ot Ice Breaker I was on when a bit younger

[JIPJOBXX]

Just for fun I'm trying to run this short presentation of a part of my life up north. Jon

[RobertKB]

Very cool. No pun intended. You have some beautiful and interesting pictures there. Thanks for sharing.

[JIPJOBXX]

I made two tours on that Ice Breaker and it was an exciting time for a young guy of only 18 years old. I only wish I had more pictures but over the past 40 years I have lost a few here and there. I was on the internet looking for my old ship and yes I found it. It was being scrapped and probably the steel was sent over to China to help build cars or whatever. Jon

[Frank Elder]

Ahoy swabbie!

I have in my grubby[d-24 grease]hands a POLAR STAR WAGB-10 service cover. If you want it it is yours, PO2 Frankie

I have my shellback card but never got to cross the ocean as far north as yourself, I'm jealous.

[Johnny S]

Very neat ..... tell us more about "blue ice".

[Norm's Coupe]

For some reason I got page not found when I took the link.

FRANKIE47:

I wasn't in the Navy, was in the army. But.........crossed the Pacific twice on a ship. Got this card the first time on the way to Korea when we crossed the International Date Line. Even had the privilege of riding out a Typhoon on the way to Korea that blew us a day or two off course. Was interesting to say the least when you are trying to eat and your food tray is trying to slide off the table. Also while working in the office on the top deck during the typhoon we hit a 20 or 30 foot breaker that stopped the ship dead in the water abruptly. Of course my chair was on caster wheels. Rolled across the room real fast and hit my head on the wall. Luckily the typewriter was bolted to the desk.

[Frank Elder]

That is really nice I did'nt know they gave dragons to U Joes. I have one also and by shell back I meant crossing the equator, that is a story unto itself.

Norm, there is an intiation, you have to where you wear dungarees inside out and backwards. No one may help you dress, this all happened on the flight deck of course! Then if you have an attitude they paint you witha big red S because YOU ARE SPECIAL, this means you get to repeat the course until you are no longer invested with ego.

You get to crawl around on your hands and knees on a surface call non-skid, like truck liner only rougher, being harruanged by anyone who has already crossed the equator officers and enlisted all treated the same.

Then there is a garbage chute approximately 30 feet in length which is filled with mess hall slop, you must bellycrawl through to the fattest man on board ship. You must stay on your knees and declare him to be KING NEPTUNE, after he acknowledges you there is the KISS!

He grabs the back of your head and rubs your face all over his belly, which of course is covered with moly-B grease.

If he is satisfied with your groveling performance the title of Shellback is bestowed upon you, if not, start anew at the end of the line! Some are there once, some are there all day. Then you are hosed down with seawater and gven a pass to clean up and report for duty!

The next time the line is crossed the torch is passed and you are invited to initiate the newbies.

[Norm's Coupe]

Frankie

I don't remember doing all that, but there was some sort of foolishness to get it. There were about 2 or 3,000 troops on the ship but I don't think everyone got one of those. When we first boarded the ship in Oakland they ask for volunteers for certain jobs aboard the ship. I normally didn't volunteer for anything. However when they said they needed someone in the ships office (like the army orderly room) I volunteered because they also said that person would be exempt from all the other details about the ship. So.........I got to spend all my time during working hours elbowing with the army and navy officers etc, in the much nicer part of the ship. Then when I wasn't working I was sitting outside on the deck taking in the beauty of the ocean and sky coming across it. Was almost as good as a cruise ship (except when we hit that typhoon).

All that salt air also put about 30 lbs on me in the 18 day trip. Couldn't button the top button of my dress uniform when I hit Korea. Took about 6 months for that weight to disappear.

[Frank Elder]

You can't remember because you didn't do it, it was for navy only.

The equator and the international date line are not the same line.

Navy chow is plentiful, and will tighten your drawers if you let it!

[Don Coatney]

I also am a member of the Domain of the Golden Dragon. 1967 USNS Geiger.

The Geiger was a troop ship and carried the US Army 34th Engineer Batallion

(of which I was a member) from San Francisco to Vietnam.

[Bodacious]

There are some breathtakingly beautiful pictures there. I'd love to see that part of the world sometime.

[JIPJOBXX]

Something most people do not know about Ice breakers are that the hulls are shaped like a football. The reason for this is that if they do get caught in the ice they will just kind of pop up and not be crushed. Unfortunately this does not make for a smooth ride out in the open sea. If you have watch those crabbing programs than you can see how ruft that Alaskan gulf can be. That old ship in a good storm would average 20 to 30 degree rolls and even once while in the middle of the night it did a 56 degree roll. Talk about be tost about it was so ruff that you literal sometimes tied yourself into your rack and of course you always tied your shoes to you bunk or the next morning they could be anywhere in your berthing compartment. Sea sick yep I got it and it was no fun!!!!

[Norm's Coupe]

Frankie,

As I said I didn't remember doing all that foolishness to get it. What I do remember is there was a big party when we crossed the line. It was strictly for the officers and those working on the upper decks. The party did include army and navy officers, and they were given the same cards. If I remember right, was sort of a costume party similar to a Halloween party.

That was Feb 62. If it's for crossing the equator ok, we did that too I guess. But........we also crossed the date line. I just thought I got it for the date line. It gives Latitude 25-04n, Longitude 180 degrees 00'. So...whatever that is on the map, that's what we did and they gave us the cards. So.....evidently it didn't matter if we were army or navy.

[Dennis Hemingway]

I also have my shellback card. I crossed in 1968 in route to R&R from duty in Viet Nam & 1969 on the Apollo 11 Mission on the USS Hornet CVS 12.

Dennis:D

[Norm's Coupe]

I also am a member of the Domain of the Golden Dragon. 1967 USNS Geiger.

The Geiger was a troop ship and carried the US Army 34th Engineer Batallion

(of which I was a member) from San Francisco to Vietnam.

Don, I thought they were flying people in and out of Vietnam by 67. Guess that was later, or you just got stuck on the ship. When I went to Korea, the only people who got flights were Colonels and above. Everyone else took the troop ship. When we did get to Korea the ship couldn't dock next to the shore either because the water wasn't deep enough. We had to take landing craft to the shore.

[wldavis3]

Jon,

Thanks for the photos. Very nice indeed.

Norms coupe

You stated: "...Of course my chair was on caster wheels. Rolled

across the room real fast and hit my head on the wall." The word

to use is "bulkhead". No walls on a ship.

[Norm's Coupe]

Jon,

Thanks for the photos. Very nice indeed.

Norms coupe

You stated: "...Of course my chair was on caster wheels. Rolled

across the room real fast and hit my head on the wall." The word

to use is "bulkhead". No walls on a ship.

Guess that tells you something doesn't it. I was no sailor. It's a wall where I come from, I'm here to tell ya, it was a hard wall. Just like the Head is really a bathroom or latrine.

[Don Coatney]

We had to take landing craft to the shore.

As did I

[martybose]

In the late 60's I was on a brand new guided missile destroyer escort making its first deployment. We went from San Diego to the Philippines, then to Japan, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Yankee Station, the usual places. They then decided to send us somewhere that would require crossing the equator. The shellbacks began telling the rest of us about the joys of initiation. Now most of the crew was 2 year reservists, including myself, without a lot of interest in naval tradition. A little bit of research revealed that only the Captain and most of the Chiefs were shellbacks; over 90% of the crew, include the Executive Officer, weren't!

So the rest of us started plotting to take over the ship. The Captain got wind of it (nothing stays secret for long on a small ship), called in the XO and chewed on him about the sanctity of naval tradition. In response, we posted a watch bill, which included round the clock guards to lock up all of the shellbacks in the helo hanger for the requisite 24 hours, after which we would return control of the ship to the Captain.

I have since wondered if it was coincidence that the gyro which provides the horizon reference for the missile systems tumbled that night, forcing a cancellation of the cross-equator trip and an emergency run back to the Philippines instead for repairs. We ended our deployment without ever crossing the equator.

Marty, never a shellback ..........

[Frank Elder]

Doggone, if there ain't a buncha squids come home to roost at this site!

Have a fine Navy day, PO2 Frankie:cool:

[JIPJOBXX]

The below picture is called an ozick bone and I bought it while up in Alaska in a native village. Can anyone here tell me what sea animal this belongs to and where it fits into this animal. If you don't I will reveal this long kept secret? In an hour or so.

[Frank Elder]

Walrus fore leg bone?....LOL!

[JIPJOBXX]

Just another picture of the Northwind.

[Brendan D25]

Would it be a rib bone from a whale? Brendan.

[Don Coatney]

From the color I believe it is a tusk from a polar/grizzley mixed bear;)