Warranty replacement of a 340 in 1970

Off topic again folks.

Chief,

I could write a book right now. Well, except I hate typing and can't keep a train of thought.

The Hoel had our reunion last year in Branson, MO. I couldn't make it, but I sure wanted to go. Our old cap't even made it. He was one hell of a skipper. Came up the hard way, he was a white hat, and quite a steamer.

That shot of the Hoel blowing your doors off (don't worry folks, I ain't dissing the chief, the Navy raced too), anyway, that was me driving. Anytime we went GQ, UNREP, leaving and entering port etc, that was my job. I can drive the hell out of a DDG, but not much use for that skill in San Bernardino after I got out. By the way, that long hill you came down entering San Bernardino is called Cajon Pass.

We hit Po City, Sasebo and Hong Kong, didn't get to go the other liberty ports you got to go to. We did hit Pago Pago on the way to NZ, where we hit Auckland, Gisborne and Tauraunga, then a fuel stop at Manus Is. just above New Guinie on our way to yankee station. Was suppose to hit Midway on the way back, but got an oiler instead. While at the gun line, we blew about 3/4 of the barrel on mount 51 over the side. Had a short round. That woke everyone up, it happened around 4 or 5 in the morning. I ran to the bridge, the cap't told me to hit the GQ button, and half the crew went to their abandon ship stations. We changed the barrel in Hong Kong, which didn't go over too good with them because they were "nuetral" and you weren't allowed to work on war ships tied up in their harbor.

I sure wish someone aboard had a movie camera, I haven't seen any videos of our ship anywhere. I about wore out a little Instamatic with the little flash cube though.

Chief, would love to talk to you sometime. I'm mostly just a lurker here, but check in almost daily to see how my old neighbor Leeanna is doing, and of course A Bodies. When I got out in '70, the next year I bought my '67 Belvedere II with a 273/904. Then about 10 different A bodies since Then.

Oh yeah, I read around 1990 or so that the Hoel was being decommishioned and sold to Brazil as a power barge. Pissed me off, her keel was laid in '62, so she wasn't that old. Anyway, I called the base in San Diego to make arrangements to take my wife and kids down to say good bye. I drove my '73 Duster down, put 4.30's in it to make the trip a little easier (I ran 5.13's) and damn near didn't get to see her. They weren't going to let me on base. I had the name of the guy I had been talking to, so the finally escorted me to my ship (I followed them in my car). They would only let my family go as far as the fantail, but a SP went with me to the bridge. WOW...the memories. You know what chief? For some reason the whole bridge looked smaller. The overhead wasn't as high as I remembered and the bridge wasn't as wide. Damnest thing. When I was a kid on board the ship was a lot bigger to me.

Anyway, Mount 51 and 52 were gone, the ASROC launcher was gone, the sub rocket launcher was gone....the ship was bare. Last I heard she was way up the Amazon tied up for power.

Smooth seas chief, it's been a pleasure.

Russ.