October 8, 1988

[foehammer03]

Who remembers this day? I had nightmares for years about it. I never thought a carrier could roll that hard until I found myself holding a padeye and seeing nothing but sky behind the Island and water at my feet!

[bodean]

hey Dan,

Catman here. You sure that was in 88? I seem to remember leaving port after they put the blisters on the sides to allow for the weight of the fa-18's and taking a few huge rolls while we were still in the sea of Japan. One of which was like 21degrees or so. Anyways, according to the engineers, we should have kept on rolling. Scariest shit that I ever had happen. Right next to almost getting blown off the aft part of L-2 that is.

I remember all this shit because it was my last cruise and we had just gotten the new A-6 squadron onboard.
What a bunch of lightweights they turned out to be. Half of them were puking over the railing before we ever actually got to sea....
LOL!!!!!

[foehammer03]

Oh yeah it was 8/8/88. We were going through double typhoons during that cruise. I remember captain Wilson got thrown off his chair and smashed his face into the Binicle on the bridge. Had a nasty black eye for like two weeks.

[RigTheBarricade]

I was in Primary Flight Control when we took that roll and it was one helluva ride. Being that high up, Primary was always a 'good ride' with the amount of sway we had to go through as the ship rolled.

As far as 'that other A-6 squadron'(see sig below...), even when the ship was'nt rolling real bad, those idiots could'nt catch a wire for their lives. They kept racking up bolter after bolter. At one point, the guy we had on platform, Airman Christoph, made a remark over his headset about having a rocket launcher installed on platform for anyone who could'nt trap. Unknown to him, Boss Craig was listening to the circuit and actually gave him a 'Roger-That'.

[Hop-Dog]

I remember that one, I wa in Deck Department and we were CHAINED to the bulkheads while on watch.

[VFA192PN]

I was on board but in my rack. At that time I was on night check!
YEA!! love those mid-rats!!

[Eagle3]

I can't imagine how bad it was then with the blisters. She rolled really bad during the two NORPACS I did. It was wild to stand in the port catwalk and look across the deck to the other side. You could watch the horizon go from no water to nother but water! :scary: We burried the bow a lot too. I slept in Eagle's upper B on the 02 level about as forward on the ship as you could get. I swear there were times we could hear sonar echos. :laugh:

[Billntwrk]

I remember *Heavy Rolls* on Both NorPacs refered to by Eagle. I was on the Bridge for one and clearly remember the Navigator looking at the assembled youngster's (Us know everything Non-ratesand/or E-4 types) and saying, "Well shipmates, thats one to tell your grand kids. we just took an 18 degree roll and 16 degreels is supposed to be fatal..."

Anybody remember the Psychic that predicted we would sink or be sunk? Capt. McGrail actually addressed the issue over the 1-MC. Right then, I learned to never trust psychics!:OOPS:

[Eagle3]

Oh man! I forgot all about that! :laugh: yea, I remember that. Capt McGrail was great over the 1MC.

[Gary94]

Yeah, Midway sure liked to roll to port didn't she? I remember during a special weaps operation my station was manning a bomb elevator on the flight deck. My division officer came by me and he was soaking wet. I asked him what the hell happened to you, and he said he was standing on the angle deck and the ship rolled and a wave smacked him in the face. I was thinking, hmmm aren't we on an aircraft carrier or a tug boat?

[Ojive]

Hell Yeah I remember, I was in my rack and I rolled and at the same time I heard some heavy as piece of equipment hit the deck above us, it shook the area around us, then I hear that dreaded alarm, Man over board, from that day on we made this very primitive scale for the rolls we took on our bulkhead, shit you not our shop was next to VA-115 mechs so they would come over and ask us the reading if we took a good one.

[WSS]

I remember in the mid 1960's the Midway often tossed and twisted like a fishing cork. Too many times the forcastle flooded and one of our elevators dissappeared. What a mess. :)

[Eagle3]

When we did the NORPACS we rocked and rolled like crazy, but nothing like the escorts. Those poor guys would literally disappear in the swells. On the Midway, if you really wanted to freak out you could either go up as high as possible on Vulture's Row (the higher you went to more pronouced the roll feeling), or stand in the port catwalk and look across the deck to the starboard side. You'd see all sky... then all water... then all sky... http://bushwhacked.net/forum/images/smilies/smiley-kots.gif

I'll bet she would have capsized in NORPAC after the blisters. :what:

[Ojive]

I don't know about Norpac, but we'd hang in typhoons for days and we did alright. But I have heard Norpac waves to be pretty intense :Poke:

[Eagle3]

I don't know about Norpac, but we'd hang in typhoons for days and we did alright. But I have heard Norpac waves to be pretty intense :Poke:

NORPAC was nuts. I'm not sure what we proved up there except that;
A) We could operate up there if we really really really needed to.... barely
B) The Soviets couldn't find shit up there if it was smeared on their canopies

:hehe:

[Chaff Dog]

I remember the roll: It was 26 degrees, according to the inclometer (sp) in the ready room. When the ship did the big roll, and then stayed over for several seconds, everyone of us (HS-12 aircrew) grabbed our flight gear (emphasis on the fact it is also floatation and survival gear), and beat feet for the flight deck!!

However, this roll was in 1986, not 1988. Perhaps there was more than one 'mother of all rolls'.

Anyway, a few airplanes snapped a chain or two, the helicopter nearly tipped over, but nothing was lost. I heard froma friend, who was a corpsman, that 36 sailors wound up in medical after being launched out of their top racks. A number of them had broken bones!

[Ojive]

Chaff, bummer man but it was 8 Oct 88 the big one. 1986??? Before the yards or after? I don't remember any really big waves after the yard period. But hey we survived it. :laugh: