USS BELKNAP Association - USS Belknap (DLG/CG-26)

USS BELKNAP Association
In Honor of all shipmates, all years, all crews.
2014 Newsletter -- Issue #2
Letter from the President
by Mike Abbott
Shipmates,
Time is flying! We are really only about four months from our
50th Reunion Celebration in Portland, ME. While it may seem
like a lot of time, it really isn’t. For several reasons, we need
those of you that KNOW you are going to attend, to take the time
and register ASAP.
First of all, the tours are filling up fast.
There are already over 45 seats taken
for the BIW & Freeport Tour, and over
25 seats taken for each of the other two
tours. With the potential that extra buses
may not be available, only limited seats
might remain. (See tour details within).
In addition, for the first time, a reunion brochure is being created that
will include either an attendees list or
thumbnail photos. Our nametags will
include photos of the shipmates from
“back then” and they take time to creMike Abbott
ate. Special meal tickets with appropriate choices are being made for each attendee.
None of these things take a lot of effort, but taken overall, the
sooner we have your registration, the sooner we can make sure
you are “counted” for all of these items.
For those of you who have not yet decided, I encourage you
all to consider joining us in Portland. We see the potential for
it to be the best reunion yet, and the more of you that we can
share it with, the better it will be for us all.
We have planned a number of surprises for all of you that
attend.
Finally, it has been a busy and hectic six months, with lots of
things being done behind the scenes. I want to thank the entire
Board as well as others for all of their support and work: Bob
Gilhooly and Rich Botteron for creating the new website; Skip
and Jean McCarroll for their work on the financials and getting
our tax status in order; Jim Farrow for conceiving of the Ricketts
presentation and taking on the MD
and WV roster for updating; Dick
Lemon for working the FL roster and
being always there with wise counsel; Lou Apuzzo for keeping a firm
grip on the Ship’s Store and procuring new items for sale and for the
welcome bags you will all receive;
Bill Staley for designing the pin that
is included in this newsletter for your
vote, and other 50th items; Dick Tremain for this and the previous newsletter; Mike Reeves for creating the
aforementioned reunion brochure,
and especially Christine Maloney
who conceived of this reunion and
has worked tirelessly to make things
run smoothly. Chris, heads up, the
work is not over…
Hope to see you all in Maine in
October.
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To Purchase or Not ?
We have never had a pin or
similar insignia that we could
call our own. In an effort to determine if we should consider
the purchase of a limited number of pins that can be used on
caps, lapels, or jackets (among
other things), we are asking you
to vote on your preference for
the pin shown below.
The graphic shown is about
actual size. It has been designed with dual posts so that it
will stay aligned however you
attach it. Cost per pin will be $4
at the reunion and $4.75 otherwise to pay for shipping.
Please express your interest
by going to http://ussbelknap.
org/belknap-pin asap and
indicating if you are interested
or not. If you are interested,
please indicate how many you
think you would purchase. This
information is important because the numbers we collect
will determine if we will buy
the pin. There is a 4-week lead
time for delivery, so we need
to make the purchase by midSeptember at the latest.
Next Reunion?
Portland, Maine
October 22-26,
2014
Shipmates Out and About
1964 Plankowner Jim Trotter (L) and
Dick Tremain (1972-75) talk about the
upcoming reunion at a Special Olympics of Central Iowa “Airplane Pull.”
Both shipmates were volunteering at
Mark and Judy Angle stand next
to a 16-inch projectle on the main
deck of USS IOWA (BB-61) in the
Port of Los Angeles. The Angles
a Des Moines, Iowa, Special Olympics
event to raise money. Trotter timed
“tug-of-war teams” as they struggled
to move a Boeing 757 across a finish
line. Tremain took pictures.
were able to tour the ship on a
recent vacation. Mark said, “It felt
good to get my feet on steel, even if
the deck was covered in mahogany.”
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USS Belknap Memorial Bike is Complete!
by Mark Angle
I am happy to inform you that
the USS Belknap Memorial Motorcycle is complete. Judy and I
flew out west from Virginia to film
the reveal. Danny Koker and the
fine people of Count’s Kustoms
and Leftfield Pictures presented
the bike to us in a place I thought
talk about. However, this port call won’t believe. And thanks to Taniis going to be on that super prosha, our contact at Leftfield Picgram “Counting Cars” with “The
tures. Also, to my wife Judy, thanks
Count” on the History Channel
for your support and letting me
for all to see. As of now we do not do this, I love you.
know the date the program will be
We are looking forward to seeshown. As soon as I find out I will
ing all of you in Portland in Octocontact the Association and I will
ber. There you will be able to see
post it on the Belknap Facebook
the bike up close and personal.
site. We have heard as early as
I am sure you will be amazed at
late summer or in the fall.
what Count’s Kustoms has done
There are too many people to
to honor our shipmates. I think
thank that have helped with this
you will be as proud as Judy and I
project and I know I would miss
are of the USS Belknap Memorial
someone, so thanks everyone.
Motorcycle. I know all of you will
As Belknap shipmates we do
give a great big BRAVO ZULU to
owe a special thanks to Danny
Count’s Kustoms.
‘The Count”
Koker and
Mark Angle talks with shipmates in Tampa Samantha,
about his work with Count’s Kustom Cars our project
and his attempts to get a BELKNAP memo- director, who
were always
rial bike built.
there for me.
would be impossible. I’m also go- The biggest
ing to have to leave it up to your
thanks go
imagination as to where and who
out to Shanwas there with us. There was one
non who built
very special person there. You
such a wonDanny Koker, star of the History
Mark Angle worked with Koker
know who you are and I thank you derful bike
Channel’s show Counting Cars,
and his Counting Cars team build
from the bottom of my heart.
and to Ryan
sits
atop
a
custom
built
motora BELKNAP-themed bike built to
I personally think the bike
that laid down
cycle.
in
Stugis,
S.D.
Koker
builds
honor shipmates lost in the 1975
honors those who lost their lives
the gold and
custom cars and motorcycles for
collision at sea. It will be disin the collision in a very proper
silver leaf
a
living
and
is
a
regular
on
a
numplayed in Portland.
and tasteful manner. The bike also over a paint
ber
of
television
shows.
Shipmate
pays tribute to the USS Belknap
job that you
in other ways. I’m sorry, but
it does tend to lean a little
to the time I was on board in
1972 and 1973.
There is an old saying,
“What happens in Vegas,
Stays in Vegas!” and I’m
afraid that is very true with
July 15 at 9:00 p.m. Eastern
this project. We have even
and 8:00 p.m. Central on the
signed papers to make sure
that saying stands true. We
have to think of it as one of
those great port calls, there
are some things you just don’t
USS BELKNAP Memorial Bike
Airdate Announced!
History Channel
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MY NAVY STORY
by Mike Abbott
Editor’s note: Shipmates have
great stories to tell and have led
very interesting careers. We’ve
seen this time and time again
with the book STARBUSTER
being the best example. Tell us
your Navy story. In the meantime, Association President Mike
Abbott tells us his:
After lettering in baseball, soccer, and basketball my senior year
in high school, and already having an induction date for the Navy,
friends and I mostly chilled during
the summer of ’64.
We arrived, on the morning of
3 Sept. ’64, my youngest brother’s
3rd birthday, at the Induction
Center in Phila., only to be told
that we were too early and to go
get some breakfast. Returning
from White Castle an hour or so
later, we were again told that we
were too early and to grab some
buckets and swabs and clean the
heads! Should have gotten the hint
then… We finally took the oath at
14:03 – there was a clock right in
front of us.
After boot camp in Great Lakes,
we were to return there from boot
leave to start FT”A” School. We
had barely gotten started when we
broke again for Christmas leave
which put me deep in the hole on
leave, taking another nine months
to get even.
FT”A” School was in two phases, with only 6-year obligors going
to the second phase. Previously,
the entire school was conducted
at the same location, but we were
the first class where the second
phase went to either Bainbridge
or Mare Island, depending on
where our “C” School was to be.
Since I was going to Dam Neck, VA
for my “C” School, I went to Bainbridge. This was also the home of
the Naval Academy Prep
School, Waves Boot Camp,
and Nuclear Power School.
We marched everywhere;
to school, to chow, and back to the
barracks.
After school in Dam Neck, I got
orders to Belknap, but had to bunk
on USS Sierra (AD-18) while awaiting her return from Gitmo. I assisted in an effort to re-gun USS Bache
(DD-470) that had just come back
from the
gun line in
Vietnam. No
luck. They
had fired so
much that
the barrel
had “welded” itself in
the breechblock and
Mike Abbott
couldn’t be
removed. Don’t know what the end
result was.
After reporting aboard Belknap,
I was immediately assigned to
“permanent” shore patrol on
Granby St. in Norfolk! Permanent meant 18 days, but it was
enough! The bright side of reporting aboard was that I was already FTM3 because of extensive
schooling, and the CO’s policy was
that technicians didn’t go mess
cooking…
Served for six years and 22
days on my first tour, including
cruises to Northern Europe, several to the Med and twice to Vietnam, making FTM1 before leaving
for shore duty in Dam Neck as an
instructor. I made FTMC during
that tour. Taught several different
classes while there, including Terrier System and Combat System
classes. Some of these included
Italian Naval officers who also had
the Terrier Guided Missile System
on a couple of ships. It was during that time in Dam Neck that the
disaster at sea occurred between
Belknap and Kennedy.
When it was time for me to
return to sea duty, no decision had
yet been made about the future
of Belknap, so I received orders
to USS Biddle (CG-34). When I
had served aboard Biddle for two
years, I was eligible to “crossdeck” to another ship to complete
my sea tour. Luckily, Belknap was
in the very early stages of reconstruction, so I requested, and
received orders to Philadelphia
Naval Shipyard as part of her future crew. For eight months, I was
50% of the crew, the other half being MMCS John Agnew. John was
responsible for all engineering
spaces and other spaces below
the main deck not covered by me.
I had all weapons spaces and the
superstructure, which was still
non-existent at the time. While in
Phila., I made FTCS.
It was a great time seeing
Belknap come back to life! And,
a proud day when she was recommissioned. After completing
refresher training in Gitmo and
other evolutions, my sea tour was
running down, but I wanted to
make one last cruise, the upcoming Med cruise in ’81-’82. In order
to do this, I had to contact the Bureau for permission so that I could
extend to complete the cruise. My
detailer told me that it would work
perfectly because they were eyeing me for a Detailer position and
the timing was good. That did not
sound like a good thing to me, but
I wanted to sail with Belknap so I
went through with the extension.
The day we returned from the
cruise, I again called my detailer.
My question: “In the event that I
was selected for Master Chief,
would I still be coming to DC”?
His response, “Well there’s good
news and there’s bad news. The
good news is that you made Master Chief. The bad news is you’re
still coming to DC”.
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I have to say that the Detailer tour
was very rewarding. Starting out as
only the FTM Detailer, within a few
months, I had taken over the office
for all FT/GM/GMT personnel in
the surface navy. During my tour,
we were able to up the 6-year reenlistment bonus for FTs to $36,000,
increase first term reenlistments
from 22% to over 60%, and provide
a training pipeline for senior petty
officers who would have previously
never had a chance for retraining. In
addition, I served as detailer at the
only time up to then where women
were allowed into the field. That
period was rough because women
were not then allowed to serve on
warships, so that the only place we
could put them after training was in a
shore billet, taking it way from guys
who were coming off a six-year sea
tour. That experiment was discontinued for some time after that, and I
am not sure when it was restarted.
When my tour was up, I would have
to make the decision about going
back to sea as a Master Chief or
retiring. The choice was easy. On
Belknap, I left as the Senior Enlisted.
If I returned to sea, I might go to a
carrier and be 50th on the list, or
be a Senior Enlisted on some other
command. I even had two shore commands offer to create a billet behind
a desk that would be labeled as
sea-duty. I declined, as that was not a
real choice since I had been sending
guys back to sea after three years
ashore and it was rightly my time to
go too.
So, on 30 June, 1985, I transferred
to the Fleet Reserve only five days
after my 39th birthday and the day
before the whole surface rating was
changed to FC. In total, I served 10
years in Belknap, more than anyone
else in history. While aboard, I was
promoted to FTM2, FTM1, FTCS, and
FTCM.
Ricketts Crew Honored
by Jim Farrow, Past President
Former Presidents Skip
McCarroll and Jim Farrow
will, on July 26th, have the
honor of representing the USS
BELKNAP Association in presenting a proclamation to the
USS Claude V. Ricketts Association reunion at the Crown
Plaza National Airport Hotel in
Arlington/Crystal City, VA. The
Proclamation will be presented
to the former Commanding
Officer of the USS Claude V.
Ricketts, Robert C. Powers,
representing the USS Claude
V. Ricketts Association. The
Proclamation was signed by
the current USS BELKNAP Association Board of Directors and
all past Presidents of the USS
BELKNAP Association. If you
are interested in joining Skip
and Jim,
contact
Jim at JFarrow01@
comcast.
net. Once
the proclamation
has been
presented,
a copy will
be posted Jim Farrow
on our
www.ussbelknap.org website,
for you to see.
Shipmates Attending the Portland Reunion
As of July 10, 2014
Mike Abbott
Mark Angle
Louis Apuzzo
Mike Bates
Randall Bergstrom
Peter Bond
Rich Botteron
Gary Bowers
Peter Brennan
T.J. Bronsberg-Adas
Ray Chmielewski
Willard Donnell
Jim Farrow
Kit Ferguson
Raleigh Fitzgerald
Robert Fitzgerald
Jim Gensch
Bob Gilhooly
Joe Hulsey
Bob Joseph
Dick Lemon
Malcolm MacAskill
Skip McCarroll
Thad McGehee
Ed Meisenbach
Garrett Miller
Ron Moreland
Rich Nolde
Bob Pitt
Dana Robinson
Dick Shafer
Al Sniff
Ted Stoma
Leo Strupczewski
Dick Tremain
Scott Turner
Jesse Whillock
Gerald Zimbric
Name not on the list?
Your wife says sign up for the reunion
now. She needs a vacation
with fun people, too!
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Koozie Contest!
next newsletter. Dick snapped his
Koozie full of “soda pop” in Paris,
France. Ohlala!
2006 Reunion Revisited
2006 Reunion Revisited
Where in the world is your USS
BELKNAP Koozie? Send Dick
Tremain ([email protected]) your
traveling Koozie pictures for the
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For reservations, call the hotel directly at:
207-774-6151
Our Reunion Hotel: Merry Manor Inn
-- Amenities for Belknap’s 50th Anniversary Reunion
•
Free transportation by cab to and from Portland International Jetport. The hotel reimburses you on the way in and prepays the taxis for trips back to the airport.
•
Maine Table Restaurant is open for breakfast and dinner, and will be open for lunch on days we
don’t have a tour scheduled. Complimentary buffet breakfast available daily to all.
•
Free parking. Free RV parking, but no hookups.
•
Indoor-outdoor pool and 18’ Jacuzzi available.
•
Free coffee, tea, and decaf in the lobby 24-hours a day.
•
Complimentary group reception on Friday evening with beer, wine, cheese/cracker trays.
•
Non-smoking facility, but designated smoking areas are available outside of the hotel.
•
Pet friendly – requires $20.00 one-time fee for a maximum of 2 pets.
•
Free wifi in all rooms.
•
All rooms have microwaves and refrigerators.
•
Maps and visitor guides provided in all welcome packets.
•
When you figure out when you are planning to leave for the airport, sign up at the front desk and
they will have a cab waiting.
Editor’s note: Want to know more about the area around Portland? See:
http://www.youmustbetrippin.com/home/new_england_by_motorcycle_day_3.html
www.ussbelknap.ORG
by Bob Gilhooly, Association
Secretary
The new web site ussbelknap.
org has been up and running
now for about six months. The old
web site has been shut down. We
have had new shipmates join the
association through the web site
and many old shipmates have
requested access.
In the photo galleries pictures
from many of the reunions have
been added in addition to shipboard pics.
If you have pics to share
forward them to webtech@uss-
belknap.org or send us an email
if they are not electronic and we
can make arrangements to scan
them and return them.
We anticpate adding a section
to the site for the Ladies Auxiliary. If any of the ladies out there
have ideas for that section you
can send them to Lori Apuzzo the
Auxiliary President.
If you have questions or coments about the web site or ideas
for additions you can forward
them to webtech@ussbelknap.
org and we will run them by the
association officers.
Reunion
Dietary Needs
or Requests?
If anyone has any special
dietary needs, please contact
Donald Haggett, Director of
Sales, at his direct phone line
– 207-774-6157, or they can
email Donald at dhaggett@
merrymanorinn.com.
7
8
The Boston Globe called the BIW Tour a “must-see”, Down
East magazine named it a “Best of Maine” attraction and
Yankee magazine named it a “Best of New England.”
9
10
11
Postmaster: Address correction requested.
Bob Gilhooly
6 Schillhammer Rd.
Jericho, VT
05465
Stamp
goes
here!
Planning on attending the reunion?
Here’s a check list:
1. Reserve your Merry Manor Inn hotel room. Call the hotel directly at: 207-774-6151.
2. Fill out the registration form on the other side of this sheet and mail it to Skip McCarroll
along with answers to the questions below.
3. Email a headshot of yourself during the time you served in
BELKNAP to: [email protected] by September 30, 2014. The photo will
be used to make customized name tags.
4. Make travel arrangements
5. Prepare to have a great time!
In three sentences or fewer, answer these questions:
a. What is your favorite BELKNAP memory? __________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
b. What is your favorite port-of-call and why? _________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
c. If I could do it all over again I would do this differently: __________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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