At the end of 1969, our ship the USS NUECES (APB-40) was in LBNSY undergoing decommissioning.  (For those who haven't experienced this process, it is a very labor intensive one that is aggravated for those involved by the departure of crew members that are trnsferred to other commands as the work is supposed to have been completed to the "schedule.")

 

Soon after we arrived in port, we were moved from our original pier to another one where the "decomm" process was to be done. 

 

Across the open water from us was the WW2 aircraft carrier USS HORNET (CVA-12).  HORNET had been the main recovery ship for the Apollo 12 lunar mission.

 

After picking up the astronauts and their capsule, the ship steamed for the West Coast.  The word to the ship was that a big welcoming ceremony was to be staged at LBNSY when she returned there.  The admiral decided that the ship needed a new paint job (on the pierside).  So, for one day prior to entering port, every hand that could use a paint roller or paint brush was engaged in painting the starboard side of the carrier, at sea, before entering port.  Paint was appied over rust streaks, salt spary, dirt, and everything else that should have been cleand and prepared. 

 

However, fate stepped-in at the last moment and the three astronauts were flown off and back to Washington, DC for presentations there.  The big welcoming ceremony was scaled-back and HORNET entered port rather quietly.

 

About a week later, I was over on the same side of the harbor as HORNET's pier.  By this time all the grunge that was trapped underneath the new coat of paint had begun to bleed through and the new paint was beginning to peel in some areas.  I know that there were a lot of unhappy painters who saw this not only as a waste of paint, but now they'd have to remove all the badly-applied paint and redo it.  Consider what a job it is to paint something the size of a carrier.

 

Epilogue: Another thing that I remember about the HORNET in port was the extraordinarly number of fires that they had aboard ship.  The duty fire party must've been the best trained in the world.

 

Fires are not uncommon aboard ships in port when they are undergoing repairs by yard workmen.  However, HORNET seemed to be having one a day to every other day.  There was one Sunday, I had the duty on our ship (about 2/3 of the crew was on liberty on both ours and HORNET), that they had three fires called-away on the 1MC public address system.  It was rather eerie hearing something like: "FIRE! FIRE!  Fire in compartment (location), frame (location).  Away the Duty Fire Party."

 

Even stranger was, that during my part of the decomm of our ship, we never had a single fire.  I have no clue why.