An Image From My Past . . .

[indianasmith]

The day was December 11, 1985.
The place, the United States Naval Base in Yokosuka, Japan.
The ship is the USS Lockwood, the only vessel I ever sailed on.
After four months in drydock for a routine overhaul, we put to sea
for a three day shakedown cruise to test out our new weapons and
systems.  We were returning to Yokosuka late in the evening - no moon,
cloudy night, full dark, lots of industrial clutter messing with our surface
radar.  The captain ordered the helmsman to take us across an outbound
shipping lane in order to return to harbor, and a large Filipino ore carrier,
the RPS Santo Nino, had just pulled out from anchorage and had not yet
turned on their running lights.  We were struck just forward of the bridge.
I was in my bunk, about 40 feet aft and on the opposite side of the ship,
from the impact.  The gash in our hull was 22 feet wide, 35 feet high,
and extended 10 feet into the skin of the ship.  Had Santo Nino been going any
faster we might well have been cut in half.  Miraculously, no one was killed.
The worst injury was a broken ankle, and the most permanent casualty was
our Captain's career - a talented officer I greatly admired, he was relieved
of command and issued a Punitive Letter of Reprimand, effectively killing
his chances of ever making Admiral.  To this day the collision of the Lockwood
remains the scariest thing that has ever happened to me - I thought for
sure we might sink when I felt that huge, shuddering impact and heard the
hull ripping open!

[Pacman000]

I'm glad that you survived and that there was no loss of life. 

[indianasmith]

   Looking back on the images all these years later, I can't help but be amazed all of us were OK.
One humorous note that came out of the mess - my enlistment ended the following summer.  My
last portcall on LOCKWOOD was Subic Bay, PI, where, as any sailor will tell you,you could get ANY
image put onto a T-shirt.  Knowing I was about to become a civilian, and wanting a souvenier of
my single most memorable military experience, I designed a T-shirt and had it made that had a
picture of the collision on the front, with the caption "I Survived the Crash of '85".  The back had
"USS Lockwood FF-1064", but the "Lock" was crossed out and replaced with "Leak".  I had no intention
of wearing it aboard the ship or on our base, and brought mine aboard buried at the bottom of
my duffel bag before going on 30 days' leave.  However, the shopkeeper put the design in his
window and sold about 200 of them - and some idiot wore his aboard the ship the same night I
picked mine up!  The XO, whose career was also ruined, reamed him out, and in grand Navy tradition,
he ratted me out as the designer.  So the Exec came storming into the radio shack the next
morning, breathing fire and smoke, trying to find me, only to find that I had left the country on
leave that morning!  When I checked back aboard at the end of my 30 days, he didn't say anything -
but did reference the incident on my separation evaluation as an "isolated incident of poor judgement!"

I still have the T-shirt, BTW!

[Andrew]

I'd not heard of this accident, or if I had it is lost somewhere in a normally unused section of my mind.  That looks to be quite a bit of damage.  Then again, a frigate is not a very large ship, and a large ship struck you with its bow.  It's surprising how much damage a ship can take (especially a military vessel) and stay afloat, but the minor injuries that resulted from such a collision is really surprising.  I bet that the ore carrier actually pushed you along sideways through the water.

Cool story!

[indianasmith]

It's 27 years ago now . . . so strange, though, it still feels like yesterday!

I miss the Navy every now and then.  It was four of the best years of my life.

[RCMerchant]

s**t Indy.
Thats dam cool-not what happened-just the fact that you survived it.

[lester1/2jr]

I thught it was the USS Cole at first

[Flangepart]

Yeesh!
I'd imagine the whole duty watch got a reaming for that.
Good luck for the crew, though. And one cool story to tell!

[Flangepart]

As a matter of fact...

http://www.destroyersonline.com/usndd/ff1064/f1064pho.htm