Came aboard the Bowditch in July 1975 as magnetics rep. (maggot). It was the first of seven 2 to 3 month trips over a seven year period. Unfortunately I lost most of my photos and memorabilia in hurricane Katrina. I used to have the patches pictured on the home page of this site. Great times on those big old ships.

A few days after Thanksgiving in 1962 Michelson was tied up starboard side to a pier at Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland. After a long transatlantic flight via Gander, Newfoundland and Glasgow, Scotland I arrived in the middle of the night. An empty chair greeted me at the top of the gangway. Nobody was in sight. Poking my head through the hatch, I found a bunch of guys hanging out in the bos'n's cabin. One of them told me "just go down those stairs over there. That's where is Navy is". Thus began a most memorable two year cruise on a survey ship.

Always fond memories of my times with OCU 2. Thanks for stirring up some of them :)

I see that you don't have any of the old timers listed. I was aboard from the middle of 1958 to mid Dec 1959. If you are interested I can probably remember some of my shipmates. I was an IC3 at the time. Sort of funny, one of my neighbor's family name is Dutton and I live on Michelson St.

09 July 2014
Three days ago, 06 July 2014, I celebrated my 50th anniversary of reporting aboard the USNS Michelson T-AGS 23 at USN Supply Depot - US Army Terminal, Bayonne, New Jersey for the first of three tours, one Navy and two civilian.

Hard to believe so many years have intervened since that day.

Best wishes to all the folks that sailed these great ships. It was a unique assignment that led to a great life and careers.

Thank you US Navy... and the Draft Board for giving me the "extra incentive" to join the Navy before I found myself residing in a foxhole.

Chet

I remember Dutton being towed through the Russian fishing fleet and the CO decided to have a "repel borders" drill.

Two years on the Dutton (1975-1976) and one year on Bowditch (1978-1979). Went back to both ships a couple of times with NAVOCEANO in the 1980s.

Very interesting times on Hess

This sure brings back a lot of memories! I was aboard the Bowditch during the freakish string of incidents: the fires, DIW, and our Guanabara Bay disaster. I was the NIC Supervisor the day we got hit, and can remember being topside watching that damn freighter coming at us, turning at the last minute and ramming our port side. I was on the bridge for the starboard broadside.

With that, my time on the Bowditch are some of the best memories of my life. I will never forget all the adventures and the friendships.

I really enjoyed reading the Post dated:

Jun 15, 2011, 4:44 pm

By Dennis Cimino