Home Page

Letters, we get letters. . .

A quick update for the history page.. Westpac '80 dates are Jan 11, 1980-June 12 1980 (including 4 days towing the "Br-Okinawa").. There was no '79 westpac, Gridley came out of the yards in early '79 and did exercises and work up 'till the Jan 80 departure.. The ports for the '80 Westpac were - Pearl - Yokosuka - Subic - Pattaya Beach, Thailand - Singapore - Mogadiscio, Somalia - Mombasa, Kenya - Perth, Australia - Subic - Guam - Pearl.. The task for the '80 cruise was to protect and escort the amphibious ready group which was there to support the (failed) hostage rescue attempt.. Don Morrison

Editor's Note: Some of us would have a hard time imagining GRIDLEY towing an aircraft carrier but the proof is here.

Just found the web page while looking at several other Navy pages. Reported aboard the USS Gridley on 07Feb68 and left the ship when she went into Bath, Maine for the conversion, left ship on 10Sep68. First went into the "Deck Crew" were now Senator Kerry as a Ltjg oversaw the operations. I do remember a "Chief" that really ran the show, but unable to remember his name. Will have to look it up in my "Cruise Book" later - book at my parents. Made YN3 on 15Jul68 while on the Gridley. My memory is some what foggy, but remember crossing the Equator and becoming a Shellback in route to New Zealand. Remember that Captain Harper (sp) was also initiated and led the pog line along the deck. Remember launching missles at boggies coming out from N. Nam, but only three missles made it and the paperwork that was required to answer why the fourth did not. Remember Wellington, New Zealand and the great fun, drink and ladies. Anyway, now that I have "bookmarked" this webpage, I will return soon. Got out of active duty in late 1969, stayed in Reserves for another six years, then quit. Got back into the Navy Reserves in the Seabees seven years ago, and just this year made Equipment Operator Chief. Anyway, email, or write.Richard BurdetteP.O. Box 245Grayland, Washington 98547cpoburdette@techline.com

Editors Note: If I had known I could beat Captain Harper's butt I would have extended for the rest of the cruise and not gone home from Subic in May.

I visited "Ensign" Kerry when I was in Washington once. We had stood many a mid-watch together. The now "Senator" Kerry didn't really have a clue who I was but was very hospitable. Introduced me to Ted Kennedy and we had a brief encounter with VP Al Gore. I didn't tell anyone I was a Republican!

My name is Tim Draughon, I served on the Gridley from Dec.77 until Aug.81 in deck division. I was a second class when I got off active duty, and ended up in the reserves a month later. Of all the years and all the ships and units I have served with, my fondiest years are the ones I spent on the "The Worlds Greatest Cruiser".

I remember Rieley and Springer and a few other names I have seen on other web sites. The only one I ever stayed in contact with is BM3 Steve Rose form Missouri, just spoke with him last night.

I made the West-Pac in 80, and boy do I remember the rough weather, unfortunately the bridge had to be manned no matter how bad things got. I would love to talk to some of my old shipmates that I served during the late 70's and early 80's. I need to make a correction to one of the pictures on the web site, we did not to the Iwo but the Okinowa, anyone who was there will remember Mr Watabayashi sitting on the 01 level aft standing the gonzo watch, I can't recall anyone with that much time left to go with that poor an outlook.

I am trying to find a deckape that served during my years named Tim Addams, not sure if it's one or two D's. Last I heard he left for OS A school I missed him in the PI he was on the Midway moored in front of us for one night and never heard from him again. I wish everyone fair winds and following seas.

From Peter WIlliams

Thank you for the site on the USS Gridley.

My Dad (Hersey Williams) was a senior chief on the ship during the mid-1960s. I've learned a lot of things that he never told me.

Phil, my name is Dave Springer. I was an FTM2 on Gridley from 77-80. I just sent Keith my roster info. I work here at NSWC Port Hueneme CA with at least three ex-Gridleyites. I can give you some info on my period onboard.

I reported aboard from SPG-55 Mod 8 (Terrier Fire Control Radar)school at Mare Island in Nov. 77. The first thing we did was go to Acapulco Mexico for 5 days of fun in the sun. Then in Jan 78 we went to LBNSY for overhaul, during which the 55's were upgraded to Mod 8. I spent 5 weeks at the Sperry plant in Long Island doing what was called factory acceptance testing on our systems. Several of the FTMs were rotated there during that period. We left the yards in Mar. 79 and did workups in SoCal. We deployed for WestPac in Jan '80 and returned July 80. Stopped in Pearl Harbor for several days, then headed to Subic. I think it was during that transit that we weathered a hell of a storm for several days. No hot food, and no normal work routine. Just stay in your rack or whatever to keep from getting too beat up. We were in company with several FF 1052 frigates, and they were taking water over the entire mast structure. They lost ship's boats and radar antennas big time.

We were part of the escort for a Marine amphibious group. As such, we spent a lot of time in the Indian Ocean (not sure about dates). This was during the Iranian hostage situation, and we saw lots of Soviet ships (both intelligence and war ships), and had a number of Bear aircraft overflights, some of them pretty low. Our contribution to the failed hostage rescue attempt was to go the opposite way of the Nimitz (I think that was the ship they launched from) to pull the Soviet IG ships away.

After 50+ days underway in the IO our first port visit was, of all places, Somalia. Moslem country, no alcohol. Very popular stop (not). Seems the U.S. was trying to kiss and make up with them in order to get access to the port and airport facilities built by the Russian, who had recently been kicked out. We were the first American ship to visit there in a long time. The American embassy held a 3 day pool party (with beer!!) and that's where we spent most of our time.

Next stop was Kenya, nothing special to remember it by. Then we went to Perth Australia which was a 5 day party as trips to Australia usually are. Then I think we headed home by way of Pearl Harbor. Please info me on all Gridley related email. Also, I have some WestPac 80 pictures I will forward. Don't want the pre-Zumwalt guys to get all the glory. We youngsters knew how to party too. Thanks

V/R Dave Springer

Thanks Dave, this is the kind of info we need to flesh out the history of GRIDLEY. Don't worry, we won't think all you post-Zumwalt guys are wussies, but we need the photo proof first!

Springer then

Now

Springer and his kids. We decided to put this in even though his son had the poor taste to become a jarhead. (only kidding Dave)

Phil, Are you the white haired dude that was at the Gridley decom with Proud?

Larry (Flick) Flickinger FTMSN/ FTM3
Gridley (Oct 64- Apr 67)

Guilty dude! You still surfing too Flick?

Keith, Phil & Ted

Great job on the Gridley webpage. I wish someone would do the same for my old home....USS Belknap DLG 26/CG 26. Ted Hetherington and I were/are still great buddies from the '68 Nam cruise. He was on the Gridley and forwarded the page to me. Again, great job.

Jeff Sand GMG2 USN '66-'70

Kevin Reilly (FTM2) Kevin.Reilly@inrange.com writes:

I served onboard the "World's Greatest Cruiser" from April 1979 to July 1983. I made two trips to San Diego to see the Gridley decommissioned (in December 1993 and January 21 1994), and I would travel anywhere from my home near Denver to attend a reunion of the USS Gridley CG-21. Wild horses could not stop me from going to the Decommissioning and Wild Horses will not be able to stop me from going to a reunion of my shipmates! I still keep my copy of the Decommissioning brochure in a safe deposit box. Seeing MY ship with her masts cut off broke my heart. As well as the seeing that She was to be scraped with MY 55B's still onboard tore out by broken heart. I guess that I hurt my pride that MY radars did not warrant special attention. When I parked my rental car for the Decommissioning, I ran into CW04 Bullock, who was in my division on the Gridley and who is the reason that I did not re-enlist As I left the Navy some eleven and half years earlier, the past was just water under the bridge. I kept up with Mr. Bullock for a while after that (Christmas cards) but eventually let the contact die. Like I said, Mr. Bullock and I were not friends. Me and Mr. Bullock is a story for another day.

I see that Dave Springer contributed pictures to the Gridley's web page. I served onboard during the same time as Dave, and I have tons photos of that same era. And I recognized several of the people in Dave's pictures. I don't think that I will be able to sleep to night from all the memories. Though none of my pictures have been converted into jpeg's, if you want to use any of them I will scan them and provide them. I have been itching for an excuse to get a scanner and scan my photo album. You could say that I was a shutter bug in those days. I contributed to the 81-82 cruse book. Just look for the misspelled Helo.

The Aft 55 Radar room was my home for over four years. I ended up being the Aft Battery Supervisor. Dave Springer worked in the Forward 55 Radar room. I am currently looking for Jim Lanham, a friend of mine who worked with Dave. I am sad to admit that I lost contact with my shipmates within the first year after getting out of the Navy in July of 1983. My chief was standing on the Quarter Deck when I walked off it for the last time. (I forget his name.) He told me that I would be back. Well my chief was wrong and he was right. Wrong because I did not go back, except to see the Gridley decommissioned. Right because I should not have left the Gridley and the Navy. My Navy training has bought me a high paying career and with it a very good living. But something has beenmissing and by the time that I would admit it to myself, it was too late to go back. Enough crying over spilt milk.

True stories from a small world: I have run into three of my shipmates from the Gridley over the past 17 years.

The first time that I ran into a shipmate was in my first six months after leaving the Gridley. I don't remember his name (his rank was DS1). I ran into him at the Norfolk Naval Base where we were both Field Engineers working for different Navy contractors. I left that job soon after for a Field Engineering position with Storage Technology in Denver and I never saw him again.

The second time that I ran into a shipmate was in Denver. It was my first or second Christmas Day in Denver. I was employed as a Field Engineer for Storage Technology and my customer had put in a service call. (I almost always end up working on holidays.) It was midnight, and I had just stepped into my customer supplied office to grab a spare part, and he waked by the door. I know his name, and if I were to think about it long enough, it would come to me. He was one of the Gunner's Mates in the Aft Missile House. On the Gridley we walked in different circles and we were never friends. He got himself fired soon after and I never saw him again.

The third and last time that I ran into a shipmate was in December of 1993. I had come to San Diego to visit the Gridley the month before she was to be Decommissioned. I was driving around Ocean Beach trying to find my old haunts, and out of the corner of my eye I saw a car go out of control on a side street. I went back to see if I could help. But I was not needed. While I waited around to give my report to the police, I keep thinking that one of the other witnesses looked familiar. And sure enough, I not only knew him from the Gridley, and not only was he was from my Fox Division, he was the guy who had the bunk next to me for a couple of years! He was the 48 Radar technician. I could shoot myself as I did not get his address.

Running into Mr. Bullock did not count as a small would as one would expect to run into shipmates at a time like that. Sorry to take up so much of your time reminiscing. If you are able to find enough Grildey'ites for a reunion, let me know. I will be there.

Haze Gray and Under Way,

From David P. Broich, Miller Place, long Island, NY 11764

Saw your site and I'm very impressed. Bring back a lot of memories. I'd like to reintroduce myself to you.

David P. Broich (MT3 converted to FTM3). I am a "plank owner" of the USS Gridley DLG-21. I served on board until just after returning to Long Beach in November, 1964. I was assigned to the after missile house.

After returning to Long Beach I was transferred to the USS England DLG-22 for a short while. I served for 4-years & 4-months (was involuntarily extended four months).

A few recollection points may be of interest to you & your site.

1. Degaussing in San Diego (wrapping cables around the ship).

2. If you recall the Ship's first WestPac deployment, lumber for the pollywogs initiation pool was stored in the after missile house for safe keeping.

* I was responsible for nailing the lumber into one big log in the aft missile house. The two-man rule with a sentry access log gave me away. Well, I was made a "special case" during the initiation. King Neptune (Capt. Lilly) and his Shell-Back henchmen blistered my rear (one on each side of me) while kneeling in front of him. I vividly remember not sitting for several days afterward.

* I also remember a young pretty-boy Lt.Jg declaring "I won't let them cut my hair". Well, just prior to the pool dunking they did cut his hair. He fought like a lunatic until Capt. Lilly looked down and ordered him "in hack". I believe he missed all of Australia liberty.

* A scary situation occurred when the ship was blown away from the swimmers during the swim-call just prior to the initiation. Remember the swimmers were almost out of sight by the time the ship was able to respond to rescue them.

* The kangaroo mascot we kept after the Australia visit. How it died of gang-green after a botched rubber-band castration attempt.

* The baby duck I bought 25 centavos while on liberty in Subic Bay. We actually kept it alive and happy near the after gun shack for several weeks. The crew, including the skipper, used to be entertained by it in the evenings while on Yankee Station. It hurts to say Yankee today because I'm a Met fan and the Yankees won the series last night. I actually went to the only game the Mets won (4:2) on Tuesday night.

* Mention of our ship's activity was made during the Gulf of Libya situation several years ago. They said at the time that the "last time a US war ship passed though contentious waters was in 1964 through the Straits of Indonesia". Wasn't that the USS GRIDLEY DLG-21 ? We were at Condition-3 all that time.

* I used to sail the small sailboat the crew had. I had no problem passing the usage test because the young officer who was responsible for those tests used to a sailing instructor in the Great South Bay of Long Island and he knew my father's schooner. Subic Bay was safe for sailing & I had a ball. Remember we auctioned off the sailboat just prior to returning to Long Beach and how it was destroyed in the storm we hit a night or two before reaching port. Funny how you remember these incidents. The boat WAS close to me though because I used it so much.

* I was the third baseman for the Ship's softball team. We played all over the WestPac ports. We even played the Australians.

* Several scary incidents come to mind.

* When a diver surfaced by the fantail while in Hong Kong Harbor one night.

* When one of the crew shot himself the first day in Australia.

* When a strut bearing on one of the screws broke loose while on Yankee Station causing the ship to have to return to Subic for repairs.

* When we had missiles on the launcher and the launcher assigned while at GQ on Yankee Station.

* When Gunners Mate 1st Class Danner hit me over the head with a San Migel beer bottle at the club in Subic.

At any rate, it was fun to reminisce.

Warmest Regards,

David P. Broich

Brent Curtis sends us an incredible tale of GRIDLEY during the 69-71 period.

I seem to have been on the Gridley during a time when there's not much history for that period. Well we were a strange bunch. After Gridley went to Bath, Maine for overhaul, we picked her up there and sailed to Norfolk. 90% of the crew had never been to sea and most were leaning over the rail before we even got out into the ocean.

I remember when we left Norfolk we ran over a buoy and had to have the Coast Guard tow us back to the dock and try again the next day. We went from there to the Panama Canal, stopped at Panama City for half a day and then up to Long Beach.

Went into the yards at Long Beach for several months, went on sea trials and then WesPac. We spent Christmas day in Subic and the next two weeks getting shots in sick bay. We spent our time on NorSAR and Sasabo, Japan. When we first got there tho, we did spend about a month sitting off of North Korea doing electronic spying. Then off to NorSAR. We hit Hong Kong a couple times and Subic on the way back.

Guam on the way over where we were asked to leave and not come back. They opened the EM club for us while we refueled and we went a little overboard. Seems like I remember armed guards on the pier when we stopped to refuel on the way home. I remembered I volunteered to go get mail so I could get off the ship.

I also remember when we got to Pearl, we had a change of command and we were supposed to have a missile shoot just before we got back to Long Beach. The forward 55B radar was not working and we needed a new bull ring which would require going into the yard for major work. The new Captain decided not to let us (Fox Division) off the ship at Pearl until all radars were up. That didn't go over so well.

When we got back to Long Beach, I got off the ship and a few months later got a medical.

We were a good crew, but it was a strange time. It was a hard time to be in the service. Civilians thought everyone was at My Lai. They didn't really know how it all worked. I know the Gridley went on another WesPac. Not sure if she did another after that. Then I heard She was home ported in San Diego and then put out to pasture. I don't believe she ever make it to the East Coast again.

You may not know it, but Gridley was the site of the Navy's first non-tactical computer system situated onboard a combatant vessel. DPC Roland Pharr was stationed onboard Gridley to tend the system. I found out about the computer and started working with Chief Pharr after hours (I was a poor-excuse-of-an-ET at the time). I did manage to change my rating to DP after several months.

The computer was part of a project to evaluate the use of mini- computers onboard combatant ships. The sponsoring command was the Navy Personnel Research and Development Center (NPRDC) at Pt. Loma. The original system was a Data General NOVA 1200, but was replaced by a DEC PDP-11/60 system while the ship was in the yards in Long Beach. (OH... that 11/60 had two 6MB disk drives, each costing about $30,000... the entire system cost over $100,000. The average PC today could've run rings around that DEC...)

The original use of the computer was to provide Damage Control Training, but evolved into many other aspects. We established a ship's personnel roster among other things. Certainly we had a hard time getting people to initially use this new-fangled thing, but after awhile, they couldn't live without it. The computer center was put into an existing EW shack, the highest working space on the ship. Lots of people probably remember climbing up to that room to take tests (had to go outside to get to it!). It was right behind one of the forward -55 Fire Control Radars.

I don't know what happened to the system after I left the Navy. Actually, I was onboard Gridley as a civilian when it deployed to

WESPAC in January 1980, training my replacement. I finally left the ship for good when we got to Hawaii (after towing the Okinawa for awhile). I sometimes wonder what happened after that?

Ray Haas ET/DP

I can answer the questions about this computer system. I reported aboard Gridley in June of '81. At the time EWC Raper was running the system, and I was tasked to replace him.

During the yard period following the 81-82 WestPac, the system was removed from the ship and installed into a motor home. If I remember correctly, it never went back aboard, it was replaced by a SNAPII system. As near as I recall, Gridley was the first non- FFG to get SNAPII. The SNAP system was installed in the old OE cal lab back near the after CPO quarters.
Hope this helps.

Terry Roberts ET 81-84