This is one of the old salts who was aboard when I arrived. Iʼm thinking he was an ET1, but I could be totally full of it, too. This is Sonar , and the crewman is sitting at the control console of the SASS multibeam sonar. Lest you think we took only pleasure cruises, this is one of the three OcUnit working spaces in which we stood 24-hour watches while at sea.
Johnsey was an old salt when I joined the Michelson. He had already served on the Bowditch and was doing a second TAGS tour on the Mickey Maru. Here we catch Dennis actually working--he's sitting at the plot table in NIC, one of the other OcUnit spaces in which we stood 24-hour watches at sea. Behind and to the right of Dennis' head is NAVDAC, the CP677 computer running the Ocean Survey Program navigation software. In the right foreground, out of focus, is a WPN-3 Loran-C receiver. These receivers were, until recently, installed in Survey Control, another of the OcUnit work spaces, on the 03 Level abaft the Pilot House.
This was taken by the ship’s photographer. My memory is a little hazy, but I think he was actually a radioman who had taken on the assignment of processing film and doing whatever photo work was needed for the Michelson’s mission. I can’t believe I was ever this thin!
Hereʼs Johnsey again. On the right is Leigh Winslow of NAVOCEANO.
The guy in the foreground is Paco Valledeo, a bronco-riding, tobacco-chewing rodeo cowboy who somehow managed to get into the worldʼs richest and most powerful Navy. He was a very nice guy, and it turned out that his cousin had taught a shop class I took during high school in Lompoc, California.
ETR-2 Steve Campbell in his stateroom. The accommodations were pretty plush, considering how most sailors in the regular Navy lived. Four-man staterooms occupied by only two or three, with a separate shared head — including a shower! In the year I was aboard the Michelson, we ran low on fresh water during one cruise and had to shower with salt water, then rinse with fresh. And we had the temerity to bitch about it!
I donʼt know what those guys on the starboard side were looking at, but the ship appears to have a pretty good list to port, judging by the horizon.
The MSC crew included a carpenter, which is who this lone soul was. Heʼs sitting on the fluke of the spare anchor behind him.
Donʼt know any of these guys. It appears that weʼve got another roll to port.