quote:Originally posted by fenkashi Screw your opinions, they are not relevant ^^.
05.23.2014, 10:48 AM
husky51
The Old Guy
Registration Date: 03.17.08
Location: Southern California
Posts: 12791
This short was sad. I was thinking the same as the last line far before the ending. Thinking about how it has happened so many times in RL...
Edit:
after watching this, found some clips of the ship I was on in Vietnam that were taken a couple of months after I left for another ship. I've never said which ship I was on over there, but here it is: USS Carronade IFS1. She was only 245' long and we even went up some of the rivers down in the Mekong delta. I was aboard her from Dec '65 to Aug '67. My general quarters station was in the five inch gun mount and is why I am partially deaf now, lol.
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Post last edited by husky51 on 05.23.2014, 02:38 PM.
05.23.2014, 11:57 AM
Saddletank
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Registration Date: 09.28.06
Location: On your case
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"An old man like me stands no chance fighting against a high school girl in her underwear" - Oshino Meme, Nekomonogatari (Kuro)
05.23.2014, 03:22 PM
husky51
The Old Guy
Registration Date: 03.17.08
Location: Southern California
Posts: 12791
yep. The short squaty thing on the right is rocket launcher #8, a mk.105 5" spin-stabilized twin tube rocket launcher. As you can tell by the number, we had eight of them on the foredeck. We also had the 5"38cal. naval gun or rifle as it is sometimes called. Aft of that is a twin 40mm gun, this is the one you see in the old war movies that was frequently called a pom-pom. the barrels alternate firing so that they recoil back, first one side then the other and repeat. We also had another 40mm twin on the fantail.
We held about 7,000 rockets in our magazines at full load. Each launcher was rated at 100 rounds per minute, but realistically, would put out about 40 rounds per minute. They were designed as a saturation weapon, primarily for something like the D-Day landing. Which is why we were attached to an amphibious command. We ran aground so many times while going in close for a 'shoot' that I lost count. Because of our mean draft of 10' we even went up some of the rivers in the Mekong.
However, we never did any of that saturation firing. We developed the ability to fire within 50 meters of friendly troops and usually only fired two or three launchers at a time. Wasn't any need for more that that at a time. We were the flagship of IFSDIV93 which consisted of USS St. Francis River LSMR525; USS White River LSMR536 and USS Clarion River LSMR409. Early type LSMR's served in WWII.
Unfortunately, about 8 months after I left the ship, I found out much later that we had a 'friendly-fire' incident. The ship was firing at night and one of the launchers mal-functioned and fired about a 1/2-degree off target, which landed two rockets within a US Army perimeter, killing two men. The ship ceased fire and went to Subic Bay, Philippines for investigation and that was what was found out. I was told this by one of the gunner's that I knew who was still aboard at that time.
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Post last edited by husky51 on 05.23.2014, 06:15 PM.
05.23.2014, 06:01 PM
Saddletank
Miyazaki's Best Friend
Registration Date: 09.28.06
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05.23.2014, 10:48 AM
I like tea!