I liked standing on the bridge wing - at sunrise with salt spray
in my face and clean ocean winds whipping in from the four quarters of
the globe, the destroyer beneath me feeling like a living thing as her
engines drove her swiftly through the sea.
I liked the sounds of the Navy - the piercing trill of
the boatswainspipe, the syncopated clangor of the ship's bell on the
quarterdeck, the harsh squawk of the 1MC, and the strong language and
laughter of sailors at work.
I liked Navy vessels - nervous darting destroyers, plodding
fleet auxiliaries and amphibs, sleek submarines and steady solid aircraft
carriers.
I liked the proud names of Navy ships - Midway, Lexington,
Saratoga, Coral Sea, Antietam, Valley Forge - - memorials of great
battles won and tribulations overcome.
I liked the lean angular names of Navy - "tin-cans" and
escorts -- Barney, Dahlgren, Mullinix, McCloy, Damato, Leftwich, Mills
-- mementos of heroes who went before us. And the others -- San Jose,
San Diego, Los Angeles, St. Paul, Chicago -- named for our cities.
I liked the tempo of a Navy band - blaring through the topside
speakers as we pulled away from the oiler after refueling at sea.
I liked liberty call - and the spicy scent of every foreign
port.
I liked the all hands working parties - as my ship filled
herself with the multitude of supplies so as to carry out her mission
anywhere on the globe where there was water to float her.
I liked sailors, officers and enlisted men - from all parts
of the land, farms of the Midwest, small towns of New England, from
the cities, the mountains and the prairies from all walks of life.
I trusted and depended on them as they trusted and depended on me -
for professional competence, for comradeship, for strength and courage.
In a word, they were "shipmates"; then and forever.
I liked the surge of adventure - in my heart, when the word
was passed: "Now set the special sea and anchor detail - all hands
to quarters for leaving port,"
I liked the infectious thrill - of sighting home again, with
the waving hands of welcome from family and friends waiting pier side.
I liked the hard and dangerous work - The going was rough at
times; and the parting from loved ones painful, but the companionship of
robust Navy laughter, the "all for one and one for all" philosophy
of the sea was ever present.
I liked the serenity of the sea - after a day of hard ship's
work, as flying fish flitted across the wave tops and the sunset gave
way to night.
I liked the feel of the Navy in darkness - the masthead and
rangelights, the red and green navigation lights and stern light, the
pulsating phosphorescence of radar repeaters - they cut through the dusk
and joined with the mirror of stars overhead.
And I liked drifting off to sleep - lulled by the myriad
noises large and small that told me that my ship was alive and well,
and that my shipmates on watch would keep me safe.
I liked quiet midwatches - with the aroma of strong coffee --
the life blood of the Navy permeating everywhere.
And I liked the hectic watches - when the exacting minuet of
haze-grayshapes racing at flank speed kept all hands on a razor edge
of alertness.
I liked the sudden electricity - of "General quarters,
General quarters, all hands man your battle stations", followed by
the hurried clamor of running feet on ladders and the resounding thump of
watertight doors as the ship transformed herself, in a few brief seconds,
from a peaceful workplace to a weapon of war -- ready for anything.
And I liked the sight of space-age equipment - manned by
youngsters clad in dungarees and sound-powered phones that their
grandfathers would still recognize
I liked the traditions of the Navy - and the men and women
who made them.
I liked the proud names of Navy heroes - Halsey, Nimitz,
Perry, Farragut, John Paul Jones, Howard W. Gilmore and Burke.