[PRCo] Re: Weather.........................Anybody Out There?

[James B. Holland]

Mag 10 and It Is All Over  --  the World would explode!

We had quite a few Tremors / Quakes this year, come to think of it  --  
had forgotten all about them until this very moment!!!       Started on 
Sunday 12-June and there was one every couple days for a couple weeks at 
various locations around the state.       One sister lives in the San 
Berdoo mountains, gorgeous place, and it was right under her 
place.       Then there were two or three off the North Coast of CA, and 
then a couple more around  LA--LA  LAnd.       The ones off the coast 
triggered a Tsunami warning for much of California but it didn't happen.

The 1964 Alaskan earthquake caused a tsunami that hit either / both 
Crescent City and Eureka with not a few deaths  --  people up there were 
quite antsy during this latest round of quakes.       During the 1964 
quake I stayed up all night listening to short wave radio  --  police 
had to go to the beaches and clear them of people Who Purposely Went 
There To Watch The Tsunami Come In.!!!!!!!

Not unlike when I was serving in the Guided Missile Cruiser USS Canberra 
CAG-2  --  we were first ship to fire offensively against North Viet and 
they did return the fire except we were at the limits of their 
range.       The Captain announced on the 1-MC for gawkers on deck 
watching the shells come in to get below deck.       They had better not 
send any of them down to Sick Bay because I would finish what the shells 
started!!!!!!!       Did have a couple shells penetrate the skin of the 
ship  --  one in an unmanned radio room above deck and another at the 
water line.       Shrapnel hit a man asleep in his bunk on the latter 
penetration which did soft tissue damage to his upper arm  --  no major 
nerve, blood vessels, bone were affected.       Big gaping hole but 
otherwise all right.       A destroyer with us didn't fare so well  --  
one of their gun turrets took a major hit and several men had every bone 
in one side of the body broken.       They were transferred to our ship 
unconscious because we had an operating room  --  doctors were flown in 
as well  --  we had one helo port aft.       As I worked in Pharmacy and 
Med-Supply, I was running around the ship all night getting supplies  
--  stored in various parts of the ship as a precaution against losing 
everything.       All the men made it to Stateside hospitals but since 
they were not originally assigned to the Canberra, we did not get any 
follow-up.       The Real Hero of this war, medically speaking, was the 
helicopter, which could get the injured where needed quite fast.

Guess the ship made the news back home as well as a Very Dear Friend of 
the Family worked for AT&T in Philly and she heard it while driving home 
on the freeway!

Interesting  --  told that the Canberra was due to be named the USS 
Pittsburgh but the H.M.S. Canberra was sunk in a fierce battle in the 
Coral Sea and my ship was renamed in its honor.       The Navy has a 
protocol for naming ships  --  Battleships for USA States, Cruisers for 
USA Cities, and so on, so an exception and special permission had to be 
arranged for this change.       ((The real USS Pittsburgh had its bow 
shot off in WW2 and steamed into Hawaii backward!))       Lady Alice 
Dixon, wife of the Ambassador from Australia to USA in WW2, christened 
the ship and was given a stateroom on board in addition to a 15-gun 
salute when she came on board during our visit to Melbourne in May, 
1967!       ((We stopped in the Coral Sea for a Memorial Service for 
those lost at this battle in WW2  --  special wreaths had been purchased 
to be cast upon the water and all hands were dressed in formal Navy 
attire.))       Must have been quite a storm before we passed through as 
I saw several of those Thatched Huts float by!       We had as many 
visitors on board the ship the first day as were expected for the whole 
two weeks and sailors were taken off watch duty to fulfill requests to 
spend time with Ozzie families.       As I left the ship for leave the 
first day, some woman was literally dragging small children toward the 
ship while exclaiming:::       """Look, Children, The Americans are 
here  --  The  AMERICANS  are Here!!!"""       Most places hands were in 
our pockets and on our wallets  --  Literally.       Japan was super, 
though, absolutely super!

The USS Boston was CAG-1, our sister ship converted to Missile Cruiser 
at the same time, was Atlantic based but came to the Pacific to help 
with Vietnam.       We were tied up side by side at Subic Bay, PI, for 
some time  --  with customary rivalry!       Had forgotten that as well  
--  will have to get out the Ships Books now!

Was never in an actual typhoon, Far East Pacific equivalent of an 
Hurricane only worse, but went through the tail end of such and watched 
the bow disappear under the waves only to rise totally above them as 
well  --  sick bay was in the bow and when it was out of the water it 
could be felt to quiver without support!

Sick bay was located around the two 8" gun turrets  --  8" is the 
diameter of the shell, the largest in use by the Navy until the 
Battleship MO was recommissioned with its 16" shells, and those shells 
could be delivered 20-miles away  --  accurately!!!!       We were 
taking on supplies from another ship one day, including shells, when one 
got loose and bounced around outside my pharmacy like a ping pong 
ball.       Gunners mates wasted NO time in getting that thing over the 
side of the ship!       Waves were coming in across the bow and as we 
pulled away the waves came in from the side and even though the mess 
tables have lips,  ALL  the trays on one table left their owners and 
went on the floor as the ship heaved into the waves!       Great 
Sleeping with this rock and roll motion but Quite Difficult Walking  --  
especially once back on Terra Firma!!!

So Rain, Hail, Sleet, Snow, Tidal Waves, Earthquakes, Tornados, War  --  
ain't done it all but have survived not a little!       Probably won't 
retire in CA  --  TOO  EggZspensive  --  but won't settle East of the 
Rockies, either, for that is where the Humidity picks up  --  None of 
that stuff out here, at least relative to what you have back there!




Fred Schneider wrote:

> I recall visiting Harre Demoro in Oakland, CA about 1974. He lived in 
> one of the Canyons or ravines up in the Oakland Hills. I asked him if 
> that might be a branch of the Hayward Fault across the street. He 
> affirmed that it was. I asked how often it moved. He said that the 
> chandellier in the living room swung back and forth about once a year. 
> And then Harre went on to say, "But you have hurricanes in the east." 
> It's all in what you get used to.
>
> I guess if I had a reinforced house that could withstand a magnitude 
> 10 quake, with bookshelves built like stoves in a ship's galley so 
> that nothing could fall off, then I think Camelot would be a great 
> place to live. I guess by the time you get up to 10, it is even 
> difficult to keep the Pacific Ocean anywhere near where it is supposed 
> to be.
>
> "James B. Holland" wrote:
>
>> Hmmmmmmmmmmmm!!
>>
>> I was here then -- what you felt in 1980 was Just A Tremor -- we 
>> didn't have any quake then!
>>
>> If you thought That Was Bad -- you should have been here in 1989 when 
>> We Did Have A Quake -- at 5-PM!!
>



Jim__Holland


I__Like__Ike.......And__PCCs!!

down with pantographs ---- UP___WITH___TROLLEYPOLES!!!!!!!