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It was around this time that we put on a weapons demonstration for the Japanese Naval Self-defense Forces. Another drone - a much slower prop job this time - bit the waves from a hit by our missiles and our guns took care of towed targets. I believe we received complements from COM7THFLT for our performance. I know we won a battle efficiency "E11 for the ship, our OPSDIV, and for our missile fire control radar that year.
The ship's last call in Okinawa was marked by the transfer of command and a new skipper. I1ve often wondered how the rest of Captain Fitz-Patrick's career went. For those of us who had Fitz-Patrick as the Captain from the start, his departure was the loss of a personal friend. We heard he was supposed to take command of a missile cruiser but there were also rumors of a staff appointment. Our new skipper was CDR Sadler who, in due course, made his own mark on the life aboard Preble.
Our final port of call on our first overseas deployment was Hong Kong. For those of you who don't know, Hong Kong translates as "fragrant harbor." Never had a place been so wrongly named. After weeks at sea, you smell land a long way out and Hong Kong, with its open sewers and garbage-strewn water was anything but fragrant. Yet with all that, downtown Hong Kong was everything I'd ever dreamed about the Orient. Noise, crowds, bustle, smells, sights, exotic foods, and shops of all kinds. I loved it. Talk about "shop 'till you drop!" We were only one of the escorts for a carrier so there were suddenly huge numbers of US sailors in port. I know you couldn't find fresh dairy products in any of the restaurants very shortly after liberty began. Whoever said the "recombined" milk we got on the ship while overseas tasted as good as the real thing must never have had to drink it.
We were scheduled to stay in Hong Kong for several days before heading out to sea on our first leg back to the States (CONUS) but the weather didn't cooperate. Typhoon Hannah arrived one night and we had an emergency recall of all liberty parties. I don't think we got over 80 percent of the crew on board before we weighed anchor and headed into the storm. The wind was blowing so hard I got knocked down and had to get off the fantail by hauling myself along the sound-powered telephone lines to the quarterdeck. From that point on my recollections are a jumble of wind, torrential rain, waves going over the bridge, and the ship heeling over as if she'd never come back level. After an intensely exhausting helm watch I went back to my radar room to lay down because I didn't want to be below main deck if she went over. The storm eased sometime late the next day and we returned to Hong Kong to pick up our "orphans" and give those of us who had been aboard in the storm some needed rest. Strangest thing about the storm was that when it was over I almost wished we could go back through it. Guess I had an adrenaline "high." The morning we got ready to leave port for home a tincan went by with a guitar band playing "California Here We Come." One of our crew pointed at the band saying, "Listen to those guys." when his brand-new Rolex watch slipped off his wrist and into the murky waters of the harbor. I really shouldn't have laughed.
We had, of course, cleaned and freshly painted the ship from waterline to
truck in preparation for our return to San Diego. I Can't remember whether it was just
before or just after we passed Iwo Jima that we had to refuel from the carrier. Hannah's
effects were still with us in the form of
huge swells. Hauling an oil line aboard is tough work at the best of times but off a
carrier in big seas exhausted all of us. No sooner had we started taking oil on board when
a swell pushed the two ships apart breaking the aft oil line and spraying No. 2 bunker oil
all over the stern of the Preble. I was luckier than some as I was forward and didn't lose
my clothing and boondockers to the oil. I can still see those damn "bird farm"
sailors standing on the flight deck pointing at us and laughing while the guys back aft
stripped down and threw their ruined clothes overboard. I was so angry that, if I could
have, I'd have launched a torpedo into that carrier. The cleanup took the rest of the
cruise home to accomplish.
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This page was last updated on 01/03/05.