USS Nassau 1979 - 1981

The months spent in pre-comm down on the Gulf at Pascagoula, Mississippi were all hot and muggy. We started out in barracks and as work progressed and the ship became habitable, began moving aboard. The crew was anxious to get underway for our scheduled homeport, Norfolk, Virginia. Nassau was a new type of ship, intended to be extensively automated. So manpower was figured on all that automation. But when buget cuts occurred, manual systems were installed instead of the more expensive automated systems. Unfortunately the manpower wasn't increased to compensate for the loss of automation. That meant a heavier workload for everyone. I headed up a division of ten men, responsible for maintaining three 5"/54 Mk 45 gun mounts, eight 20mm gun mounts and 27 ammunition storage locations (called magazines) and the associated sprinkler systems plus two 40mm saluting batteries. The work was fairly constant during duty hours but there were lots of good times too and liberty (leaving the ship for fun and relaxation) was good. We visited numerous ports in the Carribean, Spain, Italy, Egypt, and Yugoslavia, to name a few.

I made Chief Gunner's Mate aboard Nassau and bought my first live-aboard sailboat. I named this sailboat, "Airborne". She was a 26' Westerly, bilge keels, made in England and displacing 2600 lbs. The name "Airborne" was from Bill Buckley's book about his trans-atlantic voyage in his sailboat, "Cyrano". Most all of my off duty hours while the ship was in Norfolk were spent either sailing and exploring the Chesapeake Bay and it's many tributaries or just being aboard my boat tied up in its slip at Little Creek Amphibious Base.

The arrival of a brand new Ensign as our Division Officer marked a downward turn. The relationship started off bad and continued to get worse. I was definitely not the Ensigns favorite Chief. But even with that problem and the workload I enjoyed being aboard Nassau. The division was replete with professionals, great guys who could be relied on. There were lots of small arms to play with. Not to mention those awsome 20mm cannons. And of course, three of the big guns that I went to school for. But when it came time for me to re-enlist I decided to re-up for something I'd never had...shore duty. I never received big bucks for my enlistments (a hazard of the GM rating), so I always asked for 30 days basket leave and almost always got it. I left Nassau with mixed emotions and after my leave, reported to ComNavSurfLant, Norfolk, Virginia in 1981. I'll interpret the preceeding acronym for all you non-Navy types: Commander Naval Surface Force, Atlantic Fleet.

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