Bowditch Crew Aboard Ship

This is a collection of crew photos from my 1 ½ years aboard the USNS Bowditch as Bunker-Ramo tech rep. Barry Bethel replaced me in June of 1973.

Ship's Spaces

Some shots of ship’s spaces.

The Gym

The transformation of #2 Hold into a real gym. This effort started during the yard period in Falmouth late in 1971, just before I joined the ship’s company. The last of it got finished at sea on our way to Rota in February of 1972. Playing just about any kind of game down there was a real trip in a heaving sea. Jump up as the ship was heaving up, and you might find yourself 10’ off the deck as it hove down.

Skeet Shooting Off the Fantail

At sea on fair days, we rigged up a skeet thrower on the fantail and wasted many, many clay pigeons, hours, and shotgun shells shooting skeet. If you got good, you got very, very good as the ship heaved, swayed, and surged. Most of us just got bad. Note the ear cotton in these pics.

The Bowditch Engine Room

These photos are from the Cruise Book Pasteups, and originally accompanied a photo montage of the Bowditch's engine room in the April 1972 Cruise Book.

Bowditch Crew at Southampton

We inported in Southampton probably more than any single other place in the Atlantic Theater. As a result, the crew began to develop relationships (both spontaneous and ongoing) with the natives. We also ventured outside the city to other parts of England.

Bowditch Crew at Stonehenge

During many of our Southampton inports, we ventured in groups outside the city to other parts of England. These pics document a trip to Stonehenge in multiple rental cars.

Bowditch Crew in Southern Spain

In the early 1970’s, the Bowditch enjoyed numerous inports in southern Spain and Italy. We visited Rota, Malaga, Barcelona, and Naples.

Southampton to Paris

Dennis "Flash" Johnsey and I traveled by bicycle, using two old bikes I found in one of the holds and refurbished.

See Flash's albums from Paris, Notre Dame and The Louvre here.

Driver's School

In 1972, Mark “The Dildo” Comstock, Dave Strause, and I started a series of race driving lessons at the Jim Russell International Race Driving School in Snetterton, England. This is the school that trained such well-known drivers as Emerson Fitipaldi in the late 1960’s. Over a number of inports, we rented cars in So’ton, drove up north to the track, and spent a few days training. Of course, there was the obligatory stop for a couple days in London on the way.

The School used Formula Fords to train us. These were open-wheeled, homulagated racers that used a tuned Cosworth engine and frame design. A pretty tight fit for a 6’ 5” tech rep, but worth the squeeze. There’s just nothing like the feeling of winding around corners at 120 mph with your butt-cheeks only 4” off the ground. The cars were set up with limiters on their tachs, so students could be gradually allowed to go faster and faster through the course as their skills increased.