My First Ship as a Naval Officer

After receiving my commission as an officer in the US Navy in 1958, I went home to Mobile, Alabama for leave and then off to San Diego where my soon to be ship was homeported. My first assignment as an Ensign in the US Navy was to the USS Southerland (DDR 743) which was undergoing extensive repairs. My job was to be the Main Propulsion Assistant (MPA) within the Engineering Department and months later the CIC officer with the collateral duty of Recreation Officer. My boss, the engineering officer was smart, industrious and respected. I was lucky to work for him. As recreation officer, I worked directly for the executive officer who was “firm, friendly and fair”. You always knew what to expect from him which is a virtue I rarely saw in recent bosses. When the ship was in port I had duties as the Officer of the Deck and when at sea Junior Officer of the Deck and CIC officer. The CIC officer or combat information control officer with his radarmen tracked air and surface contacts and determined the ship’s position with radar or dead reckoning. In all cases I was busy, plus I was still learning the details of the propulsion plant – mainly the boilers and turbines.

On the social side, I didn’t know anyone in the San Diego area, had no car (“he who walks, walks alone&rdquo and earned $222 per month. I didn’t have a lot of money to spend. Eventually, the communications officer and I became friends – going to the bars and officer’s clubs seeking, what else, but female companionship. There was no shortage of females, but there was a significant shortage of money. I played a little golf just to get off the ship on the weekends. If I had the weekend duty and had to stay onboard ship, the other duty officers and I entertained ourselves by having a movie marathon – in short continuous movies from after lunch until you could stand no more. We didn’t have a TV, but we did have a stereo tape player. My Fair Lady was popular at the time and was the wardroom favorite. Living on the ship costs hardly anything; the boarding was free and I paid only $30 per month for food. It’s just when you left the ship the monthly $222 rapidly disappeared.

After the repairs to the ship were done, we started preparing for a deployment to the Western Pacific. I was looking forward to the deployment – it sounded and indeed turned out to be exciting and worthwhile. The ship and crew went through the normal inspections and training and were soon ready to deploy. The ship stopped by Hawaii for fuel on our way to join the 7^th fleet. An incident in a night club in Hawaii I found particularly humorous – one of our officers pinched our cocktail waitress and she turned around and slapped the wrong officer. We got a laugh out of that – I guess you have to be there! After leaving Hawaii and several days at sea we arrived at Yokosuka, Japan. We loaded   food, supplies and fuel in preparation for joining the carrier task force. While in Yokosuka a friend and I took a train to Tokyo where we saw a Takaraska show. It’s similar to a Broadway production except more colorful and of course with a Japanese flavor – similar to Kabuki, but with girls instead of all male performers. Takaraska girls we involved in the movie Sayonara starring Marlon Brando. The show was impressive. The Japanese trains are a little tricky – you have to stay alert and know where you are going. Two sailors left Yokosuka for Tokyo and they didn’t get off at the correct stop. They ended with a round trip back to Yokosuka without seeing Tokyo.

After several days, the ship departed Yokosuka and joined the carrier and her other support ships. There our ship would be assigned a part of the anti-submarine screen or life guard ship stationed just behind the carrier. From life guard station we would pick up any downed pilots that landed in the sea.  Fortunately, we never had to pick up anyone. As the Southerland had a unique height finding radar it would sometimes be assigned outside the screen as a radar picket ship for purposes of extending the range of the radar air search. The officer duty watches at sea were four hours on duty and eight hours off. If the operations became particularly intense the watches in the Combat Control Center would be six hours on, six hours off.  The six hour watches were particularly grueling. There was a lot going on when you were operating with the carrier; you had to be constantly alert to signals, maneuvers and so on. Sometimes the force would go silent – no voice communications, no radar, no ship lights. Our maneuvers and turns would be carried out by signal lights or flags. A carrier almost ran into us during a turn. They turned, we didn’t. We had missed a flashing light signal. If it had hit us we would have sunk for certain. The carrier was more than ten times as large as the Southerland. The problem with the communications was straightened out promptly.

Sometimes when we weren’t working with the carrier force we would patrol between mainland China and Taiwan. We would make reports of any unusual activity that might lead to further problems between the two Chinas. It seemed the weather was always rough in the Taiwan Straits. The bridge where I stood my watches wasn’t fully enclosed so the sea and rain drenched the lookouts and the officers of the deck. After watch we took our heavy weather clothing to the fire room for drying out before the next watch. While trying to sleep, the ship was rolling and pitching so much one had to hold onto the bed or a built in bar similar to those use for hospital beds to keep you from being tossed onto the deck. You could hear the ship’s expansion joints creaking as the ship was tossed about. On one patrol a lifeboat was washed over the side of the ship we also had a small waterspout in the bilges in the forward fire room. If I’d had more sense I’d been concerned, but I was in my early twenties and thought it all very exciting. All in all, for a ship of the WWII era she held up beautifully. After a patrol the ship would usually spend some time in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.  At that time it was not the most attractive town, but provided a nice place to rest. It was said that you could actually smell the town before you could see it. I remember having shore patrol duty there and having to break up a fight among several sailors. The executive officer heard what I had done and later gave me a “well done”. That made my day. I played on the ship’s basketball team so most of the sailors involved knew me. Being reasonably respected may have helped me stop the fight – it could have worked out a lot worse.

I bought some books in Kaohsiung only later to find out that the vender had violated copyright laws and just reprinted the books. I wondered why they were so cheap. An interesting incident occurred when a couple of sailors from my division brought a monkey onboard. How they got it passed the Officer of the Deck is a mystery. I first discovered the monkey when I saw it swinging among the pipes in the engine room. It was engineering pet until the executive officer found out about it and ordered me to get ride of it. The sailors put the monkey ashore – at least they didn’t throw it overboard which was an unpleasant option, particularly for the monkey.

Besides going to Yokosuka and Kaohsiung the ship went to Sasebo, Japan and Hong Kong. Sasebo was a favorite, not too many Americans around or bars and call girls that cater to American military. It was just a nice hospitable seaport. A group of us had dinner at a restaurant, located on a hilltop overlooking the sea. The night lights glistening off the sea provided an unforgettable sight.  We sat Japanese style on the floor, enjoyed the attention the host provided, the food and the Saki. Life is good.

Hong Kong was a great port as well. Beautiful scenery, delicious food, and great bargains in jewelry were all to be enjoyed. One thing that impressed me was how well the middle class Chinese dressed – they were sharp. It inspired me to buy a tailor made suit and hand crafted shoes. Amazingly, it was done within 48 hours. During our stay, a couple of officers and I caught the ferry to Kowloon on the Chinese mainland. We only had dinner and drinks – I did hear there was some high stakes gambling in the area, but that’s not my cup of tea. I’ve been to Hong Kong several times since then – I’d like to visit again, if nothing else, to see what it’s like since the Chinese communist took possession.

Nearing the end of our six month deployment, the opportunity to stop at Australia on the way home came up. All the bachelors were enthusiastic because they had heard how attractive the Australian girls were. Unfortunately, the Captain and Executive Officer were married and wanted to see their families as soon as possible. The bachelors were overruled. We headed back to San Diego via Hawaii. We had done a good job meeting all our commitments in a fine fashion.

It was great to be back in San Diego and the good ole USA. Homecomings after months away are fantastic. Several months later I received orders to report to a brand new destroyer to serve as CIC and Communications Officer. I must have done something right on the Southerland to receive such a great assignment.