After I got off active duty in the Navy, I remained in the Naval Reserve.  In 1972, two of our NRF (Naval Reserve Force) destroyers were sent to the Mediterranean to "show the flag" and give reservists like myself training in the "haze gray and underway" Navy of CruDesLant (Cruiser Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet).  The destroyers involved were the USS STRONG (DD-758) and USS DYESS (DD-880) of DesRon (Destroyer Squadron) 28.  The STRONG had been modified under the Fleet Rennovation And Modernization (FRAM) II program; she carried her original armament of three twin 5-inch guns, two Mk 11 Hedgehog 7.2-inch projectile projectors ahead of the bridge, two triple Mk 32 torpedo tubes between her stacks, and a hangar for two DASH (Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopters).  DYESS was a FRAM I conversion.  She'd been more extensively rebuilt and had lost one of her twin 5-inch guns, gotten the DASH conversion, and received the ASROC (Anti-Submarine Rocket) system.

 

As the STRONG and DYESS were proceeded from Rota, Spain, to their first port call, Golfe Juan, France (on the Riviera), DYESS experienced a major engineering casualty to her boiler's feedwater supply.  The evaporators could not provide enough distilled water for the boilers and on 6 July 1970, after four days' stay, she departed for emergency repairs at Naples.  Meanwhile, STRONG was detached for independent steaming.  I had arrived aboard on 2 July with a batch of Reservists.  The day that DYESS left for NAPLES, STRONG got underway for Tunisia where we were to shadow a Soviet "Foxtrot"-class submarine.  The evolution with the sub was less than satisfactory (that's a different story) and after about 12 days at sea we pulled into Pyreaus, Greece to drop off our first batch of Reservists.  I elected to extend my cruise for another two weeks and contined onboard the STRONG.  When we left Greece we teamed up with the ComSixthFlt flag ship, USS COLUMBUS (CG-12).  We operated with COLUMBUS for the next two weeks and got plenty of training doing underway replenishments. 

 

Our captain was the second least senior skipper in the entire Sixth Fleet.  Because most evolutions in the Navy are done by the seniority of the ship's captain, it wasn't too hard to understand why we did everything last or nest to last.  Today we were scheduled to take on fuel.  Standard Operating Procedure was to maintain 80 percent fuel aboard.  This necessitated coming alongside either the cruiser or an oiler to top off our tanks.  Refuelling operations for the COLUMBUS group had begun after 0900.  The ships lined up, by seniority, on either side of the oiler.  It was now 1030 and we were next in line behind a frigate.  The oiler was ahead of us, COLUMBUS was fuelling from the portside of the oiler and the frigate was fuelling from the starboard side.  Things started wrong from the start.

 

Three of us were sitting on the deck and anchor capstans near the bow watching the show.  A refuelling receptacle was rigged on the after helo deck of the frigate.  Once the frigate had gotten the span wire connected from the oiler, the refuelling hose was sent over.  The fuel probe plugged into the frigate's receptacle just as it was supposed to do.  However, as soon as the oiler started providing fuel under pressure, the fuel probe blew out.  The pressure caused the hose and probe to run backward up the span wire about half its length.  Gravity pulled the probe back to the receptacle where it supposedly locked-in again.  Fuelling resumed and the probe blew out again.  This continued for several more times.

 

Once thing could be said about the captain of the STRONG, he was always a quick man to use the ship's main communications system.  We heard the crackle and pop of the 1MC speakers: "<crackle> Gents.  This is the Captain speaking.  Most of you are probably wondering what is going on with this refuelling evolution.  From my position on the bridge, this whole operation looks like a monkey f***ing a football.  I'll let you know when we're going to come alongside for fuel.  Out."

 

The three of us looked at one another with that "I didn't hear what I thought I heard, did I?" look.  There was a general agreement that we did, and then we broke out in roars of laughter.  The frigate did finally got its receptacle problem fixed and we got fuel.  I never have forgotten our skipper and his microphone "atta boys" and "oh s**ts."