So there he was, Push Button Third, OT3 Jim Donovan, USN at his first NAVFAC, on his third watch string at NAVFAC Bermuda June 1974. The leaders of Watch Section One told him that Bermuda would observe daylight savings time on the 10th of June.

I was directed to go to the back of the DSA recorders on array XX31 and roll each gram back by precisely one hour; literally "push the paper" back into the inside of the recorders. They were "so impressed" with how neatly I had "fixed" array 31, that they suggested I was the only one who could do the other three - 40 beam arrays!

I was very proud of myself as I finished the task (160 total grams rolled back by precisely one hour) - that is until I saw my shipmate, OT2 Bob Eads nearly peeing himself behind the DAC recorders - he was laughing so hard! Shipmate indeed!

I've heard of the famed "bucket of steam" and the "left handed monkey wrench"..but, Jim?...this one takes the cake.
I'm sorry I never thought of that one. Too funny, indeed...at least to the perps. But certainly not to the new 'reader', wanting to do everything perfect at his new duty station.
It brings new meaning to the phrase, "Wanna get away?"
Great memory, Jim. Thanks for sharing.
Charlie

Jim" Good thing you weren't a corpsman. They'd have sent you for a fallopian tube...

On many a submarine has been set the Sea Buoy Watch, On entering port in calm seas a sailor new to the ways of submarines would be sent on deck forward armed with binoculars and the task of spotting the sea buoy. He was instructed to lie down and peer through the bow chock for best vantage ... from which position he could watch the sea rise and fall and tilt back and forth, often to the accompaniment of projectile vomiting.

Rubber Ducky & Jim -

That's pretty funny - sending someone (not a corpsman) after a fallopian tube !! Well, that is EXACTLY what happened to a new SOOSN that came aboard NavFac Pacific Beach in late '59. Let me explain.......

For those who recall (don't press me for details) - I believe that all the NavFacs, at that time, had what was referred to as an SMS Set, which was mounted to a bulkhead in the display room. As best I can recall, it recorded ambient sea noise, but also any seismic disturbances would cause it to "spike". The recordings were made on a continuous moving roll of paper (similar to the grams), but the actual print was made by an ink filled glass vial and a tube-like stylus, as it went back and forth across the paper.

One of our jobs, usually done by the plotter, was to fill the vial when it got low on ink (purple in color, by the way). On one day watch, the plotter accidentally dropped the vial & broke it. The on-watch sup then summoned the new SOOSN and, with a wink to the Chief ET who was standing by, told that young fella to hustle down to the supply room and get a new.....you guessed it - FALLOPIAN TUBE! He then handed the guy a supply chit with "FALLOPIAN TUBE, 1 EACH" written on it.

The OWO was not very amused when he got a call from the supply clerk as to who the "smart-a__" was that was wasting his time looking for a fallopian tube. Be that as it may, the rest of us all had a good laugh.

Just wondering..........how many remember the SMS Sets? I cannot recall for sure, but I think that as the ambient sea noise increased, some adjustments were made to backroom equipment attenuators, so that our signatures still came through as they should. Any and all other theories might help to jog my 74 year old memory.

Best to all in the undersea world of SOSUS (who the hell ever thought of the term IUSS?)

Irv (Dee) DeMatties

IUSS was coined when Surtass and RDSS joined Sosus, but RDSS was doomed when new programs relied on satcom were not approved.

"SMS"or "Sound Measuring Set". Pinkish-purple ink. As I recall, at watch turnover, the OWO was required to open the front access door, and manually "ground" the device by placing two fingers on the appropriate contacts causing the stylus to track all the way across the chart paper and return. This horizontal line would then be annotated as the official watch turnover time between OWO's. Where in the world do those sort of memories come from?

George:

Such long-term memories as you refer to come from the hippocampus which is a major component of the brain. It belongs to the limbic system and plays important roles in the consolidation of information from short-term memory to long-term memory and spatial navigation.

Just kidding. You may have a spatially eidetic memory. Such capabilities can be both useful and annoying. They can -
from my perspective - clutter the mind with responsive memories that - unbidden - pop up to confuse ongoing
mental processes. I could still write out a target telling msg format from the 1950s. Talk about a useless capability.

Bruce

Then there is the command: "Go get a bucket of steam in the engine room!" Or "Go get a potato stretcher from S-2 division!" How about "Go get 10ft of chow line!" HA! Then there is the SEA BAT gag to!! HAHA!!

WE used to send folks off to the Bosn locker for a can of Relative bearing grease....They usually sent them to the engine room, and then to supply...You could have a newby wandering around the ship all day, pretty good as it was only 312 feet long.....

I just checked in here and saw 2 unrelated items, one the passing of Hal Cook and the other this shipmates article. It was Hal Cook (then an OT3 or OT2) and Bob Smith who sent me off looking for fallopian tubes to repair some of our gear.....at my freshman command in Bermuda 1970 :)