There were 300 men on board our ship but only the Captain, the Executive Officer and three lieutenants were authorized to "drive" the ship. The qualification was called "Officer of the Deck for Fleet Steaming" which meant that under any and all situations these five officers could be in total command of the ship... day and night (actually, the Captain ultimately was in command but when he wasn't on the bridge, we acted on his behalf). I was one of those three lieutenants.The Strong was operating with the U.S.S. Saratoga (CVA-60):
It was night and we were in a formation (a screen) like this protecting the carrier (the "bird farm") from attack... attack from enemy submarines and aircraft.
Actually the ships were more spread out than shown above... Strong was 2000 yards (1 nautical mile) on the port beam of the "Sara." It was night and VERY dark, we were at "darken ship" (NO lights showing on the outside of the ships) and we were at "EMCON" (no radio transmissions and NO radar which we would normally use to track where all the ships were in the formation).I was awakened at 0330 (3:30 AM) to relieve Lt Ed Wicklander on the bridge (to take over as the Officer of the Deck). When you relieve the watch, the off-going officer updates the on-coming officer about everything that's going on so the new officer can "relieve the watch" and take over control of the ship (when you relieve the other officer, you announce to everyone on the bridge in a loud voice, "this is Mr. Mauldin and I have the DECK"... everyone on the bridge acknowledges this by saying together, "Aye, Mr. Mauldin has the deck"). This is what the formation looked like when I relieved the watch at 0345.
Well, I relieved Ed but he neglected to tell me that at 0400 (4:00 AM) without signal (remember NO radio transmissions) that the entire formation was turning 90 degrees to starboard (right). As time passed I instinctively knew that something was wrong (Holy Spirit). It was VERY dark... I could no longer see the silhouette of the carrier like I could when I took over the watch. I was getting VERY nervous so I called down to the "Combat Information Center" where most of the radars were located and asked the lead Radarman, "Where's the carrier!?" He replied, "We don't know, sir... all the radars are off because of EMCON."I immediately said back to them, "I know we're not supposed to use radar during this training session, but on my mark, I want you to turn the radar on for ONE sweep."
I put my head in the rubber boot on the bridge's radar scope and said, "Stand by... MARK!" At that moment, the radarmen turned the radar on for one sweep and I could see that the formation was miles away and my position in the screen was VACANT. I had to do something and FAST. This was what I saw on the radar screen during that one sweep:
I called the engine room and said, "How much steam can y'all give me?" The engine room replied, "We can give you an ALL AHEAD FULL BELL for 20 knots, sir."I stuck my head in the pilot house and said in a loud voice, "This is Mr. Mauldin, I have the DECK and the CON (this meant I was "driving" the ship not my junior officer assistant)... ALL engines ahead FULL... indicate turns for 20 knots... right FULL rudder... come to new course 090!"
My destroyer began to come right and increase speed (the formation was going 12 knots so I now had an 8 knot speed advantage). Throughout the rest of my watch we raced to get back in position. At 0600 (6:00 AM) just as it was getting light the Strong slipped back into her station 2000 yards on the port beam of the Saratoga with no one the wiser.
If the formation had been ordered to turn left instead of right, the carrier and all the other destroyers would have turned towards me and could have collided with the Strong which could have killed many sailors... THANK YOU, LORD! Oh, I had words with Ed the next morning.
I hope that one day, you'll enjoy my stories, Ethan... I love you!
Granddaddy
PS. Be on the lookout for a package addressed to you... I think you'll like what I'm sending. Are you attracting any Hummingbirds with your new feeder?
PSS. Call me sometime, baby boy: 931-598-9160.
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