Back in the day, many moons ago, approximately the early fifties, the USS Duncan was tied up in a nest with the USS Stickel, Isabel, and the Brinkley Bass in Sasebo Japan loading supplies. The crew as usual went on the beach rearing and anxious to squeeze out as much of their short liberty as possible since they weren’t allowed overnight liberty in occupied Japan. The next morning as all four destroyers were to leave port for Korea, they were all blown away by a stunt that some crew members had pulled.
It appeared someone, probably with a snoot full of Nippon beer, got a water taxi to tie up stern of the Brinkley Bass. With a can of haze grey paint and some handy old brushes, they proceeded to paint over the letter "B" on both the first and last names of the ship. Thus when she put to sea the next morning she steamed out proudly as the USS Rinkley Ass.
The crew of the Bass was blamed for this and received liberty restrictions on their next visit. I don't know who did it but my suspicions tell me it wasn’t any of the crew onboard the Bass. From there forth, her Skipper would assign an armed sentry to guard her stern to prevent nautical naughtiness from happening again
"These things must be done delicately-- or you hurt the spell." - The Wicked Witch of the West.
"We've got the torpedo damage temporarily shored up, the fires out and soon will have the ship back on an even keel. But I would suggest, sir, that if you have to take any more torpedoes, you take 'em on the starboard side." Pops Healy, DCA USS Lexington.
Topic: Sailors! (Read 2636 times)