Ever hear the terminology TIN CAN SAILOR?. No one but a Navy Bluejacket would really know it. Im not sure even todays Bluejackets really understand it, refers to those sailors of the Destroyer Force! Navy Destroyers were once called Tin Cans, because they were lightweight gun platforms, fast & maneuverable, but had about as much armor protection as a Tin Can! Also, that during WWII there was a constant need for recycling metals, and sailors of that era often remarked that the Destroyer was mostly recycled Tin Cans. This was actually probably some truth given all the recycling of metal that was done! the photos are of the last WWII Gearing Class Destroyer(this one the USS K. D. Bailey Destroyer Radar Pickett/DDR-713), todays Arleigh Burk Class(actually classed as Destroyer Guided Missle/ DDG-51), and the Newest Navy Zumwalt Class (Destroyer/DD1000) TIN CAN SAILOR Theres a roll and a pitch, a heave and a pitch To the nautical gait they take, For theyre used to the cant of the quarterdecks slant As the white toothed combers break On the plates that hum like a beaten drum To the thrill of the turbins might, As the knife bow leaps through the foamy deep With the speed of a shell in flight. Oh, their scorn is deep for the crews who keep To the battleships steady floor For they love the lurch of their own frail perch At thirty five knots or more. They dont get much of the drill and such That the battleship sailors do For they sail the seas in dungarees A grey destroyers crew. They need not climb at their sleeping time To a hammock that sways and bumps For they leap kerplunk into a cozy bunk That quivers and bucks and jumps. They hear the sound of the seas that pound On the half inch plates of steel And they close their eyes to the lullabies Of the creaking sides and keel. Theyre a lusty crowd thats vastly proud Of the slim grey craft they drive Of the roaring flues and the humming screws Which make her a thing alive. They love the lunge of her surging plunge And the murk of her smokescreen too. As they sail the seas in their dungarees A grey destroyers crew.
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 05:51:05 +0000
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