FMSAA
News From Fort Schuyler
June 25, 2000 - Volume 4, No. 22
ON THE WAY UP - News from STAN HECKER, Class of 1947, that CATHERINE HANFT, Class of 1985, "was recently selected for promotion to Commander. Cate is stationed in Groton, Connecticut on the staff of the Commander Northeast Region."
SHIPMATE-MENTOR-FRIEND - Returning from the Outer Banks where he visited classmates BILL KEARNS and DAVE OAKSMITH, KEN PETER, Class of 1954, writes that: "Captain Edward Venetianer [Class of 1907], was one of my very favorite people and shipmates. After graduation in 1954 I taught in the ME department and sailed TSES II for two summers as 3rd Asst. NORM WENNAGEL and I spent many fine hours ashore with Capt. Ed as our tour guide. He knew well EVERY port, even to where to get a haircut. We went to a barber shop in Lisbon where he was greeted by the barber as an old friend."
TAKING LIBERTIES - "Your story on the JOHN BROWN brought back a lot of memories" writes PAUL HOPSON, Class of 1970."In the '60s, engineers still had to study-up on reciprocating steam plants, as those questions were still asked on the license exams. Chief PFLEGING used to draw very intricate drawings on the blackboard to illustrate it all. For me, the highlight of that class was taking a day-trip down to the JOHN BROWN for their weekly running of the plant, (seemed as though it was a Wednesday). They had the propeller shaft unbolted at the bulkhead so the prop wouldn't turn. The ship's cadets started everything up, drained all the systems, and then set the engine to "rocking". Seem to remember that the "Stephenson Link" was positioned by a small little engine - so when that little engine was left running, it would rock the link back-&-forth, which then had the engine running forward, then reversing, then forward.... so that was the way a "real" Liberty was warmed up." "I also remember that when we arrived on board, we were sent back to the steering room to change into our "dungs." We had our uniforms hanging on whatever convenient piece of equipment which could act as a coat hanger. When we were done, one of my classmates discovered that his wallet was missing. That left us with some bad feelings. Later in the week, the guy received his wallet in the mail -- with no money missing."
CALLING JOHN BROWN/FORT SCHUYLER ALUMNI - Paul also recalled that: "An upperclassman to us was a graduate of that school.... class of '68... name began with a K ? Why don't you put out a call for names! I'm certain there were more than a few! "
APPLES AND ORANGES -"In [last] week's articles.....the reader gets the distinct impression that TSES IV was a Victory ship. It was not," notes TOM CONNORS, Class of 1967. "It was a C-3 converted into a troop transport, operated by MSTS." Another reader, VERNE TOMLINS, Class of 1965, wrote: "I think it is a misleading to attempt to lump Liberty, Victory & 'C' class ships into one 'interchangeability' bucket. While individual components may have been interchangeable, from an engineering viewpoint, the Liberty ships were very different, particularly with Liberty main engines and auxiliaries being reciprocating engine driven whereas both Victory and 'C' class ship main engines were cross compound steam turbines. Victory and 'C' class ship auxiliary systems were motor and turbine driven with a few steam reciprocating auxiliary pumps for black start and emergency operations." [The NFFS Editor pleads guilty to making that fruit salad by cutting and pasting items out of context.] Verne also provided a number of URLs for both USN Hospital ships and for Victory ships, including: http://metalab.unc.edu/hyperwar/USN/ships/ships-ah.html, http://www.lanevictoryship.com, http://www.redoakvictory.com, and http://www.americanvictory.org
VICTORY - New NFFS subscriber, FRED LONGO, Class of 1960, writes " ...with regard to your discussion on Victories, I sailed on a few ships with American Export Lines. One that was a WWII Victory was the EXTON, which I think had a C1 hull close to 500 feet long. I sailed her out of Hoboken, NJ, in the early 60's. Trips were roughly 2-months to the Med and North Africa. Interestingly, American Export started a Great Lakes route, which I sailed from Chicago as home port on several occasions and was on a ship similar to the Victory with C1 hull, however, the hull was not really workable when it came to going through the larger locks of the Saint Lawrence Seaway. Cross winds sometimes made the ship unmanageable, and you had everything to do to keep the prop from hitting the side bulkhead of the lock. I don't know how long their maintained that route. At that time Isperhansen [sic] got involved and had a program of replacing the entire fleet with new vessels."
HOMECOMING PLANS ? "Hey, it was great to hear that my old classmates get together once a year to tell what's happening and go to Italy together! Wow!" writes DAVE BAKER, Class of 1960. [But] .. why haven't we seen you at the most recent class reunion, I think 1995? And what is happening for the "Ruby" anniversary this fall? Are we going to have a get-together at the Fort? I'm way up here in Buffalo (yeah, I'm now an Up-Stater) so if someone down there sets something up, I'll come down and attend, at least. It's good to see that you guys (and wives) are doing something together." [Check the Alumni Association for reunion updates in the coming weeks at: http://www.fsmaa.org Also, at the Association's home page, click on "TSES Pix" to see a gallery of training ship models built (or in process) by BARRY MARSH, Class of 1986.]
SINGING SAILORS - Paul Hopson also sent another Schuyler story: "I started singing in a church choir at St. Andrew's in Pearland, Texas, soon after moving down here. After I had been there over a month, I discovered that one of the bass voices was RICK JONES, Deckie - '74. About a year later, we spent an overnight, "camping out" at a choir retreat. In the morning, we were laughing at each other because we were each doing the military tuck as we pulled our pants over our shirt tails! Would bet that more than a few former cadets still do that routine."