USS America commissioning ceremony

**416 Rigby** · 12th October 14, 10:22 PM

Thanks for the pics, you look sharp.

Steve, stories like that bring back some very cool deployment memories. Always fun rivalries and shenanigans.

**KentuckyCeltophile** · 12th October 14, 11:01 PM

Sailortats,
Nice outfit. You look great. My favorite pic is the one of the ship coming in to dock. Thanks for sharing.
KC

**Spartan Tartan** · 13th October 14, 08:36 AM

Sailortats,

You look fantastic! Very smartly turned out for the commissioning ceremony. Well done!

Do you know the name of that Admiral? She looks familiar, but I certainly can't imagine that she and I have ever crossed paths.

That looked like a great event...wish I were there to have witnessed that. Thanks for the pictures.

**Dale G** · 17th October 14, 06:19 PM

Sailortats:
Great pictures and I'm glad you wore the kilt! Thanks for sharing. I always like to see a kilt in public at non-Celtic events. As they say, "A man in a kilt is a man and a half."

Great name for a great ship - may GOD bless her and all who sail aboard her. I sailed aboard more than a few of those gray ladies myself. I was aboard Iwo Jima (LPD-2), the old-style helo carriers before they became amphibious. In fact I was aboard and at sea believe it or not when she was decommissioned. We were actually at sea. We were told they needed the name because the keel for the new Iwo Jima was being laid down. I was also aboard Saipan (LHA-2), the replacements for the LPDs. You know you are getting old when all the ships you sailed aboard have been decommissioned...

**Piper** · 18th October 14, 04:47 AM

My younger brother served aboard the previous incarnation of the USS America, a carrier, back in the mid 70's. When he mustered out (77 or 78) I bought him a model kit of the ship. When he sadly passed away last year, we found the kit unopened in his closet. My youngest grandson and I are assembling it and it will go on a shelf in my study with the cased flag from his coffin. Tom had fond memories of, and great pride in, his six years as a "drunken squid" (his term).

**tundramanq** · 18th October 14, 05:38 AM

Looking great mate!
Steve reminded me of all the fun and games we had on the Bainbridge DLGN/CGN-25 with the topsiders. I was one of the snipe ET bilge rats operating the reactors. Surprised me how hard the scrapping of her was on me.

**sailortats** · 18th October 14, 06:12 AM

Originally Posted by tundramanq

Surprised me how hard the scrapping of her was on me.

I have often discussed which is harder on a former crewman, having his beloved ship scrapped or having it used as gunnery practice and sent to the bottom. Mine is now somewhere on the bottom off the coast of southern California. That hit me hard too.

**tundramanq** · 18th October 14, 06:55 AM

It took a while to realize the life of a ship is it's crew. It can not die while still in any of the crews living memory.

**Tarheel** · 19th October 14, 06:13 AM

Gents, I can not imagine your torn emotions to decommissioning of your floating home. We'd shred a "huey" in a heartbeat to get another flying and nary a tear be shed. May the winds always fill the yards in your favor.

**Jim Simmons** · 19th October 14, 08:37 AM

Originally Posted by Tarheel

Gents, I can not imagine your torn emotions to decommissioning of your floating home. We'd shred a "huey" in a heartbeat to get another flying and nary a tear be shed. May the winds always fill the yards in your favor.

I agree - as long as I was not in the Huey being shredded !!

I also agree with the sentiment expressed by tundramang .... The memories of those brave Boys that I served with in combat on my Huey - 027 - are what is important, and they will always live in my memory. The knowledge that 027 has long been junked brings not a tear to me, nor regret.