seal them in a metal cocoon, fill it with concrete, tow it to sea and sink it!!! So much for the safety of the oceans!!

I was also aboard during sea trials when the ship received a message from "somewhere," chastizing it for exceeding economical cruise speeds--we had made a run between Nova Scotia and Norfolk at ~30 kn--and thereby wasting fuel oil. The message was addressed to the DLGN-36! Apparently someone didn't know what "N" meant. As I recall, that message was framed and was hanging on a bulkhead in the ship's office. As my degree was in physics, the CO tasked me to determine what quantity of nuclear fuel was consumed for that run, both at economical cruise and at 30 kn--so that he could respond to the message--you couldn't measure the difference.

What ever happened to Chief (Warrant) McGlade? I was aboard when he made Warrant--transiting to Puerto Rico. The civilains aboard pooled their dollars and bought out all the Warrant bars in the ship's store. McGlade wasn't allowed access to the Ward Room because he was out of uniform--no warrant bar insignia. And the Chiefs wouldn't allow him into the Chief's mess. Poor McGlade had to eat in the crews mess, which was where I preferred to eat as the men I worked with ate there. It was almost more than he could stand.
I was also aboard when he had his ceremony on the bow of the ship, in port at Roosevelt Roads. Just after the CO pinned McGlade's bars on, the Blue Angels flew by, practicing for an up-comming air show. McGlade, who was always want to make a comment (on anything) said, "nice touch, sir." As I recall, the CO did an about-face (back to McGlade), and made a motion with his arm and then walked briskly away. Two other men then grabbed McGlade and threw him off of the bow--that was quite a fall to the water below--the air was quire "blue" for a while!
All of us that worked on the MK-74 mod 4 fire control system have many McGlade stories!

Civilians have sea stories too. I have just read the current offerings and have some points to add to Michael Lausin's list:

• That 8 hour liberty at Roosevelt Roads was probably instigated by us civilians--we had had some problem with one of FCS radars and had Rayheon ship another part. That's the reason the ship pulled in for so short a time that visit. While the guys were having fun with the crane two of us "borrowed" a government truck, drove it to San Juan, picked up the part and drove back. We left the truck where we had found it aND boarded the ship--sorry we missed all the fun with the crane!
• That incident with the F-15's in the VA Capes area had to do with one of our target launch aircraft--a B-47 that was maintained by a civilian contractor and leased to the government. Because it was used by all services it had US Navy painted on the fuselauge and USAF on its wings. That morning's OP came early on a Tuesday after a 3-day weekend--the USAF had not read its message traffic. All they saw on their radar was a large aircraft East of D. C. launching things that were flying West! To make matters worse, the IFF in the B-47 was non-operational. The AF pilots requested the B-47 pilot to "squawk your codes," to which the civilian pilot responded, "squawk my what?" The AF guys wanted to shoot him down as he was obviously not a real military aircraft. The bad part is that we had a missile cook-off on the rail because we couldn't launch it with all the friendlies around. Also, two of our targets splashed while waiting for the AF to go home.
• Soon after reporting aboard (late 1975) as FCS tech rep we found that one of the FCS illuminators was not putting out the right amount of RF power. The correct procedure was to hook up a TDR to the wave guide and locate the blockage, a tedious process. The Chief told us civilians to hide and watch how he was going find the problem. With the CWI in transmit and the dish bird-bathed (straight up) the Chief (I remember his name) proceeded to run his hand down the waveguide feeling for a hot spot. He found a break in the guide and received a nasty RF burn. While he was writhing in pain on the deck a first class (I forget his name, but he was a tall guy), calmly walked over to him and said, "Chief, where were you when they passed out the brains?"
• Who was that Ltjg that had a "thing" with Miller and that plastic plant (in the metal pot) in the Wardroom. It was labeled, 'the non-nuclear plant.' First Miller would have it welded to the deck in the Lt's quarters and then the Lt would have it welded somewhere in the CO's quarters. Nothing was ever said about it when the two were together.
• I fondly remember turning the Port-side main deck passageways of the California into a giant slotted-array TV antenna when we had to be out during Super Bowl weekend--too far out for the ship's TV antenna to get much of a picture. As an RF guy, I realized that the passageways were almost the correct size for waveguide at VHF TV. We opened all the hatches on the port side of the ship on the main deck and placed a VHF dipole (and TV) in the center of one of the officer's staterooms (it served as the cavity), and we taped off the passageways so no one could walk through our wave guide. Miller came down to watch. The picture began to fade at the end of the secong quarter and Miller asked why. We told him that someone was turning the ship, we had to be headed due North for this to work. During half-time he ordered the ship to race South so we could proceed North for the rest of the game!!

It's a good thing you are doing. There have been many ships named California, and hopefully, there will be another.
HAL RUSSELL

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And Now The Reply From Mac:

I would like to go on the record to say that Hal Russel is full of it...

He may have been there when I made Warrant but his memory sucks on the fine details.

1st of all I had all the required uniform devices,

2nd I ate in the wardroom, and pissed off a few,

3rd and the biggest bulls**** story ever told--- I WAS NOT THROWN OVERBOARD!!, Were does this CRAB get this crap to think that any Capt in the USN would authorize anyone to be thrown over the side???? Especially Capt Rentz.

4th The Blue angels did fly over that part is true

5th Now I remember why I HATE F___K'n SAND CRABS !!

J.J. McNasty or Mac to my shipmates.

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