h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

hiya i'm jason 27 male bristol U.K

I was just going down the list and saw your name, cos i'm into wolfs and saw you was a 20 year navy vet. I bet you got some stories to tell, was you stationed at Pearl or aboard a carrier or destroyer.

me really interested about the us forces, hope to chat with you soon

Jason

Hey there Jason. My name is John and I'm here in Texas, USA. Yea, I probably could tell a lot of stories...if I could just remember them. Killed a few brain cells during my time!

I do remember being on deployment and conducting exercises with the Royal Navy. A couple of lucky stiffs actually got to spend a few days on their ship as part of a cultural exchange program, if you will.

My first duty station was on Guam, then San Diego, then I made it to Pearl Harbor where I was stationed on a fast frigate. That's where I made most all of my deployments.

If you have specific questions I'd be more than happy to answer them.

Good talking to you.

John

ok john nice to meet you

ok, heres my questions, cos i'm interested in all this. did you spend any time aboard subs, Whats it like working at Pearl, have you been in any war, what is a fast friget

hope to chat with you soon

Jason

I didn't serve aboard subs, I was strictly a surface navy guy. But I have been aboard them. My last tour was in Norfolk, Virginia at a maintenance facility. I ran a crew of about 20 surface people and 15 sub people and our job was to make repairs to the vessels when they returned to port. As such, I frequently was on board subs ensuring the proper repairs were being made.

In Pearl Harbor they have a WWII submarine there available for tours. I really feel for those that served onboard those vessels as they were extremely cramped and tight. The modern day sub, when compared to the older types, are almost like palaces. Make no mistake, it's still cramped, but not nearly as much.

I've never seen any combat if that's what you're referring to. When Gulf War I was going on, I was in school in San Diego. Prior to that, in 1988-89, when Iran was acting up, I made a cruise to the Gulf of Oman, where we did circles in the ocean. The idea was to protect the Straits of Hormuz from any enemy subs getting through.

And that brings me to the USS Rathburne (FF-1057), the ship I was on from 1987-89. Her mission was to be a picket ship within a battle group and hunt for subs. Here is some info:

General Characteristics:
Keel laid: January 8, 1968
Launched: May 2, 1969
Commissioned: May 16, 1970
Decommissioned: February 14, 1992
Stricken from the Navy List on January 11, 1995
Sunk as a target during RIMPAC 2002 on July 5, 2002.
Builder: Lockheed Shipbuilding & Construction Co., Seattle, Wash.
Propulsion system: 2 - 1200 psi boilers; 1 geared turbine, 1 shaft; 35,000 shaft horsepower
Length: 438 feet (133.5 meters)
Beam: 47 feet (14.4 meters)
Draft: 25 feet (7.6 meters)
Displacement: approx. 4,200 tons full load
Speed: 27 knots
Armament: one Mk-16 missile launcher for ASROC and Harpoon missiles, one Mk-42 5-inch/54 caliber gun, one 20mm Phalanx CIWS, Mk-46 torpedoes from single tube launchers
Aircraft: one SH-2F (LAMPS I) helicopter
Crew: 18 officers, 267 enlisted

Here's a site you can go to to see pictures of the actual ship and also of the sinking:

http://navysite.de/ff/ff1057.htm

hiya john i've always wanted to be a pilot for the usaf. but they won't have me will they cos i'm british. do they let british pilots join the usaf m8, cos i don't fancy raf the planes well their crap compaired to the usaf, i mean the only thing we got going for us is the f4 tornado, and the usaf have f14, f15, f16, f18, f22, f117 and the ussr have mig-27, mig-29, mig-31, su34, su35. Why our we the only country to have crap planes lol.

did you spend time on a carrier where they do takeoff and landings,

jason

I haven't physically been on a carrier while they were launching and recovering, but aside from TV and the movies, I watched them from the deck of my ship a couple of times. Of course we were fairly far away, but you could still see them on the deck. Having known a couple of people who served on a carrier I'm guessing that one wouldn't be able to stand on the flight deck and watch the proceedings because it's too dangerous. And I know that the Captain and the Air Boss wouldn't want sightseers on the bridge. So I don't know that aside from actually being a part of the flight crew, a person wouldn't be able to see them do their take-offs and landings.

As for a British person becoming a member of the American military, I don't really know. I suspect that you might be able to join but would have to take either an oath of allegiance or sign some other mountain of paperwork. I base that on the fact that we had some Mexican immigrants (not citizens) that served over in Iraq recently. There was a big hullaboo about it when one of them was KIA. His family and others wanted the President to posthumously award him citizenship for serving the country. The last I heard was that the government was seriously concidering it.

You could probably find out by going to:

http://www.military.com/Page/0,12170,1-OO-0,00.htm?loc=T

where they have a section about joining the military. I think they have a page where you can ask questions via email. Try www.about.com also.