Why I do not do Cruise Ships (long post) When I was in the Marine Corps, I had been recently sent overseas to Okinawa for a 12 month tour (unaccompanied) when I was informed I would be the upcoming platoon sergeant for Headquarters Platoon for a detachment of 3d Combat Engineer Battalion. Headquarters included the 3 cooks, 4 corpsman, 4 MPs a CommElec tech, 2 Supplymen, 2 Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians and several others. I was also giving the tasks as Morale Welfare and Recreation NCO, Ammo Tech, Armory NCO besides my regular tasks as a Maintenance Management Chief. There would also be the task of the Duty Non Commissioned Officer which I would be assigned that came along with the unpleasant but necessary task of daily burning the shitters. Our destination would be Tinian, an Island 1400 miles from Okinawa in the Northern Marianas chain, 80 miles from Guam and 3 miles from Saipan. The 2d and 4th Marine Divisions took Tinian in August 1944 after securing Saipan. We had 40 pounds of C-4 explosive to blow up World War II ordnance, of which there was a lot of dangerous duds. Our “cruise” took 3 days to get to Tinian. We found out our “cruise ship” had a name of USS Schenectady LST-1185 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Schenectady_(LST-1185) and we spent a long day loading her with all of our engineer equipment (dozers, graders, dump trucks, trucks, jeeps, wreckers, trailers, shower unit, water buffalo’s etc). I ruined a pair of camo trousers dogging and chaining all the equipment to the tank deck so it wouldn’t go through the bulkhead in some stormy weather. Somehow I was one of the last to get a bunk in the “deluxe” berthing compartment. The bunks were 4 high and you had inches of space from your face to the guy above you. It was that cramped. On top of that we were informed there would be water rationing (navy showers). Since it took us so long to load we took off the next morning. If you’ve never had a military breakfast, well to say the least it’s greasy and it was slick exiting the galley to the scullery and the main deck. After breakfast we got underway while we were having a formation on the front turntable. Being Platoon Sergeant and being out front of my men I did not see them. What I did see as I gave my short morning report (All present and accounted for) was Marines turning green from seasickness as the ship started hitting swells. LSTs by the way were flat bottomed so they could beach themselves but were hell in rough seas. I took a look behind me when all the platoon sergeants reported and we were given the word “At Ease”. What I saw was half of my platoon suffering the effects of seasickness and I was glad I had eaten a light breakfast as I began to feel the twangs in my stomach. We then turned to cleaning our quarters as some Navy brass complained about our slovenly ways. This did not help those suffering and there were more mishaps and messes to clean up. Finally we got word to secure field day and we all scrambled to get some fresh air on our faces on whatever deck would could find. Our vessel we found out normally did 12-16 knots hence its nickname Large Slow Target. The “Skinny T” was a nice ship and we started finding our way to the engine room, the galley, the ships store and where Officers and Chiefs Country was. There was the inevitable Man Overboard and General Quarters drills which meant all Marines reported to their berthing areas to be accounted for. I spent quite a bit of time on the top deck or weather deck soaking up the sun. Later on we would find a card game. It was amazing we found several from Michigan who knew how to play Euchre, we found a couple of Marines from northern Ohio and Indiana and drafted a couple from New York and taught them so we could have 3 tables going and teams rotating. Besides eating, sleeping, looking at miles and miles of empty ocean looking for flying fish or whales, knowing there was a submarine under you more than likely, or the other described activities… there was basically nothing to do for 3 days. After 80 or so days of burning shitters, building several firing ranges, hauling coral to make berms and blowing up World War 2 ordnance we loaded our equipment on another LST this time the USS Fresno LST-1182. Three days back to Okinawa and more civilization we had seen in some time. It was the same type of ship and design so we had fewer problems. But I still managed to almost dislocate my kneecap daily from entering and exiting hatches. That is why I do not do cruise ships.
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 03:37:38 +0000
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