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Salvage Sailor's USN Collection - "it just followed me home"


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Salvage Sailor

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I'll plow through the rest of these manuals quickly so I can post some more 'eye candy'

 

This is a DOT Coast Guard MERSAR manual. One of our primary tasks was Search & Rescue and admittedly the Coast Guard is the best in the business, so we used their manuals (or ripped them off and slapped USN on them).

 

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This is a Vietnam era edition of the INTERCO - International Code of Signals H.O. 102

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I won't elaborate on this important manual as it's covered on some other forum topics including this one I posted a while back:

 

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USN Signal flag & Pennants info

 

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This is NAVEDTRA 10149-F The rate training manual for advancement to QM3 & QM2.

 

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along with the "A" School textbook

 

In the USN, you could be trained in the service schools, primarily "A" schools, to become 'rated' and then go to the fleet, or you could go to the fleet out of boot camp the then 'strike' for a rate by doing independent study and the correspondence course.

 

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This is the correspondence course for a QM striker (also used by a rated QMSN to advance to QM3)

 

To advance a sailor needed four (4) things.

 

1. a good evaluation scored from 1.0 to 4.0 with a recommendation for advancement.

 

2. Time in rate

 

3. Time in service

 

4. A passing grade on the advancement test in your rate

 

Correspondence courses were available in all USN rates as well as other disciplines (Mathematics, blueprint reading & Sketching, fluid mechanics, etc) that you could take for self study and also to combat boredom on long sea tours.

 

 

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This is an unmarked test package. You would be time tested by a training PO or Officer, who would then seal it and send it off to NAVTRA for scoring.

 

Examples of NAVTRA Rate Training Manuals

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Salvage Sailor

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Getting back to weather observations & those instruments....

 

This is what the Hydrographic Office would do with the observation data we collected.

 

World Atlas 1944

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The data

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The charts (all oceans were included world wide)

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Salvage Sailor

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Salvage ships were extremely versatile and used for many other missions including Oceanographic, Surveying, the Atomic Tests, Arctic Operations (DewLine etc), Weapons Testing (target towing and recovery of targets), Submersible testing, and lots of (can't say what) classified operations & test beds.

 

These are Oceanographic reference studies we carried in our Navigation Pub. stock.

 

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Scientific & Submersible

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Navigation Manuals for Seamanship (Bowditch 1962 & 1977), & Celestial Navigation

 

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Compass Adjustment & Dead Reckoning (Azimuth correction tables for Celestial & Sun Fixes)

 

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Salvage Sailor

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And then there was our primary mission - Marine Salvage

 

The Pearl Harbor study released in 1968 by VADM Homer Wallin

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There are two giants of USN Salvage, Edward Ellsberg who raised sunken subs between the wars, invented much of the diving gear, anchors & techniques on the spot, and in WWII was the Atlantic Salvage Forces commander in Africa, the Med, and the ETO (including the Normandy invasion and Mulberry etc deployment)

 

The other man was Homer Wallin, the Salvor of Pearl Harbor and the Pacific Salvage Forces commander.

 

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From their substantial work came these: The Salvage & Towing manuals used in the Vietnam War, and the clearing of Haipong Harbor & the Suez Canal after the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

 

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Salvage Sailor

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These are USN surface ship alarms for General Quarters (Battle Stations), Chemical Attack & the Collision Alarm. They were salvaged from a WWII era ship that was being scrapped.

 

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These alarms would be mounted in sets in several locations - on the bridge, after conn, port & starboard quarterdecks and possibly down in main control.

 

The GQ alarm which was sounded on my WWII era salvage ships & cold war/Vietnam era destroyers was the familiar Hollywood movie klaxon BONG! BONG! BONG! which immediately got your blood running and your feet and elbows pumping.

 

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When you heard this alarm, you would race to your GQ station as assigned on the Watch, Quarter & Station Bill (I'll show this board later). You would go UP and FORWARD to PORT, or DOWN & AFT to STARBOARD to avoid a 'Chinese Fire Drill' or the more familiar Cluster....you know the rest (hey, I'm an old guy, I don't have to be PC).

 

The green alarm is the Chemical Attack alarm - on our ships, this was a constant loud tone. That meant drop what you're doing, get your gas mask on & either get off the decks or stay inside the compartments. If you were out on deck, oh well! This was also known as the NBC Alarm -Nuclear Biological Chemical or No Body Cares so Kiss your A.. Goodbye Alarm.

 

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The yellow alarm is the Collision Alarm which in the Salvage business one was bound to hear for real sooner or later, usually moments after you were grounded on a reef or in the mud. This alarm was a low to high pitched tone, somewhat like an air raid alarm but it would stop at the high end and go back to the low to high peal.

 

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The numbering plates are painted over multiple times so I can't see the info, but also if you look closely at the green & yellow alarms, you'll notice that they've been swapped out. There is yellow under the green & green under the yellow.

 

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Salvage Sailor

Going back to the Azimuth Circle I posted previously, here's a photo from our NAFTS website

 

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USS Apache ATF 67 QM1 Jones and LT Nahabedian Taking a Noon Sun Line with a Sextant.

(Photo Contributed By John Nahabedian)

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Salvage Sailor

Battle lanterns were hung all over USN ships in passageways, work spaces, berthing spaces, mess decks, and also in the damage control lockers. The older WWI & WWII models were grey, red or green, but the later Korean to present era battle lanterns were yellow.

 

These Vietnam era battle lanterns were salvaged from another target being towed out to sea.

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Battle Lanterns are basically the same but come in two (2) types - hardwired and portable. They are mounted to bulkheads or overheads with either a vertical or horizontal twist bracket.

 

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This is the portable lantern. It has a toggle switch and works with the old Ray-O-Vac dry cell batteries.

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and this is the hard wired version. It would go on if the ship 'dropped the load' or by using the push button test switch on the top. I'm showing this lantern upside down, when mounted on the bulkhead or overhead, the wire would be on the side or bottom, and the US faceplate up.

 

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Both of these lantern are made by The Roflan Company, Topsfield, Mass.

 

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  • 8 months later...
Salvage Sailor
Salvage Sailor

SERVRON 5 patch - Service Squadron Five - Our salvage group Homeported in Guam during the 1950's - 1960's, then relocated to Alpha Docks, Pearl Harbor, HI

 

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This one is mounted on a green wardroom tablecloth

 

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SERVRON 5 Plaque on Philippine Mahogany

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"The Connie Maru"

USS CONSERVER (ARS-39) my Sister Ship in SERVON 5

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Great items, Craig.

I, also, collect USN unit plaques.

 

As I'm an ex-RD who converted to DP, the RD gear brought back many memories. I spent many an hour staring at an SPS-10...

 

What? No Watch Quarter & Station Bill in your collection? :)

 

Thanks for posting.

-dan

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I've got no business at all making any sort of a comment about anything Naval, so I'll make a comment anyway as a gesture of enthusiastic empathy.

 

These are really great stuff! bravo.gif

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Salvage Sailor
dpcsdan said:
Great items, Craig.

I, also, collect USN unit plaques.

 

As I'm an ex-RD who converted to DP, the RD gear brought back many memories. I spent many an hour staring at an SPS-10...

 

What? No Watch Quarter & Station Bill in your collection? :)

 

Thanks for posting.

-dan

 

Dan,

 

Do you want the mid-watch so you can sleep in for morning quarters?

 

PS - I'll be posting more plaques soon 

 

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USN Supply No. 1-0177-LF-223-5500 in lower right hand corner of Watch, Quarter and Station Bill

Came off of a YTB (yard tug) at Pearl Harbor, I think it was YTB-814 Waxahatchie

 

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These are standard issue to all Naval Vessels from pre-WWII to present day. They list the complete assignments of sailors by Billet in their respective Divisions to their Battle, Watch, Operational & Emergency stations in complete detail.

 

They were posted in the Divisional areas and constantly updated. It is every sailor's duty to know it by heart. This is a close up of the left side of the board

 

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...and the right side of the board.

 

It's amazing that we could write so much information in the tiny spaces, but we did.

 

IMG_3652.JPG

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Salvage Sailor
I've got no business at all making any sort of a comment about anything Naval, so I'll make a comment anyway as a gesture of enthusiastic empathy.

 

These are really great stuff! bravo.gif

 

Thanks Bluehawk,

 

Ditto on your aviation collection. I'll be posting some naval aviation items and USAAF eventually.

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Dan,

 

Do you want the mid-watch so you can sleep in for morning quarters?

 

PS - I'll be posting more plaques soon thumbsup.gif

Okay, there it is Watch, Quarter & Station Bill...let's see, for GQ or Repel Boarders I go to...

 

Thanks,

-dan

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  • 10 years later...

Salvage Dude, fellow Hoo Yah deep sea kinda guy here; Sorry to correct as you be a moderator and I'm just an FNG . . . But up a few pages you said, for GQ movements; up and forward on the port side . . . OOPS!! It's up and forward on the starboard side, down and aft on port. BPO MM1(SW/DV)

 

Now, let me say, nice collection. I will have to get mine all together and take a picture of it. WWII Battle lanterns, Teak from USS Missouri's quarterdeck, MK-V dive knives, A Mk-1 mask (used to have an old KMB-10, but I sold it). I've also got a bunch of WWII stuff that belonged to my wife's father, a Navy F6F-3N (night fighter) pilot, including his backgammon set. Oh, and I have a sample of USS Arizona's fuel oil, that I collected while on a dive on the wreck.

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Salvage Sailor

Holy Cats! 10 plus years gone by since I've posted this stuff and I never did open up the seabags or pull out my boarding party web gear.

 

I'll get to that in the next decade or so........

 

Carry on

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Holy Cats! 10 plus years gone by since I've posted this stuff and I never did open up the seabags or pull out my boarding party web gear.

 

I'll get to that in the next decade or so........

 

Carry on

Thanks! I've been turning a nice shade of blue holding my breath waiting to see what's in those seabags!

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  • 3 years later...
On 7/10/2008 at 10:11 PM, Salvage Sailor said:

Navy plaques come in various materials. Brass, bronze, aluminum, wood & also ceramics.

 

This ARS plaque is from the DIVER class narrow hull, USS PRESERVER (ARS-8). It belonged to a Plank Owner - CWO4 JAMES C. MORROW. I've not researched this Warrant Officer, but typically ARS complements only have two (2) warrants aboard, so he was either the Chief Engineer (CHENG) or the Bo'sun.

 

RECLAIMER was decommissioned and recommissioned several times in her three-war career, and this plaque is most likely from her last commissioning as it's a 1980's style plaque.

Plaque_10_PRESERVER.jpg

Also came in decals and thin tin.

 

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On 6/21/2019 at 11:57 PM, Salvage Sailor said:

Holy Cats! 10 plus years gone by since I've posted this stuff and I never did open up the seabags or pull out my boarding party web gear.

 

I'll get to that in the next decade or so........

 

Carry on

 

Bit late in finding this thread, but it is fabulous! Would love for your continuation to be done! You have a great way of describing the things that makes it really simple and real! Love the warning bells!

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2 hours ago, stratasfan said:

 

Bit late in finding this thread, but it is fabulous! Would love for your continuation to be done! You have a great way of describing the things that makes it really simple and real! Love the warning bells!

Yep, totally agree with you! 

Mikie

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Salvage Sailor
12 hours ago, manayunkman said:

Were you a collector before you went into the service?

 

More of an archivist, military history is 'my thing' & I have my inherited lineal ancestors military gear from the ACW, Span-Am War, Great War, WWII, Korea, etc.

 

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Moderators Note:  Just corrected the photo mis-alignments (upside down, sideways, etc.) from our last upgrade to make the topic flow.  And yes, I'll be opening those seabags soon which have my uniforms, flags, landing party web gear, etc., within and displaying these time capsules either on this topic or on a new one.

 

Carry On

 

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US Navy Diver Casting

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Salvage Sailor

Junk Boat Pirate, USN LT(jg) Diving Officer and yours truly, USS BOLSTER (ARS-38) Kona Bay, Hawaii 1978.  He & I both were transferred from GRASP to BOLSTER along with an Electricians Mate.  Several of our other shipmates went to other salvage ships in the squadron, DELIVER, SAFEGUARD, RECLAIMER, BEAUFORT, etc.

 

Same officer shown at Dillingham Shipyard, Honolulu, Hawaii 1978

IMG_0002.jpg.dfeac264d8f672b248ce3db68aa5ef4b.jpg

 

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