A True Love Story - Chapter 8: LIFE ABOARD A TIN CAN, 1955

Life on a US Navy Destroyer , was a totally new experience for this young Tin Can Sailor, I had spent 32 weeks at Torpedo School in Newport Rhode Island . All the building at the school were of WWII vintage . I think some of the buildings were even of pre WWI age . It seemed that every time I went to take a shower, there was very little hot water to be had. All the early Liberty Hounds used it all up. I was never in a big rush to Hit The Beach ( go on liberty ), so by the time I got around to take a shower, it got to a point that I would just turn on the Hot Water Valve . I did not bother with the Cold Water Valve , because if I was lucky, I would get some lukewarm water at best.

I remember stepping into the shower stall on the Daly, I was day dreaming about something, and by force of habit acquired after 32 weeks of Torpedo School, I reached for only the HOT Water Valve and turned it on as much as I could in one hand motion. What a rude awakening I had from my day dreaming, because what came out of the shower head nozzle, was not the luke warm water I was expecting , but Scalding Hot Water and low pressure Steam instead . The ship’s hot water system was really hot, by the time I went to take a shower. You never saw a Red Skin like me ( my father was a full blood Tigua Indian from the American Desert South West ) move so quickly. I leaped out of the shower stall like Superman, in one bound.

After I was out of Harms Way, I reached in with my left hand until I felt the correct valve, I could tell, because it was hot to the touch . I could not see where things were , due to the dense steam cloud that enveloped the shower stall . In fact, the entire After Crew’s Head ( Bathroom ) was becoming full of steam . Fortunately for me, I had not been too close to the shower nozzle, when the scalding hot water/steam came hissing out at me and I managed to escape with only a light pink color skin on my chest, shoulders and back side, as I turned to jump out. I was almost a well done Red Skin.

After that incident, for a long time, I would reach in and turn the water valves from outside the shower stall and adjust the water to the desired temperature, before I got my tender body under the stream of water. I am certain it would have been a hilarious sight to behold, had anyone else been in the Head at the time, but I was the only one in the entire After Crew’s Head .

FOX DIVISION

SONARMAN

TORPEDOMAN

FIRE CONTROLMAN

USS DALYDD519

MAY 1955 – JUNE 1957

USS Daly, Newport, R.I. January 1957. Shipmate Ed Passarelli (who was on the Quarter Deck Watch ) trained the Torpedo Tube Mount around so I could take the picture. I was actually out on the pier taking the photo. A good view of the torpedoes, loaded in the barrels. The yellow colored heads, are positive buoyancy ( Training / Exercise ) torpedoes that will float at the end of its run so we can recover it. The black colored heads are war shot torpedoes (over 800 lbs of high explosive). The red colored cavity, is where the exploder mechanism is installed to arm the torpedo.

USS Daly, Home Port, Newport, RI, January 1957. Tied abreast (next) to a sister destroyer. TM2 Granados, (5ft 10 inches tall, 160 lbs) standing by two MK 15 torpedo exercise ( positive buoyancy) heads gives an idea of the size of a MK-15 Steam Fish