Ian, Very interesting! Hard work, being on an Oiler, but you lived better than us, too... You had BOOZE! RFA Olmeda
We had ships along side from before daybreak to after sunset. Here is a link to a web page with 1972 photos, one of me part way down.... Link We got some ale from a NZ ship we refueled, the CO confiscated it right away. Not all of it was fun. We had a riot, on board, in '72 and a collision with an ammo ship the same day. We had a guy lighting fires for 2 years before they caught him. He was hustled off without a word. We still don't know who it was. In Hawaii, a couple of the crew members tried to steal (6) Thompson Sub-Machine guns. Unsuccessful, they threw them overboard. Divers found the guns a few days later. I crossed the equator, and was initiated a shellback. Ken in NC
Ken, I see you're familiar with the PG's, that's one of our bunch, the USS WELCH (PG-93) pictured. I also am a Shellback, crossed the line going to Diego Garcia in '78. Not much fun at the time, but I kept the card, if I ever cross again. Ahh, Old times, some good, mostly boring, and a little bit of 'Oh Sh*t'...
It was a cracking good trip; one of the best I had. We had a month at sea outward on exercises then San Juan, Tortola BVI, Fort lauderdale, Mayport, New York, Halifax then back to Norfolk & Mayport a coupla times apiece. A week or more in each. We spent a lot of time in Norfolk as the Ark' was pretty much shagged-out by then and kept breaking down. (On the way home we were alongside her every day with fresh water as she couldn't make her own.) The RFA ships (oilers, ammo ships etc.) were all crewed up with civilian seamen so so there was rather less BS to put up with. As you noticed the ships had bars and in the US Naval bases they were something of a novelty to the local USN lads who were always calling in to see if it was true. Friday and Saturday nights were always all-night parties as we didn't have to work weekends in port if we didn't want to. For a carefree 23-year-old, 4 months on the US coast was a delight. I've not seen that Olmeda vid before, but it was quite a while after I was there. Coupla faces looked familiar, maybe.
I had PG (Patrol Gun) confused with PBR Patrol Boat River). We gave a barrel of fuel to a PBR. That was refueling it. Ken in NC
