USS Boxer life preserver

[joefriday22]

I picked this up yesterday. The ship has an interesting history:

 

USS Boxer (CV/CVA/CVS-21, LPH-4) was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. She was the fifth US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for a British ship captured by the Americans during the War of 1812. Boxer was commissioned in April 1945, too late to serve in World War II, but saw extensive service in the Korean War, for which she received eight battle stars. She was reclassified in the early 1950s as an attack carrier (CVA), then to an antisubmarine carrier (CVS), and finally to an amphibious assault ship (LPH), carrying helicopters and marines. Unlike most of her sister ships, she received no major modernization, and thus throughout her career retained the classic appearance of a World War II Essex-class aircraft carrier ship. As an LPH she served the Atlantic/Caribbean and in the Pacific, sometimes serving as an aircraft transport. She was the prime recovery vessel for the early Apollo AS-201 mission, and would have been the prime recovery vessel for Gemini 8, had the spacecraft not made an emergency landing in the Pacific instead.

 

She was decommissioned in 1969, and sold for scrap in 1971

 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking,

Rob

[hink441]

Rob, very nice. That type of preserver was typical of the type used by passengers on helos and CODs.

[Golem]

It is interesting to see how technology has progressed.

 

Thanks for the pix

[joefriday22]

Thank you guys.

 

Chris..COD??

 

Rob

[Golem]

Thank you guys.

 

Chris..COD??

 

Rob

Not Chris, but COD = carrier onboard delivery

 

The regular supply plane, in other words. It would also bring new sailors and take the old ones back to port.

[joefriday22]

Not Chris, but COD = carrier onboard delivery

 

The regular supply plane, in other words. It would also bring new sailors and take the old ones back to port.

 

 

Aahh, thank you. I live 10 minutes from the largest Navy base in the world (Norfolk) but I'm still not up on all of the lingo.

 

Rob

[Dave]

Ruuuuuber Duckyyyyy...you're the one....

 

LOL

 

Yep, the good old "rubber duckie" life jacket. Issued to the ship at a rate of 150% normally, and more for an amphib. I had my own "personal" rubber duckie...I didn't trust anyone else to make sure it worked in case I ever needed it!

 

Dave

[hink441]

Rob my apologies'

I am a little off track, but this is my favorite video of the venerable COD aircraft in action. This guy actually flies through a wave. :w00t:

 

[joefriday22]

Cool video..thanks for sharing.

 

I was looking for you at the auction this weekend.

 

Rob

[hink441]

Rob,

I missed another one, I was at work again. I will make the next auction, I hope !!

[joefriday22]

Rob,

I missed another one, I was at work again. I will make the next auction, I hope !!

 

This one was at the Virginia War Museum..trash and treasure style.

 

Rob

[sigsaye]

Actually, that bad boy looks in better shape than most of the ones we had out in the fleet. By the way, the small cloth tapes with the snaps are to hold the gray nylon straps tight clase into the waist belt to keep them from snagging on stuff. There should be a singel cell flash light pinned into the loop on the right side, and a whistle attached to the same loop, just incase you want to fix it up and fit it out proper.

 

Steve Hesson ( who did the maitenance on these for may years)

[joefriday22]

Actually, that bad boy looks in better shape than most of the ones we had out in the fleet. By the way, the small cloth tapes with the snaps are to hold the gray nylon straps tight clase into the waist belt to keep them from snagging on stuff. There should be a singel cell flash light pinned into the loop on the right side, and a whistle attached to the same loop, just incase you want to fix it up and fit it out proper.

 

Steve Hesson ( who did the maitenance on these for may years)

 

 

Thanks very much for the info Sir.

 

Rob

[67Rally]

...who did the maitenance on these for may years)

 

 

Yeah...I did the same PMS on these for my division. I never gun-decked it as I knew my own arse depended on these.

[sigsaye]

Yeah...I did the same PMS on these for my division. I never gun-decked it as I knew my own arse depended on these.

My first SM1 turned 17, made SM3/c and had his DD Kamikazied out from under him (picked up a Navy Cross and Purple Heart) all on the same day. He was very particular about Battle Dress and the gear being absolutely correct. (BTW, he enlisted when he was 15 with "Parental" Consent saying he was 17). But, yeah, taking care of this stuff was always a "Special" thing with me too.

 

Steve Hesson

[joefriday22]

My first SM1 turned 17, made SM3/c and had his DD Kamikazied out from under him (picked up a Navy Cross and Purple Heart) all on the same day. He was very particular about Battle Dress and the gear being absolutely correct. (BTW, he enlisted when he was 15 with "Parental" Consent saying he was 17). But, yeah, taking care of this stuff was always a "Special" thing with me too.

 

Steve Hesson

 

 

You never know when the life you save may be your own.

 

My father said that when he was in the AF in the 50's, inspectors would go into the parachute area, pick a few off the shelf, grab a few riggers, and throw them in a plane with the chute off the shelf. He said those guys were very carefull (as they should have been anyway) to pack correctly as they never knew if they may end up jumping out of a plane with it.

 

Rob