All About Pocket Knives

When I first reported to the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Constellation it was in the shipyards in Bremerton, WA. I immediately became good friends with a fellow Texan named Mike.
Mike and I were set up go down to San Diego, CA. to attend Navy Instructor Training, Navy Career Counselor Training and Shipboard Damage Control Training. In the Instructor Training class, we both did fine, no big deal. In Career Counselor Training they ask both Mike and I if we wanted an accelerated class and we would finish early. We said no way, we had a schedule to keep and golf in the afternoons.

FLOODING, FLOODING FLOODING. This is not one of the shipboard announcements you want to ever hear.
At some point the rest of our division crew came down for Damage Control Training and this is an experience I will never forget. There was a mockup down on what is called 32nd street that simulated three compartments on a ship, two on bottom and one on top. They put our crew in one of the bottom compartments and started flooding it like we had been hit at sea. I had what they called a Jubilee rubber patch, a clamp and a wrench and there was a pipe above my head that was cracked and leaking like the one in the picture below. My job was to get my patch on it and stop the leak while other guys were trying to stop water from coming in through a bulkhead using timbers, a mattress, and some plywood. Mike had a bucket, a patch and a long bolt and was supposed to cover up a hole near the bottom of a bulkhead. I got my patch on the pipe and was starting to tighten the clamp when I dropped my wrench. As I leaned over and was trying to find it in the water, I looked over at Mike and all I could see was his butt sticking up out of the water. I found my wrench and as I started to tighten the clamp again, I saw a little cut away window up high on one bulkhead and it was the instructors looking in on us. At the same time, I noticed steam rising up from the water and it wasn’t heated water they were flooding us with, it was our body heat that we were losing. I knew a little something about hyperthermia so I wasn’t scared, but I was a little concerned that it could affect someone before we all got out of there.

This whole exercise was not finished in just a few minutes, I think it lasted about 30 minutes. When we were done stopping all the leaks, we were now ready to get out of that compartment, but the only way out was up through the compartment above us. By this time the water level was just about 3 or 4 feet deep in our compartment and we were told to line up close together and be ready to reach out and grab the ladder to go up. What they didn’t tell us is that all this time the compartment above us had also been flooding. So, when that hatch at the top of that ladder was opened about three tons of water started coming down and adding to the water level we already had. When it came my turn, I reached out to grab the ladder and two guys grabbed me and pushed me up the ladder and I popped up out of that hatch like a cork and two other guys in the upper compartment grab me under the arms and threw me across the room out of the way. I don’t even remember touching that ladder, but boy was I glad this little training exercise was over. I think it took two days to warm up again. The crew went back to Bremerton, WA. and Mike and I went back to our other training classes and yes we continued to improve our golf game in the afternoons.

That brings back a few memories.

While I was waiting to go through Baby SWOS at Coronado Island, I was scheduled to go through the one week long Damage Control School and the one week Fire Fighting School while waiting for the class to start. I was an Ensign and every other person in my class was an E3 to E5.

Typically (back in the late 70s), they tried to schedule nothing but Ensigns together prior to SWOS, but somehow the Navy screwed up (again) and put me in as the lone officer in the class.

I took a seat in the last row of the classroom, my usual "alphabetically assigned location" and waited for class to start.

An HTC (E7 Hull Technician) walked in, started taking roll (alphabetic of course) and got to the last name (me), saw "ENSIGN" by my name and ask

"Sir, what are you doing here?"

"This is compartment the office told be go to, Chief."

"No, why are you in THIS class? Why weren't you in the class with all the other Ensigns last week?"

"Well, Chief, I guess the PTB wanted me to learn real damage control."

The chief and all the other enlisted men started hooting and laughing. When the class calmed down, the HTC asked

"Haven't you already been on a ship for awhile?"

"Yes, Chief. I got sent to the Denver (LPD-9) and deployed for 6 months right after commissioning and NOW I get to go to Damage Control School, Repair Locker Leader School and SWOS. Just assume an E1 in boot camp knows more than I do."

What they taught a bunch of snot-nosed Ensigns in the 2 day class before SWOS is watered way down compared to the 5 day class I got. I found that out when, while in SWOS, I had DCS and FFS training stories the others didn't.

David, When were you on the Connie? I was on her from February 1980 to June 1982, 2 WestPac/IO deployments. Electrical Division Officer and Computer Maintenance Officer. Repair Locker Leader in Repair 7A and 1A, then in Main Control as DCA's Assistant. The trip from the Bridge as OOD to Main Control for GQ was a bear. 09 level to 5th Deck in 3 minutes or less.

zzyzzogeton wrote: ↑Sat Mar 06, 2021 5:02 pm
David, When were you on the Connie? I was on her from February 1980 to June 1982, 2 WestPac/IO deployments. Electrical Division Officer and Computer Maintenance Officer. Repair Locker Leader in Repair 7A and 1A, then in Main Control as DCA's Assistant. The trip from the Bridge as OOD to Main Control for GQ was a bear. 09 level to 5th Deck in 3 minutes or less.

Check for a PM.

I have never had any training experiences but i can feel how real 'life or death' the situation becomes. Very good, and informative read.
Life for Canadians is quite different. Basic skill sets and quick problem solving are only taught to a select few. Most of us don't have a clue, especially in urban areas.
kj

Just read this story, David & ZZY. Man, did you bring back some awesome memories and experiences.

I remember VERY well the San Diego DC flooding course. During my total tenure in the Navy, I did the flooding course about 8 times...and enjoyed every one of them. I learned something new, not only about flooding DC, but about myself. I was in that lower section every time and used the cone plug & hammer to plug the hole in the bulkhead, and used the "K" shoring lumber & tools a bunch of times. One of the biggest lessoned learned by everyone was; if you completed 'your' task before others, DON'T stand around watching them...HELP THEM!

Fire fighting was another GREAT course I attended at least a dozen times. My experience from that course prepared me immensely for the 'real' deal onboard a ship. I was #1 OBA (oxygen breathing apparatus) man I don't know how many times. I have done the #1 hose and #2 hose numerous times. Those two positions will really get one's adrenaline going...and one has to 'learn' NOT to hyperventilate. I suppose I've held just about every position there is when it comes to damage control. I loved learning knew stuff, because I wanted to ensure I could do my part for the safety of the crew and in saving my ship.

Thanks for the reminiscing of the past...

LJ - Reading your post brought to mind a related but not Navy experience.

After I got off active duty, one of the first things I did was join the local Volunteer Fire Department. Spent 20+ years there before moving and spending another 10 at a different VFD.

2 or 3 years after I joined, we were fighting a huge grass fire out in the western end of our district. 1 hour round trip to get water.

This was in the day before the creation of RFPDs or ESDs (Rural Fire Protection District or Emergency Services District). RFPDs could have up to 3¢ per $100 valuation tax rat and ESD maxed out at 1¢ per $100.

We were so poor, we had to have door-to-door boot drives begging for money just to put gas in the trucks.

We had an OLD 3000 gallon tanker that was about 4th hand. As I pulled up into the staging area, our tanker sprang a leak and looked like a big cow taking a piss on a flat rock.

There were a bunch of "Fire Academy trained people standing around and they were acting like a bunch of idiots, wailing like it was the second coming and they had been left out.

I walked over to a brush truck, grabbed the fire axe out of the bed, walked over to cedar tree, cut a large limb off, made a plug, duck crawled under the truck and with 2 or 3 blow with the axe poll, stoping the leak.

When I crawled out, there were 10 or 12 "Academy Grads" staring in amazement.

They all asked pretty much the same question - "Where the hell did you learn that?"

"The real Fire Academy - US Navy Fire Fighting, Damage Control and Repair Locker Leader schools."

There were dozens of times my Navy training came in handy over my years in the fire departments. Usually in some non-standard situation never covered in "Academy" training.

zzyzzogeton wrote: ↑Wed Mar 17, 2021 10:45 pm LJ - Reading your post brought to mind a related but not Navy experience.

After I got off active duty, one of the first things I did was join the local Volunteer Fire Department. Spent 20+ years there before moving and spending another 10 at a different VFD.

2 or 3 years after I joined, we were fighting a huge grass fire out in the western end of our district. 1 hour round trip to get water.

This was in the day before the creation of RFPDs or ESDs (Rural Fire Protection District or Emergency Services District). RFPDs could have up to 3¢ per $100 valuation tax rat and ESD maxed out at 1¢ per $100.

We were so poor, we had to have door-to-door boot drives begging for money just to put gas in the trucks.

We had an OLD 3000 gallon tanker that was about 4th hand. As I pulled up into the staging area, our tanker sprang a leak and looked like a big cow taking a piss on a flat rock.

There were a bunch of "Fire Academy trained people standing around and they were acting like a bunch of idiots, wailing like it was the second coming and they had been left out.

I walked over to a brush truck, grabbed the fire axe out of the bed, walked over to cedar tree, cut a large limb off, made a plug, duck crawled under the truck and with 2 or 3 blow with the axe poll, stoping the leak.

When I crawled out, there were 10 or 12 "Academy Grads" staring in amazement.

They all asked pretty much the same question - "Where the hell did you learn that?"

"The real Fire Academy - US Navy Fire Fighting, Damage Control and Repair Locker Leader schools."

There were dozens of times my Navy training came in handy over my years in the fire departments. Usually in some non-standard situation never covered in "Academy" training.

GREAT story, ZZ. It's moments like that, that can become essential teaching moments for those who 'don't have a clue'...not because they were stupid, but just inexperienced and never being exposed to other simple methods of dealing with a situation. Even today, most of the younger generation do NOT know how to 'think outside the box' or even have critical thinking skills.