Did Ike visit the Hermitage?

Did Ike visit the Hermitage?

Gary Goedken
ggoedken@gmail.com

In the latest Hermitage Association newsletter, there was a question of whether IKE was ever aboard the Hermitage. If my memory serves me correctly, I remember seeing IKE on the ship and being escorted to the area of the Captains quarters. A day or two later several of us went into Karachi and we saw IKE give a speech at the US Embassy.

My big thrill was a day or two later at the Karachi Polo Grounds. The Polo match had just finished and I had to get back to the Hermitage for my watch on the signal bridge. I exited the bleachers to my left and I was doing a somewhat fast walk behind the bleachers with my head down. All of a sudden I bumped into someone exiting the center entrance. I looked up and I was shocked to see that I had just bumped into IKE. I quickly saluted him and said I was sorry and continued walking. There was a secret service agent on each side of him. I was wearing my uniform and they saw it happen and must have known that it was accidental so they never stopped or questioned me. I made it back to the ship in time.

In 1964 after JFK was assassinated, I thought back to my bumping into Ike. I’m rather certain that if it had happened after JFK’s assassination, I would have been stopped and thoroughly questioned by the secret service agents.Are your customers raving about you on social media? Share their great stories to help turn potential customers into loyal ones.

Frank Stack
stackfr@cox.net

In response to Jack Pusel's report that President Eisenhower had visited the Hermitage, Frank Stack replies:

I question the point about Eisenhower being on board the Hermitage's first time in the Med. I think our trip to Karachi (in or about 1960) to transport the President's choppers, for his trip to New Delhi, was the first time in the Med. I was on board and Ike was not to be seen. On the way back, we (the crew) requested that we be allowed to come back via Asia and the Panama Canal, thus making it an around the world cries. The request was rejected, the BUSHIPS said we could stop anywhere in the Med. We voted and Barcelona won and spent Xmas week and New Years in Spain. Another interesting point was that we came through the Suez, on Xmas or Xmas eve. There were some issues in the Mideast at that time (as always) and as we were going through the Canal at night, somebody set off the GQ alarm as a practical joke, on the dockside QD watch station. We never knew who did it.

Jack Pusel jcpusel@msn.com sheds more light on Eisenhower:

I tried to research President Eisenhower and did find a reference that the Hermitage once carried his helicopter. When Captain Mathews took over in April 1967,  he wanted to move his cabin to the cabin that was empty and for 07 and above. I was given the job to build a stainless steel headboard for his bed. It had to have cabinets and a top with a lip around it so he could put things in and on top.  I was just E3, but had just got out of Shipfitter A school. I built it and we put it in his new cabin. It was bolted to the floor. That is when I was told that Eisenhower had slept in that cabin on a Med cruise. Who knows? I just know I built a stainless headboard for the cabin that Captain Mathews moved to.

Raymond Foberg
rayfoberg@icloud.com

[Ray was the CIC officer on the Hermitage for one year in 1963].

When I was LT(jg) aboard Hermitage in 1963, the most exciting thing, regarding VIPs, that happened to me was that two widely separated columns of ships, including Hermitage in the starboard column, were headed generally north in the Virginia Capes Operating Area (VACAPES).  I was the Hermitage OOD on the open bridge above the pilothouse.   As the two columns of ships headed north, the cruiser USS Newport News out of Norfolk, VA Naval Base was headed south between the two columns.  We knew what was going to happen and we were prepared to render honors.

As the President of the United States John F. Kennedy’s Flag Ship cruised south, the entire crew that was not on watch below decks manned the rail and rendered honors. 

I’m 82+ years old now and I can see that event very easily in my mind’s eye.  I’m sure he was also my CO when we unfortunately “touched” a merchant ship in Ponce, Puerto Rico.  That “touch" opened up about 20 feet of sheet metal our ship's starboard side.  That was where the formerly undamaged XO’s cabin was located.

That event scared the ____ out of the civilian riding the gondola on the merchantman.

[Ray's year on the Hermitage] was the third year of my obligated service as a graduate of Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island.

I told my boss at the time, that I would extend my active duty for one year, if I could get shore duty as close to Toronto, Canada as possible (an attractive Canadian young woman was the current object of my affections).

For two years as LT(jg) and a Navy Officer Recruiter in Albany, NY I was attempting to cement USA/Canadian relations (Joan Whyte) on a very frequent basis.  I decided that continuing to be a Naval Reservist on active duty was not a career enhancing option.  So I asked to augment into the U. S. Navy.   Very soon there after, I was promoted to LT USN and assigned to duty as the Plank Owner Communication Officer aboard the brand new helicopter carrier USS Guam (LPH-9) located in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.

That was the smartest move I ever made, because I met my future bride in San Juan, Puerto Rico to whom I was married in 1967.  If I hadn’t made that move, three people would never have been born.

I retired as a Commander in 1980.  My wife (a Navy Junior) and I have traveled to and/or lived in 193 countries, states and cities.  Our 53 wedding anniversary will be observed this month.  We have been truly blessed.

Carry on Shipmate.

By Frank Garavelli
fgarave1@comcast.net

We had to sail up a river to get to Barranquilla (Colombia).  When we were leaving, the ballast tanks started filling.  I believe the engineering officer realized that someone had a hit the switch (pulled the lever) and did something to empty the tanks. 

When we got back to Little Creek, we went to the pier as we normally would.  When the ladder was lowered to the pier, officers of ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence) came aboard.  The ladder was raised so that no one could leave the ship.

Each division had to muster on the flight deck.  Some of the ONI people walked through the divisions with a drug sniffing dog.  I was told that someone had stashed their drugs in their pants.  When the dog went for his crotch, he surrendered the drugs. 

While this was going on, another group of ONI personnel was going through each berthing compartment and all the lockers.  When we got to the berthing compartment, clothes were strewn all over. 

As a side note, one of the radiomen always had a large bottle of "Lavoris" in his locker.  We found out after this that it was rally Early Times whiskey with red food coloring.

Note: 

The Hermitage visited Barranquilla in approximately 1971. 

Several years ago, the late Thomas Northam, who had been the Executive Officer of the Hermitage, telephoned me.  He reminisced about his time on the Hermitage.  He told me that his proudest achievement was cleaning up the drug trafficking on the Hermitage.  He said that the Hermitage had been a major vehicle for the smuggling of drugs into the United States.  I recalled that there were Naval investigators on the ship, conducting interviews about drugs, but I though the investigation was a farce and that nothing would be found.

A couple of years later, I met up with the late Willie Samson.  Samson had a lot of spirit, and he kept me and a lot of others going when shipboard life was boring or rough.  Samson always was the first to know when something was happening.  He told me that the Hermitage was full of drugs.  He saw packages of drugs stowed in the overheads and in not so secret places.  Samson became a welder and retired on disability after 18 years in the Navy. ---Aaron Finestone

The Hermitage's nickname " Strike Gator" dates from about 1985. It is believed that the Commanding Officer, CDR Condon coined the term. It appears in the decommissioning pamphlet.

Gary Goedken on "Hermy"

ggoedken@gmail.com

I don’t remember any ships' slogan during the period I was aboard (1959-1961). 'The Strike Gator' sounds reasonable though. Captain Rood was presented an alligator about 2 ft. long from one of the countries we visited in Africa during Solant Amity 1 cruise. His nickname was “Hermy” and he was normally kept in the Captains bathroom during the remainder of our trip. Often times he was brought up to our signal bridge where we would baby sit him. We would often tease him and test his reflexes using longer objects. We didn’t want to get bitten. "Hermy" was a fighter.

Gary Goedken SN

Jim Laurence on "Hermi The Gator"

3633jdl@gmail.com

Thanks for all your good work. I was CO from 1973 to 1975 and never heard the term "Strike Gator" but I love it! We used a cartoon character called "Hermi the Gator" in our POD and other publications. I think it was dreamed up by our XO, Roger Daily, who was quite the cartoonist. He was also the one who instituted the prize for the best compartment cleaner of the month, a bottle of booze on the pier! Oh, the good old days.

Warm regards from a cold Virginia Beach,
Jim Laurance, Captain USN (Ret)

Ralph Van Horn: Banned from the head

rvan.horn2@gmail.com

For the first twenty years of it's life the Hermitage did not have sanitary holding tanks in use.  Flush the toilets, take a shower... all grey and black water was discharged straight overboard.

While on the '76 North Atlantic cruise when we pulled into pulled into Kiel, Germany the heads were secured and guards posted. Leaving the sailors with having to use the pier side facilities.

The ship did have the appropriate holding tanks for holding the black water but the plumbing for using the tanks had never been used. And the pumps for emptying the holding tanks were never installed.

The room for the pumps were in the engine rooms. We literally called them the xxxx rooms. And the HT's would have been in charge of their maintenance.

During the '78/'79 yard period this was rectified. The plumbing to direct the black water to the holding tanks was corrected and the pumps to empty the holding tanks were installed.

Ralph Van Horn: Soviet spy flight over Hermitage

rvan.horn2@gmail.com

I took the photo while aboard the Hermitage on the 1976 North Atlantic cruise. They also watched in 1976. Aldrich Ames was hard at work. Russian Bear. The picture doesn't do justice as to just how close the bomber was. A person could easily be seen in the side bubble window. The photo was taken with a Canon gil which had a straight 35mm lens.bubble window.

Don Atkinson: Soviets watch our exercises in Turkey

ds.atkinson@verizon.net

I reported for duty to the Hermitage in Little Creek Virginia, as a brand new 21 year old Ensign in August, 1957.  The ship was only 6 months old and it was immaculate and air conditioned. (My summer Midshipmen cruises were on the Wisconsin (BB 64), the Purdy (DD 734) and the Sturtevant (DE 239).  Life on them was miserable below decks.) I was assigned the position of Gunnery officer reporting to LT Ted Asherford (sp?) who was head of the Deck department.  Captain Parker was my C.O. A few days later we were on our way to the Med.*   The pictures on the web site bring back fond memories.  It is hard to believe that was almost 59 years ago.  It seems like only yesterday. Thanks for sending.
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I made my first Med cruise as Gunnery Officer on the Hermitage in 1957, as a brand new Ensign. We made a NATO amphibious landing in Turkey 30 miles from the Straits of Bosporus and about 100 miles from the USSR. Russian subs surfaced in the middle of our cruising formations every night and Russian destroyers and cruisers played chicken with us for two weeks. When we made the amphibious landings, Russian MIGs flew over our ships, landing craft, and Marines on shore at about 75 to 100 feet in altitude. Captain Parker was our C.O. 

P.S.  We beat the Turks in our mock warfare then went to Sardinia for another amphibious exercise where we whipped the Italians.

Believing that the statute of limitations under the UCMJ has expired, Jack Pusel remembers:

 A little more than I had hid away on the USS Hermitage. Mr Curry was the only officer that knew where my stock was . He was a good officer. Several times he said, Jack, I could sure use a drink after a long day of ballasting. I told him he had to bring his own coke as I didn't have a mixer. He did. Got me lots of extra liberty . ----Jack Pusel <jcpusel@msn.com>  

Deckplate musings from Gregory Hausler 

gregory_hausler@yahoo.com

I remember shortly after our return from the MED cruise on June 4, 1986, the CO held an all-hands formation on the flight deck. He announced to the crew that the ship was going into the yards in Baltimore---the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, Sparrow Point Yard, to be exact---for the ship's post-deployment overhaul. The Baltimore deployment was all thanks to a Maryland Representative who saw that the yard was idle and the Congressional District needed an infusion of Government work---money! The crew and families were understandably disappointed. Mayor William Donald Shaffer and the city opened their doors and hearts to the ship and crew. They are our several month-long yard period as pleasant as possible.

From Bill Baetzel, 

Deck Force about 1972 

I have attached a photo of me sitting on a boat fender catching some z's. The picture was taken on the USS Hermitage, sometime in 1972, on the starboard side just aft of the quarterdeck shack. You can see the bow ramp of one of the Herm's LCVPs stowed in it's Welin davit in the background. The captain's gig was stowed above the LCVP. The picturewas taken by one of the fire control technicians stationed on the Hermitage but I don't know his name. All I remember was he had a beard, was an E-3 and came on board sometime in the first half of 1972 (I think). I wish I knew his name so I could give him credit for the photo. 

I've enjoyed using the picture to show my daughters how hard their old man worked when he was in the Navy. Anyway, feel free to post it on your web site if you'd like. Take care, Bill Baetzel baetzehr@hotmail.com

Bill----I am impressed with your boatswain science.   You know the names of the equipment and how it works.  Your dungarees tell quite a story.   I liked the dungarees, because they were comfortable and looked like work clothes instead of a military uniform.   I always wore Seafarers because the fit was better.  I don't know how comfortable the new Navy camoflage uniforms are, but they sure look better. ---Aaron Finestone

 
I had come aboard the Hermitage in September 1959 after they had been in the Todd shipyard in Brooklyn N.Y.,as an EN2 in A Division.  

The ship had been off the Capes of Virginia doing a firing exercise and the Captain left his tv on and caused a big fire in his cabin, wardroom and officers country. This incident caused us to make a trip into Portsmouth shipyard for repairs. 

We also had a yard period in Baltimore a few years later. I was on board until july 1963 and had some good cruises.  We went through the Med and Suez going to Karachi, Pakistan. We carried one Army and six Marine helicopters for Ike to use in France, Africa and india. We dropped some off in the Med and went on with the rest.  

The Solant Amity I trip was the one where some ships with us went looking for the cruise ship that was high jacked. We made two trips up the Congo river, the first to take out 750 Guinean troops that were causing trouble in the Congo. 

The second  time was to deliver tons of corn meal and powdered milk.We made a few good and informative tours on that trip, open pit iron mining and rubber plantation in Liberia. The vinyards in Cape Town was good with plenty of free wine.  

The Hermitage was the first ship into Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic after their President was killed.  I did 20 years and never made a Med trip on any ship I was on. I was EN1 when I left the Hermitage. I made chief when I was on four years recruiting duty in 1967. I retired in 1971 and now in a nursing home at 82 yrs old

Ernest Warren engusnret71@verizon.net

 LITTLE KNOWN TIDBIT OF NAVAL HISTORY... .

The U. S. S. Constitution (Old Ironsides) as a combat vessel, carried 48,600 gallons of fresh water for her crew of 475 officers and men.  This was sufficient to last six months of sustained operations at sea.  She carried no evaporators (i.e. fresh water distillers). .

However, let it be noted that according to her ship's log, "On July 27, 1798, the U.S.S. Constitution sailed from Boston with a full complement of 475 officers and men, 48,600 gallons of fresh water, 7,400 cannon shot, 11,600 pounds of black powder and 79,400 gallons of rum." . Her mission: "To destroy and harass English shipping." 

Making Jamaica on 6 October, she took on 826 pounds of flour and 68,300 gallons of rum. . Then she headed for the Azores, arriving there 12 November.  She provisioned with 550 pounds of beef and 64,300 gallons of Portuguese wine. 

On 18 November, she set sail for  England.  In the ensuing days she defeated five British men-of-war and captured and scuttled 12 English merchant ships, salvaging only the rum aboard each. 

By 26 January, her powder and shot were exhausted.  Nevertheless, although unarmed, she made a night raid up the Firth of Clyde in Scotland.  Her landing party captured a whisky distillery and transferred 40,000 gallons of single malt Scotch aboard by dawn.  Then she headed home. 

The U.S.S. Constitution arrived in Boston on 20 February 1799, with no cannon shot, no food, no powder, no rum, no wine, no whisky, and 38,600 gallons of water.
. GO NAVY 

----Contributed by Jack Pusel <jcpusel@msn.com>

From Charles Samaniego, Signalman about 1971.

."I don't remember a fire on the Herm. I do remember coming back from the Med and running into bad weather. All hands where notified secure all hatches and stay inside. I remember a marine opened the hatch on the starboard side leading out to the forecastle. As he was exiting the compartment with his one leg through it a wave was coming over the bow. At that time the wave slammed the hatch across his leg. It injured his leg and flooded the first compartment and part of the second compartment.  I believe this was were most of the deck hands bunked. I remember that they had to air lift him off the ship.

Don't remember Kenny. He wasn't a sig while I was on board. Charles Willis, Larry Nalepa, Gregory Dodge, Jerry Mink, Aaron and myself.  Those are the ones I remember. I was called "Duck." cs.samaniego@yahoo.com
.  

Three sailors on liberty, Photo by Jack Crawford, HERMITAGE 1962-1964.

Left to right: MM3 Elmer Scott (Missouri), MM3 Vernon Robertson (Texas) and MM3 Christopher Johnson (Vermont).

Bartender in Ponce, P.R. Photo by Jack Crawford, HERMITAGE 1962-1964

RM3 Frank Garravelli (about 1970) and his grandfather Angelo Cattaneo (about 1918).  See the resemblance?

RM3 Frank Garravelli (about 1970) and his grandfather Angelo Cattaneo (about 1918).  See the resemblance?

RM3 Frank Garravelli (about 1970) and his grandfather Angelo Cattaneo (about 1918).  See the resemblance?

Jack Pusel

This was the bridge we crossed over in Subic to get to town. They called it Sh*t river. Many kids were swimming in it as Sailors would throw change over the railing to the kids and they would dive to try and find it. My Dad spent 1930 and 31 there as a Marine Guard then to Shanghai China with the Marines 4 Div in 32 to guard the American families and interest there. I had pictures of him there. All of his scrap book are at the Navy / Marine Memorial in DC . They were on display 1 full year as it was year of the Marines  just after we were at Annapolis for our reunion. Nadine and I picked up 4 grandchildren and 1 Daughter and took them back there to see their great Grandthings.       

Vernon Robertson reports, "We were assigned to #1 Engine Room, working for MM1 Parish. I remember on the way back from our Med Cruise, we had swim call. The Hermitage Captain stopped the ship, flooded the well, and everyone went swimming. I got orders for Nuclear Power School as soon as we got back to Little Creek."

 Vernon Robertson, reywiz@gmail.com.

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