- War time at sea!! by kerminator
18 y
4,823 13 Messages Shown
Blog: My Unusual Road of Life....
This is the logo for the USS Furse. 
DEFCON DEFense CONdition
In the event of a national emergency, a series of seven different alert Conditions (LERTCONs) can be called. The 7 LERTCONs are broken down into 5 Defense Conditions (DEFCONs) and 2 Emergency Conditions (EMERGCONs).
Defense readiness conditions (DEFCONs) describe progressive alert postures primarily for use between the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the commanders of unified commands. DEFCONs are graduated to match situations of varying military severity, and are numbered 5,4,3,2, and 1 as appropriate. DEFCONs are phased increases in combat readiness. In general terms, these are descriptions of DEFCONs:
DEFCON 5 Normal peacetime readiness
DEFCON 4 Normal, increased intelligence and strengthened security measures
DEFCON 3 Increase in force readiness above normal readiness
DEFCON 2 Further Increase in force readiness, but less than maximum readiness
DEFCON 1 Maximum force readiness.
EMERGCONs are national level reactions in response to ICBM (missiles in the air) attack. By definition, other forces go to DEFCON 1 during an EMERGCON.
DEFENSE EMERGENCY: Major attack upon U.S. forces overseas, or allied forces in any area, and is confirmed either by the commander of a unified or specified command or higher authority or an overt attack of any type is made upon the United States and is confirmed by the commander of a unified or specified command or higher authority.
AIR DEFENSE EMERGENCY: Air defense emergency is an emergency condition, declared by the Commander in Chief, North American Aerospace Defense Command. It indicates that attack upon the continental United States, Canada, or US installations in Greenland by hostile aircraft or missiles is considered probable, is imminent, or is taking place.
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, the US Strategic Air Command was placed on DEFCON 2 for the first time in history, while the rest of US military commands (with the exception of the US Air Forces in Europe) went on DEFCON 3. On 22 October 1962 SAC responded by establishing Defense Condition Three (DEFCON III), and ordered B-52s on airborne alert. Tension grew and the next day SAC declared DEFCON II, a heightened state of alert, ready to strike targets within the Soviet Union. On 15 November 1962 the day Strategic Air Command (SAC) postured down to defense condition (DEFCON) III.
On 6 October 1973 Egyptian and Syrian forces launched a surprise attack on Israel. On 25 October U.S. forces went on Defense Condition (DEFCON) III alert status, as possible intervention by the Soviet Union was feared. On 26 October, CINCSAC and CINCONAD reverted to normal DEFCON status. On 31 October USEUCOM (less the Sixth Fleet) went off DEFCON III status. The Sixth Fleet resumed its normal DEFCON status on 17 November 1973.
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/c3i/defcon.htm
Maintained by Webmaster
Updated Wednesday, April 29, 1998 7:46:18 AM
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While I served on the this ship; we were called on to get as close to all out nuclear war as the USA has ever come.... We faced death and lived to tell about it... This is not to brag, or boost; but to state the fact that there are times in people's life that will forever change them.... This was one of those times... You grow up quickly, and learn the real dangers in this life when you have to face them...
Well as I have said before, being part of the Gunnery Division, I served in the combat arms, meaning we carried firearms, stood sentry watches, and was part of the Landing Force... BTW: The Landing Force was a Armed Squad of the ships company, who were called on to land or board other vessels as needs be... Since small ships did not carry Marines, I was part of this squad...
Well we will move now to October 1962, better know to most of the world as the Cuban Missile Crisis.... For those of you who may remember, the Cold War was in full swing... We were facing the USSR all across the globe... Cuba had become a Communist State, with the support of the USSR... And was a real threat to the US..
In Oct, 1962; one night I was standing pier sentry duty on the mid watch, 00:01 to 04:00... Well just after dark, a couple of the Navy Supply Semi Trucks had pulled out on the pier, and we had an all hands working party, to load stores... {Food & Supplies} This was very unusual; normally it only occurred during the day watch....
Then several line handlers came off the ship, and we singled up all six of the mooring lines... The lines were set so we could slip the lines loose from the ship... Normally the four inch diameter nylon line; which has a large loop or eye in the end when sent out from the ship, and that was placed over a cleat or bollard... Then they told me and the other pier sentries to secure the watch, and come aboard, as we were getting underway.... This was weird, since over seventy of the ships crew was a shore on leave; out of the 235 man ships company... Ships very seldom left port at night, especially short handed, unless there was an emergency....
We were armed and under way... We steamed at near flank speed, 32 knots... South to the Striates of Florida, under secret orders from the President.... Well it took into the next evening to reach Cay Sal, just below the Bahamas... Where we took up station on a three mile track, using echo sonar off the coral reef to maintain location... Once we were on station an Fleet oiler came out and pumped fuel aboard... It was the next day that President Kennedy; made the worldwide announcement that we were blocking Cuba....
As a Radar Tracking Ship, we were capable of detecting and tracking all aircraft, satellites over the whole island of Cuba... We knew when the chickens got off the ground... We tracked everything including the U2 spy plane that got shot down by the Russian missiles over Cuba...
This was a very tense time, The entire Fleet Marine Force, was afloat off Cuba, prepared to go ashore... We plotted and tracked all air traffic to Homestead AFB in South FLA... The DEFCON was raised to 2, the highest ever, just short of an all out nuclear war.... BTW: DEFCON is Defense Condition of readness... It graduates down from the normal peace time operation of 5, toward total Nuclear war at condition 1..... Condition 2 meant we had the weapons loaded, armed , Safety removed, just waiting for DEFCON 1 where they would be fired or launched...
[Review the attached form above on DEFCON...} Thank GOD; that on that day, sane minds prevailed and we did not go to an all out nuclear war, this is as close as we ever got, and I was there... There are times in history that we should be grateful for our leaders making the right choice.... This was one of them.... Thank you President Kennedy, and your staff...
We were ready to take the Russians out, but it would have been a bloody complicated conflict, with perhaps many thousands of US casualties, in cities, hit by Russian ICBMs..... This was truly a dark period in our history... But the truth prevailed, and I lived to get married and have sons of my own....
If anyone in a war time or other national disaster distressful situation, tells you that THEY WERE NOT FRIGHTENED OR SCARED; they are either lying, or out of their minds... Not that we cowered and shook; as we had duties and carried them out with due course... But keeping busy with our duty helped keep your mind off the awful truth at hand at that time...
A week later; We went into Key West, to refuel, and pick up the members of the crew we left in Charleston, SC... That helped since we were working 16 hour days, and being on call 24 Hours a day... So we were very happy, to get the whole crew, and help with the work load...
I will cover more details of this activity on the next blog.... Will discuss going to Havana; and boarding a Russian ship with missiles aboard.... See ya.. K
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kerminator
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- USS Furse DDR 882 by white tiger
18 y
2,925
USS Furse
DDR 882
Built in Texas as a radar picket ship.
Builder: Consolidated, Orange, Texas
Laid Down: September 23, 1944
Launched: March 9, 1945
Commissioned: July 10, 1945
Fate: To Spain August 31, 1972
We are seeking information on the USS Furse and her crews. Files and photos may be emailed to us and we will incorporate them into this page. http://www.destroyersonline.com/usndd/mark/mail.htm
The Gearing Class as Constructed
Displacement: 2,616 tons (3,460 tons full load)
Length: 390 feet 6 inches
Beam: 40 feet 10 inches
Draught: 14 feet 4 inches (mean)
Machinery: four Babcock & Wilcox boilers;
2-shaft G.E.C. geared turbines
Performance: 60,000 shp for 36.8 knots
Bunkerage: 740 tons
Range: 4,500 nautical miles at 20 knots
Guns: six 5 inch DP; twelve 40 mm;
eleven 20 mm
Torpedoes: ten 21 inch in two mounts
http://www.destroyersonline.com/usndd/dd882/
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white tiger
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- Re: USS Furse DDR 882 by kerminator
18 y
3,437
You are quite right, that was the original, as built specs.... We took her into FRAM in Jan 1963 @ Phillie Shipyard.... There are a couple of pics. on Images Gallery under blogs, kerminator, look and will be glad to send these plus a couple of more I have to the site you listed on the reply...
Yes I spent many a day and night steaming on the Furse... Once out of FRAM, she was just a DD.... They removed the Azimuth Radar... Up graded the sonar, and radars... Removed one of the 5 inch mounts, and put in a helo deck, w. Chopper...
I will be writing on our face to face with death on the next few blogs... Thanks for your reply... See ya... K
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kerminator
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- Re: USS Furse DDR 882 by white tiger
18 y
2,781
When I was a little kid, a sailor gave me a shirt that had a picture of this ship on it.
I had no doubt I was the coolest kid in the world with that shirt on :)
I could have spent my entire life then, gawking at every navy ship I saw in Norfolk and little creek.
USS Sigourney (DD-643)
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white tiger
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- Were you in this picture in 1964? by white tiger
18 y
2,635
Hi kerminator,
Were you in this picture in 1964?
Norfolk, August 1964
This is a beautiful ship!!!
Sweden during the summer of 1967.
Some pretty pictures at this site!
http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/882.htm
I wish they had preserved the streamlined destroyers instead of selling them to foreign countries :(
She is like that Johnny Cash song. " I've Been Everywhere."
Furse sailed from Norfolk 7 November 1945 for occupation duty in the Far East, calling at San Diego and Pearl Harbor en route to Tokyo Bay, where she, arrived 22 December. After acting as courier between Nagoya and Wakayama, she conducted training operations out of Kobe, then sailed back to Pearl Harbor to prepare for participation in Operation "Crossroads". In this operation atomic weapons tests in the Marshall Islands juring the summer of 1946, Furse acted as plane guard to carriers of JTF 1.
The destroyer returned to San Diego 12 August 1946, and until her transfer to the Atlantic Fleet in April 1949, operated on training along the west coast and completed another tour of duty in the Far East. She arrived at Newport, R.I., 21 April 1949. On 10 September, she sailed on the first of her tours of duty with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean, which were annual, aside from 1951 and 1959, through 1960. From January 1951, Furse was homeported at Norfolk, Va.
Among the highlights of the destroyer's operations were visits to ports of northern Europe between September 1950 and December, during which she represented the United States at the funeral of King Gustav V of Sweden. From 1952 onward, she often served with the Operational Development Force, perfecting techniques in antisubmarine warfare. A midshipman summer cruise in 1952 again took her to ports of northern Europe Marking her 1956 tour of duty in the Mediterranean was her participation in the evacuation of Americans from Israel and Egypt during the Suez Crisis, and lengthy patrol duty in the eastern Mediterranean. The next year, she made two tours of duty in the Mediterranean because of the tense political situation prevailing, and in the summer of 1958, she sailed for NATO operations in northern waters, visiting Santander, Spain; Stavanger, Norway and Ghent, Belgium.
In the periods between her deployments, Furse carried out the intensive training schedule of Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet, cruising the east coast and the Caribbean in operations with ships of all types and major fleet exercises.
Loaned To Spain renamed Gravina (D62).
Sold to Spain May 17 1978.
Stricken June 2 1975.
Fate Stricken and scraped in 1991.
I have always wanted to see the MIGHTY MO. (USS Missouri)
Have you seen it in your travels? Was she as awesome as she looks in pictures?
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white tiger
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- Re: Were you in this picture in 1964? by kerminator
18 y
2,678
To answer some of your questions....
1) No, I was not in the picture Norfolk 1964, I was aboard the USS Manley DD940 then... Have been to Norfolk, several times...
2) No I was not aboard the Mighty MO, but I was aboard the New Jersey, which is a sister ship... You are correct it is an awesome vessell... 888 Ft long, able to do over 32 knots, and deliver 9 rounds of 16 inch shell in a single firing... I have some stories & pics about this which I will get to on a later blog as we move into the conflict in SE Asia...
3) You only have some of the ship's history on the Furse, I will try to get time to put some more up on my blog, soon...
Did you serve in the Navy?? If so when and where?? Anyway thanks for your posts, and replies...
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kerminator
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- Re: Were you in this picture in 1964? by white tiger
18 y
2,407
Even though my dream was always to be a sailor, and always dreamed of being on a destroyer in spite of all the scary stories I heard about them on rough seas with waves going over them! I joined the army because all my uncles had been in the army. I felt sort of like I would be breaking a family tradition if I joined the navy. And having an uncle that was once the youngest master sargeant painting a picture of gaining more education, and being able to choose where I want to be stationed and what specialized training.
I chose 14th armored cavalry at fort knox. Unfortunatly the army had different plans :(
I lived about 2 houses away from the norfolk shipyard where my father worked. And my favorite passtime since the 2nd grade, was to stand outside the fence and watch the ships and the cranes on the towers that moved around in the water.
Eventually I discovered I could sneak into the shipyard, because all the guards got so used to seeing me that they ignored me as if I was part of the scenery :)
I would sneak past the drydock where I used to watch sailors scrape the ships, then I would get past the guards and walk around the decks of the old ships (tubs?).
I got caught 2 times...the second time I was caught I was escorted all the way home and into the livingroom by a navy officer. That experience was scary enough that I never sneaked inside that shipyard again!
The big warships in drydock and at the other pier had too many guards.
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white tiger
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- Re: Were you in this picture in 1964? by kerminator
18 y
2,467
First thanks for your service.... We all did what we could.... I lived in FLA, near the ocean so I was used to boats, and the navy was for me... My Dad and most everyone except one uncle were in the army during WWII... So I went to the fleet, and even felt that at the time I did not appreciate it... It proved to be an experience, which shaped my life, and really expand my horizons....
Ya I was one of the Sentries that made the rounds, on board ship and on pier patrols... Never got to see any kids sneak in; but we did get our share of young women... That part we enjoyed... I will post some more pics, soon.. See Ya.. K
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kerminator
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- Perhaps it was your bad attitude White Tiger? by north
18 y
2,409 Reply FCK TinyMCE
- Re: Perhaps it was your bad attitude White Tiger? by kerminator
18 y
2,696
Who said anything about a bad attitude??
We all did what we could under the circumstances... Thanks for your service and duty to our country; and that goes for all veterans and those who supported them... Believe me with out the support all actives would stop... I will blog on some stories about this subject soon, so stay tuned for some real tales of action...
In life; some we win, some we lose and the rest are just a draw.... another Kermit-ism
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kerminator
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- Re: Were you in this picture in 1964? by kerminator
4 y
862
In the review of past reply -
The question was have I Seen the USS Missouri BB 63? No, but I was on the NJ BB 62? Yes, in the Philly Shipyard! It was awesome!
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kerminator
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- thank you by ren
18 y
2,600
| Thanks for this Kermit. I appreciate and thank you for your service and the fascinating stories.
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ren
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- Re: thank you by kerminator
18 y
2,522
Ren: We were glad to be able to do our part; that is why I usually always try to go up and thank every veteran I meet on the street on, in Walmart, or where ever....
But we should also remember; what an Ole veteran from WWII, told me some years ago... While it was important for the young men & women to go out and be on the front line of the conflict; but if it was not for the prayer warriors at home... The Mothers, sisters, Grandmothers, Aunts, Uncles, and neighbors.... The success and victory on the battle field would not have gone so well.... Amen!!!
So thank you to all those who have prayed or served and support the troops.... See Ya... K
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kerminator
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