Every word true, Evyn.
I was touched by the old "Chief" bursting into tears, but "the poor old
booger didn't deserve that," well, what else are you to do with her? We
can't save them all, and often ones "saved" can't be taken proper care of
and get broken up anyway.
However, I do purely love it when a ship gives her finger to the world and
says, "I ain't goin' to the breaker, I'm goin' down right here, dammit."
Oklahoma and Warspite, for example.
> On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 3:09 PM, <> wrote:
>
>> There's a scene in the retrospective, "last" Sailor episode, "Eight
>> Years
>> On," where Tom Wilkinson comes to see the last bits of Ark's lower hull
>> drawn up in the mud at the scrap yard and bursts into tears. "The poor
>> old
>> booger didn't deserve that."
>>
>>
> As a Sailor I can understand respect and love for a ship, but I also
> understand that ships get used up. In the End Ships and those who serve on
> them must be used, and far too frequently they used up with only memories
> and widows left behind. A ship in the breakers yard is a sad thing, but
> remember better all that steel go to making another than to slowly rot in
> to nothing. Every bit saved and reused is a bit of her soul going forward
> carrying the love and tradition forward into the next generation. Every
> ship and boat I served aboard carried bits and pieces of those who went
> before, a physical touchstone of those who served before, and I trust that
> bits from my time in service will go on after I am gone.
>
> When I was in the service we would sneak into the old storage boat yard
> and
> replace bits and pieces of our boats with older boats, so that those old
> girls would live on with us.... The Chief I learned this from told me
> about
> how he learned of the practice from his 1st Chief who said he learned it
> from his. It was one why of maintaining tradition and connection to
> the origins of the service.
>
> To circle around to the Navy question, when I say navy I generally mean
> the
> USN, when I say sailor it every sailor that served at sea. In this while
> nations have Navies it takes Sailors to man all those vessels, and up to
> today just because a sailor serves in the Navy doesn't mean he is
> a citizen of the Nation that owns it. Traditionally Sailors of
> all nationalities served under officers of the state, even the USN when I
> was serving had a large number of foreign nationals serving aboard, though
> part of their terms of service was a path to US Citizenship. Due to the
> nature of my service I often found myself in the company of Sailors in
> service to other Navies, other than the native rivalries between two
> groups
> of young men I found they where just like me doing the same jobs with the
> same worries, the biggest problem I ever had was coming back to my
> command/ship drunk and wearing significant portions of the wrong Navies
> uniform.
>
> --
> Evyn
>
I was touched by the old "Chief" bursting into tears, but "the poor old
booger didn't deserve that," well, what else are you to do with her? We
can't save them all, and often ones "saved" can't be taken proper care of
and get broken up anyway.
However, I do purely love it when a ship gives her finger to the world and
says, "I ain't goin' to the breaker, I'm goin' down right here, dammit."
Oklahoma and Warspite, for example.
> On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 3:09 PM, <> wrote:
>
>> There's a scene in the retrospective, "last" Sailor episode, "Eight
>> Years
>> On," where Tom Wilkinson comes to see the last bits of Ark's lower hull
>> drawn up in the mud at the scrap yard and bursts into tears. "The poor
>> old
>> booger didn't deserve that."
>>
>>
> As a Sailor I can understand respect and love for a ship, but I also
> understand that ships get used up. In the End Ships and those who serve on
> them must be used, and far too frequently they used up with only memories
> and widows left behind. A ship in the breakers yard is a sad thing, but
> remember better all that steel go to making another than to slowly rot in
> to nothing. Every bit saved and reused is a bit of her soul going forward
> carrying the love and tradition forward into the next generation. Every
> ship and boat I served aboard carried bits and pieces of those who went
> before, a physical touchstone of those who served before, and I trust that
> bits from my time in service will go on after I am gone.
>
> When I was in the service we would sneak into the old storage boat yard
> and
> replace bits and pieces of our boats with older boats, so that those old
> girls would live on with us.... The Chief I learned this from told me
> about
> how he learned of the practice from his 1st Chief who said he learned it
> from his. It was one why of maintaining tradition and connection to
> the origins of the service.
>
> To circle around to the Navy question, when I say navy I generally mean
> the
> USN, when I say sailor it every sailor that served at sea. In this while
> nations have Navies it takes Sailors to man all those vessels, and up to
> today just because a sailor serves in the Navy doesn't mean he is
> a citizen of the Nation that owns it. Traditionally Sailors of
> all nationalities served under officers of the state, even the USN when I
> was serving had a large number of foreign nationals serving aboard, though
> part of their terms of service was a path to US Citizenship. Due to the
> nature of my service I often found myself in the company of Sailors in
> service to other Navies, other than the native rivalries between two
> groups
> of young men I found they where just like me doing the same jobs with the
> same worries, the biggest problem I ever had was coming back to my
> command/ship drunk and wearing significant portions of the wrong Navies
> uniform.
>
> --
> Evyn
>