Pirate Crew Takes USS Midway on WESTPAC

[Eagle3]

San Diego (AP)
Developing...
A group of ex-USS Midway sailors stormed aboard the retired aircraft carrier USS Midway (CV-41) during the early morning hours. Easily taking command of the vessel they stoked the 12 boilers, unfurled the jolly roger, weighed anchor, and set sail for Subic Bay, a port at the south end of Luzon in the Philippine Islands. The ship was turning 32 knots by the time it passed the USS Nimitz which is tied up at NAS North Island. The pirate crew assembled on the flight deck to moon the Nimitz as they blasted by.

"She's making pretty good speed for having not sailed under her own power since '92", remarked RADM Hornblower who is tasked with returning the ship to Navy Pier. "We've put the word out to other ships to be on the look out for Midway, but she's always been sneaky and may be hard to find."

Though the crew of marauders made no demands to US Navy officials, they did call ahead to Olongapo to request that they be met at Leyte Pier with, "... some ice cold San Miguels and some BBQ monkey-on-a-stick would be nice too!" ordered SACSM (Supreme Allied Commander of the Soda Mess) Eagle3.

The motley corsairs also announced that Subic Bay was only the first stop on what they are calling, "WESTPAC '04". "After a couple weeks of Subic we're going to need a break. We figure we'll make stops in Yoko for some sake, Pusan to pick up some Oscar and fried egg, ham, and cheese sandwiches, then we'll drop anchor off Pattaya and turn her into a palatial party barge for awhile."

"After all that we're going to conquer Perth!" beamed the crew

[RigTheBarricade]

:( Too bad the Big "E" is on the East Coast or Midway could smoke-check that bucket again...

[Rander]

:D

I made 6 cruises on the Big E and if you could survive the severe vibrations from the #4 shaft and screw, Super CV41 might have a pretty good chance of doing it. The #4 shaft is slightly bent and at speeds above 22 knots you can feel it. There is somwhat of a massageing effect of your berthing is in the aft part of Enterprise as you will massaged to sleep. Some of my best sleep were during the nightly reactor and steering drills. Yawn, I miss that part of the Enterprise experience.

:thumbsup:

If YOUR not having fun, YOU'RE not doing it right!!!!

[Rander]

:cool:

32 knots out of San Diego Bay would creat a tidal wave in the city would wipe out the airport and most on North Island. and the Sub base

PI, Pusan, Pattaya, Perth!!! Count me in when do we leave??

:thumbsup:

Work is for people who don't fish!!!!!

[RigTheBarricade]

Rander,

I have a friend on the 'E that just pulled in last month and you will be pleased to know that not much has changed! It still rattles and vibrates as much as it used to.

What I can't get over is, there is no longer an 'Alert Five, it's now an 'Alert Seven. What, these guys can't figure out how to get a plane off the deck in five minutes anymore? :mad:

If the rest of the fleet has adopted this policy, Midway should be able to outrun everything on her way to Subic!!!

:D

[Billntwrk]

Originally posted by RigTheBarricade
Rander,

I have a friend on the 'E that just pulled in last month and you will be pleased to know that not much has changed! It still rattles and vibrates as much as it used to.

What I can't get over is, there is no longer an 'Alert Five, it's now an 'Alert Seven. What, these guys can't figure out how to get a plane off the deck in five minutes anymore? :mad:

If the rest of the fleet has adopted this policy, Midway should be able to outrun everything on her way to Subic!!!

:D
W hiskey T ango F oxtrot???Over? Alert 7? Must be a candy assed crew then! BAck in the day, anything more than 5 minutes could have been fatal, certainly career destroying! 4 cats and they need 7 minutes? Man do these kids have it easy!

[Rander]

:what:

Well the Big "E" is on the east coast so I suppose with all the east coast "spit and polish" it just takes that much longer to dig through all the Bull Seirra Hotel India Tango to get the job done.
to bad the kids can't watch us old timers to see how it should be done. It used to be fairly easy to get a Tomcat of the deck in 5 minutes. I can't imagine it taking 7 minutes to do it now.
Some thing I used to consider scary was watching a RA-5C Vigilante come in for an arrested landing. When I worked the Deck I would stand there for most landings, but when the "vigi"
came in I exited stage right. No not just behind the island, I actually got completely off the deck. I wanted no part of a "vigi" crashing.





:thumbsup:

Work is for people who don't FISH!!!!!

[Eagle3]

Whales were just as exciting. ;) They don't land, they bounce to a stop.

[foehammer03]

Too bad the Big "E" is on the East Coast or Midway could smoke-check that bucket again...

Dan: Hehehehe...remember when Lyle Bull took her through Suragao Strait and we launched a strike that acted like a commercial airliner?

Come to our back yard, get your ass kicked.

[nipon ginko]

Whales were just as exciting. ;) They don't land, they bounce to a stop.

I recall that for some reason I was up on the flight deck right at dawn it was a real nice morning and I walked slowly over to the LSO platform and noticed that all the monitors had the covers off as I stood there looking at them I suddenly had the feeling that I was being watched I turned to look at this LT. standing right behind me ,so I ask him what was happening he responds we are recovering an aircraft ,I turned back to see a Whale comming in and he is about a quarter mile aft of the ship and its obvious he plans on parking that big sob on the back end of the Midway ,I am now looking around to see if there is any way of getting the hell out of there and realise theres only two things I can do 1. stand there with the LSO or 2. dive into the net under the platform, being a little sleepy by the time I finish makeing this decision the dam thing has cought number three wire ,I actually managed to get my ears covered with my hands ,(saved my hearing)as those of you who have ever had the pleasure of being exposed to the sound of a whale with both engines at full power will remember they are two of the noisest engines I have ran into in 40 years of Aircraft mtc.:scary:

[Spotter]

For those of us not in the navy, what is a whale? A tanker of some kind?

[Ojive]

This will learn ya. Look at the retirement date. Talking a extended life years here. The Midway shot the last one off in the Navy back in 1989 I think and it was from Drifty fifty (VRC-50) or VQ-5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-3_Skywarrior