Oh, those infamous Z Grams. I was in the Med during some of that time and Adm Ike Kidd was 6th fleet. For every Z Gram there was an equal and opposite K Gram basically saying "not in the 6th fleet."
When one looks back on those days, we now understand how right Adm Kidd was but during those time, his K Grams didn't win any popularity contests. And........., he was not a big fan of Escort Squadron 8 anyway. I think the nicest thing he ever said about us was that "our seamanship was on the order of a fleet tug".
Well, its the Fall of 73 and we had been ordered to bring the ITASS ships home. The three of us, Courtney, Hammerberg and Lester were nested alongside the tender Cascade. The Adm was on the flying bridge of the cascade when we were to get underway. As the Squadron Flag Ship, Courtney left first and as she turned abeam of the Cascade, She bellowed black smoke the like of which were seldom seen. All the rest of us saw were all of the officers of the Cascade and the Adm hustling below. To this day, the crew of Courtney swears it was an accident.
All three of the DEs had helo decks that were originally intended for the DASH Drone Helicopters of the late 60s. The three ships used those decks as "Mooning" spots as we mooned each other all across the Atlantic.
Looking back, it was a fun time.
As a side note, the decision to bring us home was based on the fact that none of the three ships had a good track record for meeting obligations. One of us was generally broken down at any given time.
But..........., when the order was issued to come home, all three made the Med/Atlantic crossing without missing a beat. Amazing coincidence!!!~!
I remember one event at Pt. Sur which I'm sure probably also took place at other NAVFAC's. As some of you know, Pt. Sur was not that "busy" in the early 1970's. So for something to do one eve watch the plotter dug out the messages from Com on locations of known surface ships in the Pacific. He dutifully plotted all the locations and tracks on the plot in the display room. From what I remember, this started on a Friday eve watch, was continued by other watch sections over the weekend, and by the time the day workers came in on Monday morning, Pt. Sur really looked "busy". Nothing ever happened except for someone being directed by one of the day workers to clean the "mess" off of the plot!:smiley:
