MCPO Roy Dean Matthews (SEAL), my Teamate ST-2 ('nam era) said,
"Rio, you were a Deep Sea Diver.  How come you don't have a page on SEALTWO.ORG for  all DV's?"

HERE IT IS!
                 
My Deep Sea Diver Shipmates;   please send me your photos!   
 


"JAKE"


THE INDOMITABLE PATRIOT  Fertig, The Guerrilla General

One of our guys, although he had the misfortune of going Army instead of Navy, has become a writer in
his old age. His first few books were about the paranormal... he likes to chase ghosts in his spare time. But his latest
endeavor; Wow! He has started a new series of books he calls Behind the Lines. His first book, recently completed and
published is titled “THE INDOMITABLE PATRIOT: Fertig, the Guerrilla General.” It’s a historically correct novel about Wendell Fertig in the Philippines in World War II.  Here’s what the book looks like. 
Cover Final :
May, 1942. General Wainwright has just surrendered the Philippines. Wendell Fertig, a Corps of Engineers Lieutenant Colonel, refuses to comply and flees into the mountains of Mindanao. Fertig is soon
joined by dozens of former Philippino Army scouts who encourage him to form a guerrilla Army. Over the next few months Fertig is joined by several other displaced American soldiers, one of whom builds a small, makeshift transmitter and establishes contact with the Navy. 
General MacArthur denounces Fertig, going on record claiming it’s impossible for a guerrilla movement in the Philippines to succeed. The O.S.S. decide to take a chance and covertly supplies Fertig by submarine. Once he receives the tools to wage war, his achievements become legendary. By the time MacArthur returns to the Philippines in 1944 he is met on the beach at Leyte by a force of over twenty thousand of Fertig’s guerrilla Army. 

This fictional accounting is based upon the actual military records and reports of one man’s impossible achievements against overwhelming odds; against an enemy who outnumbered him a hundred to one. Wendell Fertig, a civil engineer and untrained amateur in the ways of war, defied the predictions of the experts and brought the Japanese Army to its knees. Enjoy this first installment in the new Behind The Lines series of combat thrillers based upon historical records.


The book is available from Amazon in either print or Kindle versions, or by special order from almost any book retailer.
(He’s not Tom Clancy yet. They don’t stock his books but they can order them). These links will take you to the Amazon listings. If you look at the Kindle listing there is a Look Inside feature that lets you read through the first chapter. 
Print: 
http://www.amazon.com/Indomitable-Patriot-Fertig-Guerrilla-General/dp/
1512025623/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1431972445&sr=8-1&keywords=the+indomitable+patriot 


Kindle: 
http://www.amazon.com/Indomitable-
Patriot-Fertig-Guerrilla-General-ebook/dp/B00XUSX4RU/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1432050603&sr=
1-1&keywords=the+indomitable+patriot
 

About the Author     Carl’s professional career began as an Army and then FAA air traffic controller. He advanced from a small radar van in the Central Highlands of Vietnam to the TRACON in one of our nation’s busiest airports. He also became a commercial pilot and flight instructor, retiring after thirty-nine years of flying. By 1986 he was experiencing severe burnout. He put himself through the police academy, resigned from the FAA and became a deputy Sheriff in Reno, Nevada. He retired after a distinguished career on the street. Not only the cop on the beat, Carl became a renowned traffic accident reconstructionist on his departments Major Accident Investigation Team, as well as a highly acclaimed crime scene investigator. Throughout his life Carl has been a student of the paranormal and often experienced the effects of the supernatural in his personal life. In 2012 he became involved in the saga of the haunted Allen House in Monticello, Arkansas and its resident spirit, Ladell Allen Bonner. The result of dozens upon dozens of paranormal interactions with Ladell led Carl to write his first book about Ladell’s life and death. Writing that first book sparked a latent avocation in his life: writing. Carl has always been a connoisseur of military history, and that interest began a new direction for his writing. This latest book is the story of Wendell Fertig, and the beginning of a thrilling new series, 'Behind The Lines.' While the stories are fictionalized, they are all based upon factual military history. Join in with Carl and enjoy his books as you gain an interesting new insight in what war is all about.

The following is typical of the reviews I’m receiving on the book: 


Just finished your book and you get 4.0 marks from this old Navy Seal. Really enjoyed and it adds to my hobby of WWII.
Spent 22 years of my 34 in and out of the PI. Have traveled every island and was trained a marksman by RJ when we were
stationed at Team 2 during Vietnam. Still a very good friend I keep in contact with. Going to recommend it to my friends,
at least the ones that can read.

 THE INDOMITABLE PATRIOT  Fertig, The Guerrilla General

Doc Riojas Comment:  Once i started reading this book, i have find myself hard to putting it down! because of my very old age (84 yr old eyes and at the end of being able to correct my vision) I find that the way  the paragraphs are other important text are spaced to be extremly easy to read.

Having retired from the Navy and traveled to that part of the orient reminds me of my days as a guerrilla combatant as part of the Navy SPecial Warfare serving as a Navy SEAL in the Jungles of Vietnam.

The author is equally as good a military writter as Tom Clancy.  This story may possibly be material for a great movie similar to the the movie produced about the POW rescue in WWII by Filipino Guerilla fighters and the U.S. Army Rangers.  "The Great Raid"

Do not wait to buy it tomorrow, order it today !  It was recommended to me by CDR R.D. Thomas (recommended for the Medal of Honor by the US Army, but our politically correct US Navy downgraded it to a Navy Cross. SHame on them !

 

 

The Master Divers Reunion
2013clickon this link for info

 

 

PHOTOS:    17-20  OCT 2012     ASR/ARS reunion

seattle wash
"yours for the taking"

The pictures in the link below

https://plus.google.com/photos/107694047446362759008/albums/5822376589327417025?authkey=CPjAjoqW47CBcQ

and:

https://plus.google.com/photos/107694047446362759008/albums/5822575821606722433?authkey=CLSr7cS_kOmf0gE

 

 

 


Erasmo "Doc" Riojas   Challenge Coin:  too bad they could not Place a star on the "C.A.R." which
is the 1st ribbon, the 2nd is the Vietnam War, and the blue .3d. ribbon is awarded for the Korea Police Action.  Purchased from:  www.wholesale-challengecoins.com  1 (877) 870

 

 

Master Diver Reunion 2015  Panama City Florida

 

 


Piggy Banks and Paul Walker

 


OSHA finds safety violations at Aberdeen test pond

 

 

 "The Real Men of Honor"

                  USS SQUALUS (SS-192)   Sinking,Rescue and her Salvage          

complied  by :   Erasmo "Doc" Riojas (DV) (SEAL)    from the book:    Blow All Ballast   by Nat. A. Barrows

My best friend, LT. Jim Hazelwood, Master Diver, SEAL, sent me the book BLOW ALL BALLAST by Nat. A. Barrows; Dodd, Mead & Co. NY 1940 .  Thank you very much Jim.  Great book.  All of the pictures and other graphics and important information in that book are included here.  

Jim wrote me:  " This book gives a  great account of Salvage of USS Squalus SS-192.  Includes the Deep Sea Divers names, and the Squalus survivors names.  Only one diver (then a GM2) , John Malcomb "Punchy" Porter failed to be commissioned during their career.  John was at one time the all Navy boxing heavyweight.  At the Bikini atoll in 1946, "Punchy" was a GMC Master Diver aboard the USS Widgeon ASR-1.  The Widgeon salvaged the USS Skipjack SS-184 that was sunk by the "Baxer Day", a bomb blast."

                                      "Doc" Riojas  comments:

Jim, thank you for that bit of Naval Diving history.   I do not recall a diving salvage operation as succesfull as this one.  I think the Russians had a chance to outdo the Squalus salvage but for resons not explained, they left their men to die at the bottom of the North Sea.    Jim you are one of my heroes. You have seen the "white elephant," been there and done that all over the world.  I respect you, salute you and wish you the very best in your life.                         Tu Amigo,     Erasmo "Doc" Riojas(SEAL)  ; DSDS, class 4/55 .           UDT Class-19 (Honorary.)

 

 

Aug. 1, 2013 - 03:50PM  

 

picture of Dusty and myself was taken early spring of 1975  not 93-94,  we were both retired then and the MK1 DDS was scraped in 76-77.       Bo

 

 


Four sailors to fight punishment tied to diving deaths


Dr. George Bond and Chief Engineman Cyril Tuckfield following record buoyant ascent in 1959

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 120 foot lock was not used for Submarine Escape because of exposure to that pressure would require decompression before reaching the surface.   Instructors at the tank were trained to do free ascents from 100 ft and to free dive to 100ft and a proper entry was made into their service records.   UDT divers were trained from 100 ft in very small groups so that the bottom time at that depth would not require decompression and could ascend directly to the surface doing a "blow and go" method of sub escape.

 

 

 

How Deep-sea Rescue Works 

by Charles W. Bryant

 


Sub Escape using the Momsen Lung, Do RIo was an instructor at the Subase Pearl Harbor, at the TANK and went through this training before becoming an instructor.  He was also made to graduate from the tank's SCUBA School that was run by Master Diver Bob Sheats.   Bob wrote a book: One Man's War: Diving as a Guest of the Emperor 1942 by Robert C. Sheats (Oct 1, 1998)

 

      
Dr. George F. Bond                                       Dr. Bond and Cyril Tuckerfield , Record Open sea buoyant ascent

 

 

 

Strange Deep-Sea Diving Suits

 

 

 

 

Go to the Navy Memorial Web Page and search "Doc's" name in the Navy Log .  Doc Clark is a graduate of Deep Sea Diving School, USNav Gun Factory D.C.   We need a picture of him in a MKV diving rig.

 

 

 

 

 Lou Boyles (DV) (SEAL)


 

Email: dtd 26APR2013
From:Lou Boyles via cableone.net 
To:    Erasmo "Doc" Riojas


I was looking through your Diving page on your site. I saw many of my Friends  & ex-Friends on there. I went through 2 nd class diving school on the Coucal  in about 1957 in Japan. I was in UDT-11 then. I worked for Taylor Diving &  Salvage with a lot of those Guys on your page. Good times. 
Lou Boyles

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From: Lou Boyles via cableone  DOT net 
To:     Doc Riojas
Date:  26Apr2013Subj:  Hard Hat DV photos


This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm

Hi Doc, 

I happened to have a couple of small Diving photos on hand. In the B&W photo you cannot 
see my face but, that is me on the stage making my deep 2nd class qual dive off of Atami, Japan. Diving off 
of the Coucal ASR-8 in 1957 I think it was. My good Friend Jim Trotter was a first class Quartermaster 
& first class diver on there then. I also attached 3 color shots of me preparing to dive the ‘Jim suit’ in 
England. I was working for Oceaneering out of Aberdeen, Scotland then. I was training to be Supertendent 
for our Jim & Wasp division. We had run out of Hyperbaric welding contracts at the time. That was my specialty. 
Take care my Friend,

Lou


 

 

 

 

 

 

MMCS(DV) Ret., Louis “TJ” Trujillo, R.I.P.

                                                                                                     

 


It is with great sadness  that our brother and shipmate MMCS(DV) Ret., Louis “TJ” Trujillo was called last night, Saturday, April 20, 2013, at 1945 hours to serve the Supreme Master Diver in the Sky. I received a phone call from both Joe Medina and Fernando Lugo. 

TJ had been treated for asbestosis and fibrosis on his lungs. TJ was a fighter and fought to the end. I was fortunate to visit with TJ on Thursday.  TJ’s wife, Vy, his daughter, Christina, and granddaughter, Adrianna who came from New Mexico. They stayed at TJ’s bedside until his death.
All Navy Divers send out their most sincere condolences and prayers to TJ’s wife Vy, daughter Christina,  and granddaughter Adrianna and all the Trujillo family.


LUIS TRUJILLO,  HIS NICKNAME WAS "TJ" 

THE WAY I UNDERSTOOD IT, THEY WERE TAKING SHRAPNEL OUT OF HIS BODY FOR NUMEROUS HOURS, (8 - 12??) 
HE HAD SPECIAL TENNIS SHOES AND SHOES MADE THAT HAD ABOUT A 4" SOLE. HE ALWAYS PARTICIPATED ON THE DAILY RUNS, SWIMMING, AND WAS QUALIFIED AS A SATURATION DIVER. (I THINK THE DOCTORS RESTRICTED HIS DEEPEST SAT. DEPTH TO 300') 

HE STILL HAD SO MUCH SHRAPNEL LEFT IN HIM THAT WE USE TO SAY IF WE GOT A BIG MAGNET WE COULD PICK HIM UP. 
THANK YOU,   Frank de la Oliva

 

                                                                      Wife Vi  and  Daugher

 

Photos from Frank de la Oliva

 

 

Dan Miller, Deep Sea Diver, U.S. Navy Veteran


         

 

Danny and I served aboard the USS SKYLARK (ASR-20) 50 years ago when the USS THRESHER sank  during her shakedown cruise off the shores of Maine.  Danny was a Deep Sea Diver.   Danny visited Doc Riojas 12April2013 while in Houston to watch his horse race at the Houston race track the next day.

                       

 

 

                

                                                                  

 

 

 

 

 

 

             
                                                                                              Lowell Inman Jr.

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

      

 


This was Doc Riojas 1st Diving duty station right out of  DSDS in 1955. 
From here to the USS Coucal (ASR-8) made one West Pac tour of duty.

 

 

Hyrum "Hank" Mullikin, Master DIver, R.I.P.

 

 

USS SKYLARK 1964 to 1965    Ernest Fratz(DV)

    
Hello Doc Riojas,
I saw an email coment on a Navy Divers Association reunion page about your service aboard the USS Skylark. My father also served on the Skylark as a diver around 1964 to 1965 and he was also on the USS Fulton. His name is Ernest Fratz I have attached a couple pictures of him. Do you remember him at all?
Thanks,
Ernest Fratz Jr. Richmond, Texas 

Ernest Fratz <efratz51 [at] gmail  DOT com> wrote:
Hi Doc, Attached are two pictures of my father back when he was stationed on the Skylark around 1964 & 1965. Thanks for looking at them. He was in a diving accident on the boat. It involved a gas/air mixture problem on a deep dive. He had to be placed in a decompression chamber for several days. it messed up one of his lungs and he had to give up diving after the accident. He went to QA/QC school for welding and did that type of work until he got his 20 yrs in and then retired out of San Diego in 1970. Happy New year! Ernie Fratz

Mr Fratz,       I was on the U.S.S. Fulton for about 6 months in 1961 and was transfered to the Skylark in January of 1962. I remained ther until my discharge on August of 1963. I think your father must have served on the Skylark after I was discharged. He does look familiar to me, I wonder if he was on the Fulton when I was on the Skylark?

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Hi Doc Riojas, 

Thanks again for posting the pictures and adding the write up on my father. When i first looked at it it did not have the write up. I must have saw it right after you added the pictures. 

It looks great now and thank you very much. My brother also likes it as well. My father liked Diving very much and the people he worked with. 

He use to hang out Bill (SilverFox) Lucree. They were drinking buddies and good friends. One of Bill LuCree's daughters was born the day after me. We would visit each others families many times over the years. 

Jim Tallent was another old Navy buddy my father knew from Solomons Island (Patuxent River) back in late 50's early 60's. I think you were stationed or were at Pax River in Solomons, Md at one time. Do you remember the old bar across from the base? It was run by a guy named Robbie Robinson. 

When we moved to Southern Maryland back in 1971 we lived across the street from the Robinsons and have been good friends ever since.

 Well take care of yourself and have a happy and great new year 2013. 

Ernie Fratz Jr.

WEBMASTER NOTE:    Thank you Ernie Jr.    NO, I do not remember that Bar because when we did our deep open sea dives at SOLOMON ISLANDS we did not have any liberty.  We were stuck on the 5 boat.     Doc Riojas , then was HM2, class 4/55  DSDS

 

 

 

 Diving Deep into Danger
Saturation Diving
The New York Review of Books FEBRUARY 7, 2013 Nathaniel Rich

 

 

On Wed, Jul 18, 2012
Danny Miller : djm81042 [at] yahoo DOT com
Doc Riojas,
I may be mistaken but when I ran across your picture in " Together we served" I thought I recognized you from my days in the Navy. We always called you Doc on the ship and when I saw your name I got a smile on my face from the memories of those days past.

 I served on the USS Skylark in 62 and 63. and was Danny Miller EM 2nd class, DV-2 and was over the electrical department when I was discharged.  You actually patched up my smashed left hand , it was caught under a wire lifting cable at about 120' trying to pick up 5 ton, and the hand still works great. Good job.

 I was in Little Creek ,Va. with UDT Team 21 for Demo training in the fall of 61 ( part of DV 2 training at Norfolk) . I was then sent to the Fulton and shortly after to the Skylark.   I have lost track of all friends from the Skylark and remember my close friend P. O. McClean leaving the ship to go to DV 2 school in early 63.

 If you remember me ( and I don't know why you would) I would love to hear from you. Glad to see you were a SEAL.  

Danny J. Miller


 

   Dr. Robert  C. Bornmann; Submarine/Diver Medical, Officer U.S. Navy

 

 

 

 

  


via docrio45  [at] gmail  DOT com 

   


to NmccJeanaAquad., NMCharlie, NMJim, NMJan, NMAndré In the summer of 1954 Charles Aquadro and two other graduates, Eugene Mayberry and Henry Long, of the University of Tennessee Medical School in Memphis were ordered to Navy duty under instruction at the Naval School, Deep Sea Divers, in the Washington DC Navy Yard. Although contemporaries and acquaintances they were not , because of the Tennessee practice of running classes on a quarter system, strictly classmates. At DSDS their mentor and intructor was Ed Lanphier from the Navy Experimental Diving Unit. Assignments after training were: Aquadro to Underwater Demolition Unit One in San Diego [comprised of UDT-11, -12 and -13], Mayberry to UDT-21 in Norfolk, and Long to the Salvage School in Bayonne NJ. 

After his tour of Navy service Henry Long went into private practice in Tennessee. Eugene Mayberry entered a residency in Internal Medicine at the Mayo Clinic and stayed on there afterwards, rising to CEO of the Clinic before his retirement a few years ago. Charlie Aquadro went on to a varied career in the Navy, then worked with Jacques Cousteau in Monaco, and with TAP Pryor in Honolulu before entering private practice in North Carolina. Charlie always viewed Lanphier as his mentor. He tele-phoned regularly to discuss diving subjects and problems. Whenever Aquadro was in DC or later Buffalo he would drop by Ed's lab to continue these conversations face-to-face. 

Ed Lanphier was the perfect guide for these young JGs. His knowledge of the field of undersea medicine was extensive, his energy and enthusiasm were infectious, and the three were for him a training field for the Manual on SCUBA medicine that he was working on - which was ultimately published as part of the Navy Diving Manual. In every phase of his career Ed Lanphier's intelligence and drive made him stand out. This was true of his early training at the Loyola University college of medicine, his fellowship at Penn, his work while on active duty in the Navy, his years at SUNY Buffalo school of medicine; and that part of his career after he trained for the priest-hood in the Episcopal Church and became professor at the University of Wisconsin. [He told me once that upon entering his seminary he felt, after wandering for many years, that he had at last come back home.] 

Ed's name, Lanphier, was not French, as I had originally surmised, but Welsh. It comes from a long Welsh place name which begins LLANFAIR, and refers to the Church of St Mary there. In my church hymnal is an Easter song set to an old Welsh melody entitled "Llanfair". The words begin, "Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia!" Ed died in 1999 in Madison WI, and those words express well, I think, how Ed felt about his life. 

Robert C Bornmann

Dr. Bornmann was educated at : Medical School University of Pennsylvania 

 

 

 

YDT-16 / MK1-DDS / HCU-2
Setting world record for open sea dive - 1148 feet
Photos by: Tudor ApMadoc

 

 


William "Dusty" Rhoads

From:WILLIAM RHODES 
To:  Erasmo "Doc" Riojas
Subj:  Mark I System Deep Dive sets a record


Doc,

Yes,spent two years upgrading the.electrical,communications and all the PTC connectors.
The Mark 1 system was only designed to dive 850 feet and we wanted to dive over a 1000' , so it required a lot of changes.
I worked normally 16 hours a day, 7 days a week to make it possible. I never felt that I was credited for all the work I did <br>to make the world record dive possible.


Yes Bo was with me and he put in a lot of extra time in also. We had two of the less than magnificent Warrant officers and the best Master diver (Joe Bates), that ever served in the Navy while I was with the Mark 1 System. 

W."Dusty" Rhodes

 

        
                                                    Lowell "Bo" Burwell

     

          Reference:  http://www.apmadoc.net/Photos/navy/Main.html

                      
                                                                          MDV Joe Bates

         
Erasmo (Doc) Riojas first Diving Duty Station was the Submarine Escape Training Tank at Pearl Harbor, territory of Hawaii in 1955.
We were teaching "boat sailors" the Momsen Lung (see above photo) at that time. All training was from the 50 foot
Lock.  Doc Riojas made two SEAL Team Two Trips on the USS SEALION SSAP-315 doing sub lockouts using the MKVI
Oxygen-Nitrogen breathing SCUBA.

 

        
The McCann Sub.rescue bell carried by the ASRs ships of the Submarine Fleet.  

 

 

 


Don and I were divers aboard the USS SKylark (ASR-20) back in the ~1960's   

 


Lowell "Doc""BO" Burwell;  they are on the deep dive record setting operation photo by Tudor ApMadoc

 

 

 

 


Dona Tobias, First WOMAN  USNavy Deep Sea Diver

 


Steven Sagri

 

 

 Navy Divers Reunion 2012, Details HERE ! 
BREMERTON, WASHINGTON

 


Liberace & Jake

 


SubEscape Tank New London Conn.

 


SubEscape Tank Pearl Harbor

 


Homer "Doc" Marshall DSDS Class  

 

 
Bob Barth Bldg

 

 

 
Frank J. Sparks

 

                        
                 BobbyHodges, Doc Edgerton                                Holly,  Doc Rio and Green

 


SubEscape Tank Pearl Harbor divers, YN3 Gamble and __________

 

SubEscape Tank Murals by Doc Riojas 


Jim Ernest and Erasmo Riojas

 


July 1958, Panama City FL, USS SeaLion (APSS-315) Lt to Rt.: J.V. Markoskie, CO Sealion; John Muckle, Ron Yeaw, Jim Wallace,  Fred Toothman, LTjg Schutzman, Pete Girard, Joe Silva, Ron Rogers, Dr. R. Lee; sitting:  Lt-Rt: Erasmo Riojas, Mike Mc Wuillis, Blackiston, Jerry Waters. 

 

 


Watson, Charles R. YN1,  2nd Class DV


 

From:Charles Watson 
To: Doc Riojas
Subject: Picture of me in the MKV rig


 Rio, I am sorry, but I do not have a picture of me in the Deep Sea Diving Rig.
Enclosed is my 2nd Class DV certificate.
I wasn't a lst class DV, but I don't know of any lst Class DV that stayed submerged for 2 days and 2 nights. LOL. Too bad we never talked over a few beers.
Charlie

 Bro,
I and Gallagher, Tinnin & Moak, broke world record in 1959 at the swim pool in NOB (Aqua-lung). I ended up as centerfold in Life magazine.
Captain Olson was XO at Team 21 and supervised. He recently had an article reprinted in the "Blast".
(A few months ago, don't you read the Blast? Then I and a bunch of other guys spent 18 hrs. in a pool at Johnsvile, Pa, prior to doing time on the centrifuge. Was testing strength related to space weightlessness for astronauts.

Charlie Watson


 

 
This pre-World War II (WWII) film profiles the Submarine Training School at New London Connecticut. Features footage of the R4 (R-4) and R11 (R-11) both R-1 class diesel submarines.       submitted by : "Jack" Barnes  email:  edsabarnes  [at]att  DOT net         WEBMASTER NOTE: Erasmo "Doc Rio" Riojas graduated from U.S.Naval Diving School in Wash.DC in 1955 and was immediately assigned to The Escapte Training Tank at the SUBASE, Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii.   We were still teaching submarine escape using the MOMSEN LUNG. That device was replaced by the STEINKE HOOD which is not a rebreathing apparatus.  Sub. Trainees exhale all the way to the surface inside the HOOD by shouting "Ho Ho Ho" all the way to the surface of the escape tank.


Stienke Hood SubEscape device

 

One Man's War: Diving as a Guest of the Emperor 1942[Paperback]  by Robert C. Sheats , MasterDV


Joe Bataes MDV

 

 

Biography of Bobby G. Hodges BMC (DV)USN Ret

Bobby G. Hodges

Born:
March 24, 1929

Died:
October 16, 2005

Memorialized by:
Fulton-Theroux Funeral Service, New London, CT

 

New London- Bobby G. Hodges, 76, of Bank St., died Sunday, October 16, 2005 at Mariner at Pendleton in Mystic.


Mr. Hodges was born on March 24, 1929 in Littlefield, TX the son of Guy and Alice Martin Hodges. He served in the U.S. Navy serving in Korea before being Honorably Discharged after 20 years of service as a Chief Boatswain Mate , Diver First Class.

He was the owner of Ernie’s Café on Bank St. for the last 33 years, a friend to everyone he met. He was a member of the AsrArs Assn, Elks Club, Shriners, The Moose Club, VFW, The Polish-American Veteran’s Club, The Navy League, Chamber of Commerce, Democratic Town Committee, “Old Bastard’s Club”, and was a 32nd Degree Mason.


Mr. Hodges is survived by his two son’s Robert Hodges of New London and William Wydra of Ledyard, his six daughters Roxanna Ackerman of Ohio, Lola Holden of IL, Regina Seidel of Oakdale, Glenna Hodges of Oakdale, Ramona Hodges of Niantic, and Chrysta Wydra of Ledyard, 14 Grandchildren, 8 Great-grandchildren, and a great-great-grandchild.


A Funeral Service will be held on Saturday, October 22, 2005 at 10:00am in Fulton-Theroux Funeral Home, 181 Ocean Ave., New London, CT 06320. Interment will follow in Raymond Hill Cemetery. Calling Hours will he held on Friday from 2:00 until 4:00pm and again at 7:00 until 9:00pm in the funeral home.

 

Bobby,  you will be missed by all your Deep Sea Diving Shipmates.    Especially Jim Noble, Hank Mullikin, Erasmo Riojas of the USS SKYLARK (ASR-20), and the  ASR-ARS Assn members.

 

 

 

 

                          
                                                                                  Ernie Caltenback

                    

                     

                                

 

 

 

     U.S. NAVY DIVERS Web Site          

   John Roat , Navy SEAL,  Commercial Diver:  Web site

            May 2009 Master Diver's Reunion Photos from Frank de la Oliva

          M.D.V. Reunion Photos from Ernie Caltenbach 

 

                                                                     

 

 

 

    

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                 
Sam Ciechon 1st Class DV & UDT                Diving Challenge Coin for sale $10.00 by  "Doc"  Ball

 
Shaun Flynn

 

 

                      

 

                                                             

 

 

                                              x

                      SUBMARINE RESCUE OPERATION VIDEO:  Official USNavy Movie 

Erasmo "Doc" Riojas served as ship's company on two ASR's: USS Coucal (ASR-8) Pearl harbor, T.H. (before it was a state)I made one West Pacific cruise, and we endured a severe storm crossing the Pacific; and aboard the USS SYLARK (ASR-20) berthed at State Pier, New London, Conn. SubRon-10 way back in the 1960's. I made two Mediterranean Cruises on the Skylark. Survived one severe storm going to Europe. It was so severe it caused cracks on the forward fresh water tanks. We spend extra time in Rota, Spain for repairs.

 

                   
                                                             Linda C. Hubbell

 

                                             
USS Grayback Memorial           USArmy COmbat Swimmer Badge            Fernando Lugo and Mike Jackson

 

                 
         USS COUCAL ASR-8 home port Pearl Harbor Territory of Hawaii

 

               Erasmo "Doc" Riojas
Aboard the USS Coucal ASR-8 and the USS Skylark ASR-20, I was the independent duty Corpsman. I was also the Medical Diving Tech (HM-8493).  Each Diver had his diving folder in the Dive Locker.  The "Doc" was the man designated by the Diving Officer (usually the XO) to type the diving forms for diving pay.  We got  paid for each dive we made and for Five Cents for each foot we went under.  We also got $55.00 a month Diving Pay if we were assigned to a Navy Diving Billet.

 

 


 

                                      
                                USS Coucal ASR-8  Major Events in Which Erasmo "Doc" Riojas participated


       


submitted by Mike Heiney
1st Class DV

 


 

 

LT. Jim Hazelwood's Last Duty Station on a Navy Diving Ship

Two great men, Navy SEALs, and Deep Sea Divers:  James hazelwood & Harold Nething

 

Jim was my very dear friend, SEAL Teamate, and also Deep Sea Diving shipmate.  He passed on so much of his history of which I am so very proud of all his accomplishments in his Naval Career.  A true U. S. Navy Hero.  I miss him dearly.     Doc Riojas

 

Decommissioning Ceremony     USS Kittiwake (ASR-13)         29 Sep 94'    Norfolk  Nav.Base  Norfolk VA

    

kittiwake01_small.gif (10822 bytes)      loggokittywake_small.gif (44781 bytes)

       kittiwake02_small.gif (13806 bytes)                               kittiwake04_small.gif (15943 bytes)

 

        

 click on photos to enlarge:

There is a port of no return, where ships May ride at anchor for a little space And then, some starless night, the cable slips, Leaving an eddy at the morring place...Gulls, veer no longer. Sailor, rest your oar.  No tangled wreckage will be washed ashore.    by:   Leslie Nelson Jennings

                                            coverkittiwake_small.gif (8414 bytes)                        

 

       Kittiwake's          Commanding            Officers

pinseacommand.gif (5816 bytes)

LT L. H. COLLIER 1946 - 1948
LTT. C. HURST 1948- 1950
LT W. K. WILSON 1950 - 1952
LTP. P. ROGERS 1952- 1954
LT T. E. COLBURNE 1954 - 1954
LCDRW.D.BUCKEE 1954-1956
LCDRW.H.HIBBS 1956- 1958
LCDR W. M. SCOTT 1958
- 1960
LCDR P.O. POWELL 1960
- 1962
LCDR R. E.
KUTZLEB 1962 - 1964
LCDR G. R. LANGFORD 1964 - 1966
LCDR H. H. SCRANTON 1966 - 1968
LCDR R. F. JAMES 1968 - 1970
LCDR W. J. MULLALY 1970 - 1971
LCDR S. MCNEASE 1971 - 1974
CDR F. K. DUFFY 1974 - 1977
CDR F. M. SCHERY 1977 - 1979
CDRP. F. FAWCETT 1979- 1981
CDRT.J.MARTIN 1981-1983
CDR R. J. NORRIS 1983 - 1985
CDRT.J.ERWIN 1985-1988
CDR J. S. TROTTER 1988 - 1991
CDRW.J.STEWART 1991-1993
CDR S. N. ZEHNER 1993 - 1994

      USS KITTIWAKE      COMMISSIONED 18 JULY 1946    THE COMMISSIONING PENNANTpennant_small.gif (5874 bytes)

Upon the order "Break the commissioning pennant," a ship becomes the responsibility of the Commanding Officer, who, together with the ship's officers and men, have the duty of making her ready for any service required by our nation, whether in peace or at war.

For centuries the commissioning pennant has been the symbol of a man-of-war. It is believed to date from the 17th century, when the Dutch were at war with the English. Dutch Admiral Harpertzoon Tromp hoisted a broom at his masthead to symbolize his intention to sweep the English from the sea. This gesture was answered by British Admiral William Blake, who hoisted a horsewhip indicating his intention to chastise the Dutch. The victorious British thus set the precedent for a long, narrow commissioning pennant to symbolize the original horsewhip as the distinctive symbol of a ship of war.

The modem U.S. Navy commissioning pennant is blue at the hoist with a union of seven white starts, and a horizontal red and white stripe at the fly.

DECOMMISSIONING CEREMONY pennantbar.gif (2066 bytes)

29 SEPTEMBER 1994

Navy tradition dictates that each ship constructed for the service be honored on four historic ceremonial occasion: Keel-laying, christening (or launching), commissioning, and decommissioning. The decommissioning ceremony is the time-honored ceremony which terminates the ship's active naval service.

The ceremony today ends the active service of USS KITTIWAKE. It is a tribute to this workhorse warrior and the long line of rugged crew members, past and present, who served faithfully on her decks. Following 48 years of continuous, honorable, commissioned service, the order will be given to "Strike the commissioning pennant and secure the watch." For the final time, the commissioning pennant, ensign and union jack will be hauled down and the crew assembled on the pier. The fourth oldest U.S. Navy ship in continuous active service will have decommissioned.

 

 

 OFFICERS

CDR S. N. ZEHNER
LCDR X. Z. HERRINGTON II
LT A. A. SMITH III
LT R. T. WINFIELD
LTJG E. S. HUNTER
CWO2 S. H. CLAYTON

COMMANDING OFFICER
EXECUTIVE OFFICER
NAVIGATOR
ENGINEER
SUPPLY OFFICER
FIRST LIEUTENANT

                                                                

  ENCMS (SWIMDV) EVANS 
COMMAND MASTER CHIEF

commande9.gif (3588 bytes)
CHIEF PETTY OFFICERS

BMCS(SW/DV) RYDER
DCC(SW) BURKE
HTC(SWIDV) KELLY
SKCS(SW) DELOSTRINOS

EMC(SW) WILLIAMS
HTC(SW/DV) BAXTER
EMC(SWIDV) DRYDEN
ENCS(SW) DATIG

RMC(SW) LAMBERT
BMC(DV) LAMBERTSEN
HTC(SWIDV) MIKULSKI

 

          CREW

 

FR M.J. ALARCON

EN2 S.L. ARNOLD

BM1(SWIDV) G.D. BRANDON

RM2 D.K. CASTO

HT2(SW).J.H. CULBERTSON

HT2(SW) ER. DURKIN

YNl ED. FITZGERALD

HM1(SW) J.L. HALL

M53 D.L. JOHNSON

ET3 T.T. LAWRENCE

QM3(SW) T.G. MCMILLAN

GMGl(SW) R.A. MURRAY

BM2(SW) M.P. NELSON

SKSN P.J. ORELLANA

SN C.M. PETERSEN

EN1(SW) D.B. RINEHART

EN3 T.C. SCHNEIDER

ICFN I.E SOMOSKY

SN D.W. SPRINGER

RM1(SW) B.J. THOMPSON

EN1(SW) D.N. WALKER

DC2 A.A. WILLIS

SN R.L. WYNN

              

BM3(SW/SS/DV) J.J. ANDERSON

EN2(DV) S.P. BAIN

DC l(SW) J.D. BUSSARD

EN3 W. CLEMONS

GMG3 R.L. DONN

EN2(DV) G.D. ELLEDGE

MM1(DV/SS) K.J. GEST

EN3(SW) J.W. HARTKE

5H2 L.M. JOHNSON

EM3 J.L. LUCE

EN E MESSINA

HM2(SWIDV) D.D. MURRAY

EM2 W.S. NOAKES

0S3 D.W. PARKER

EN2 B.D. PIERCE

SN T.L. ROSS

BM1(SW) I.L. SMITH

YN3 M.D. SPERLING

SN R.M. STOKES

MS1 D.E. THOMPSON

RM3 B.J. WARFORD

PN1 I. WOODS

BM2(SWIDV) J.S. ANNON

EM 1(SW) A.L. BOND

BM3 A.E. CAINES

ET2 R.D. CROSBY

SN G.M. DRAPER

RM3 R.A. EMANUELSON

EM3(SW) D.E. GROVER

IC 1(SW) A.A. JOHNSON

EN3 M.T. KELLER

EMl(SW) T.M. MCCULLOUGH

MR2(SW) T.G. MINGS

EM3 J.L. NAVARRET~E

ET3 B.T. NUNLEY

M53 M.W. PARKER

SN I. RAUF
1C2(SW) F.E. SCHAEFER

BM2 E.W. SMITH

SN B.J. SPRING

0S3 R.B. STUBER

MSSN D.R. TUCKER

SN E.L. WATERS

M52 C. WRIGHT

Mi Vida Loca - Copyright ©1998 - All Right Reserved

 LT. James "Jim"           Hazelwood(SEAL)

                    

loggouwss.jpg (7725 bytes)

     Dela and Jim's home in Gladys VA.

Credit for all articles and pictures from the archieves of:             LT.(SEAL) James Hazelwood(MDV)                           click on photos to enlarge.


                Veteran 'didn't want a lot of hoopla'

By Ron Brown / Lynchburg News & Advance June 5, 2004 

Jim Hazelwood believed that service to his country was a duty. Fanfare was a matter of choice. So it seems fitting that he will be buried today in a quiet ceremony at the Carwile Family Cemetery in Gladys. 

The 85-year-old veteran of three American wars died earlier this week from complications from a stroke. "He didn’t want a lot of hoopla," said his son, Tom. "He just felt like he was one person among many who have served their country. If there was going to be a fuss over him, he felt that there should be a fuss made over all vets."

That type of humility, coupled with quiet strength, is what endeared him to his family, friends and fellow veterans. "He was a warrior," his son said. Hazelwood’s military record reads like a chronicle of distinguished service awards.He was a survivor of Pearl Harbor and was wounded during the sinking of the aircraft carrier USS Lexington in World War II during the Battle of the Coral Sea.

 As a Navy diver, he was wounded while placing two markers on the beach before the Marine landing at Iwo Jima. He fought again in Korea and Vietnam. He also served on diving teams that provided splashdown rescue for astronauts on NASA’s Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space missions.

He won the Silver Star and was awarded two Purple Hearts as a result of his combat experiences. In his own understated way, he once summed up his military record like this: "My greatest accomplishment is being a survivor of 32 years of hard Navy service." Terry L. Jamerson, who met him about a decade ago at the Lynchburg Area Detachment Marine Corps League, viewed his record much more generously. "As part of our ‘Greatest Generation,’ he was a leader among men and a true American hero that may never receive the recognition he deserves from all of us," Jamerson said.

Those who knew him believe Hazelwood wouldn’t have had it any other way."He didn’t brag," said Ben Brenneman, who met Hazelwood in the late 1980s as they both rode with the Lynchburg Bicycle Club when Hazelwood was well into his 70s.Some said Hazelwood was going on 25-mile bicycle rides as he approached the age of 80. 

Jamerson said that persona fits with the aura of a Navy Seal, which Jamerson said is among America’s fighting elite."Most Marines look up to Navy Seals as being tougher than we are," Jamerson said. But it was on the home front where Hazelwood’s toughness shone through as he helped his wife of 59 years, Della, fight the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease.

It was in that battle that Hazelwood consummated his reputation as a warrior and the embodiment of the Marine’s motto."Semper Fi," Jamerson said. "Always faithful." » 

Contact Ron Brown at rbrown@newsadvance.com or (434) 385-5542. 

Doc Riojas NOTE: I spoke with my Friend, Tom Hazelwood, Jim's son about obtaining a picture of Jim in USNAvy Dress uniform. I never got it, but that's OK. Tom said that Jim had a stroke, was taken to the hospital and the next day he died. Della, Jim's wife suffers from the advanced stages of Alzheimer's Disease and he was her primary care giver. I understand their daughter will continue taking care of her mother Della. I last sat and chatted with Jim at the UWSS reunion at Little Creek Va. May 2002. He looked great. He said he was still doing a little P.T. every morning.


LCDR JAMES ROY HAZELWOOD (SEAL)(MDV)

by: Franklin Anderson

From The Blast 3d Quarter 2003

                            

I would like to provide additional information on LCDR JAMES ROY HAZELWOOD. Previously, I had submitted a Wake Island Detachment Photo and Called Chief Hazelwood ‘ROY". That was what be was referred to in UDT-1 1 UNLESS IT WAS CHIEF. I had the pleasure of having Master Chief Hazelwood as my Platoon Chief and as Jim Barnes said "he was a Horse".

 

When Chief Hazelwood first came to Team 11, his reputation preceded him. He was known; for going shark hunting with "power heads", and was fearless. Another story was that he was diving in the Caribbean and found a Rolex watch that was encrusted with coral. He corresponded with Rolex, thinking they would really jump on the promotion of their product, since it started running as soon as he shook it. Rolex - in a nonchalant way said that "all of our products will perform like that" or something to that effect. As previously stated Chief Hazelwood was in my Platoon and he went with me to do Cable repairs at Wake Island (Photo previously submitted).

 

Upon our return, the Navy came out with a program for Chiefs with 18 years or more, could apply for a commission. I encouraged "Roy" to apply and also gave him an outstanding endorsement. We submitted the application and then departed for Kwajalein for another Cable Job. While there many incidents happened that I believe you will enjoy. Chief Hazelwood was a Master Diver and a physical Horse—he always ran wherever he went and prided himself in his abilities both mental and physical.

While at Kwajalein Island proper, we worked long hours blowing channels and laying the cable. We also conducted Aqua Lung classes for some of the people with the installation. We had a couple of engineers who were always trying to trip up the Chief (who was our senior Instructor). One evening the Chief was going thru some Diving Physics and equations. These engineers immediately hopped on the Chief about the math portion. "Roy", paused like he was baffled and them slowly and diligently went thru a long formulation and made their jaws pop—Roy was self-educated and was a Whiz at Math, Geometry and Calculus.

 

Needless to say-from that point on the Class paid close attention and were very grateful for his expertise. There also were a couple more incidents that were memorable—LT ANDERSON (OINC) and LTJG Harry Mackenzie lived in quarters some distance from the men’s barracks and we had a 4X4 for transportation. One morning we went out and all four tires were Flat. Lt Sorenson (cousin to PRESIDENT KENNEDY’S SPEECH WRITER) asked if we would like a ride to the UDT Barracks—We said sure— We rode up and all at once everybody was after SN Gerald Berg and SN Ted Matheson to pay up. It seems that Matheson and Berg had been taking bets that we would walk to work. It was obvious who had let the air out of the tires. I turned to the Chief and said, " I’ll let you handle those energetic Seamen". Chief Hazelwood, found a hand-Tire pump and made them pump up the four tires to 35 lbs. That was quite a chore and a valuable lesson.

 

The other incident was off the Island of Aniwetoc (not the Atom Bomb Island), and we were laying explosive. The Chief was always a perfectionist and ready to go, his diving partner was James Pahia. Pahia was slower in getting ready and The Chief was already in the water- He submerged and was down just a short duration when he popped to the surface and "Stepped on the Bow of the LCM", He was speechless and looked at Pahia-who was still standing on the ramp. He walked over and punched him in the Arm. After a few minute he compose himself- he explained that he was under the LCM and something bumped him hard on the arm, he thought it was Pahia. It happened again and he turned and saw about a 20 foot Great White Shark.

 

The Chief received his orders for Knife and Fork school, and had to depart before the job was completed, but he was always impeccable and dedicated to his duties. He received orders to a ship and then to the East Coast.

We were going thin Parachute Training at Fort Benning and Ens. Hazelwood was going thru at the same time—He had to get a waiver because of his age. However, he out performed many of the younger men. James Roy Hazelwood’s brother was going through Jump Training at the same time (Army) and he was going to quit. Roy told him that isn’t the Hazelwood tradition and really chewed him out. They both graduated.

This was during the time that President Kennedy was assassinated. They bunched up three classes to make up the delay in the schedule – They had jump with over 20 knots of wind and jumpers scattered all over the place. However, all the Frogs completed the jump without incident. UDT-11 Robbie Robinson was Honor Man of the Class and "Roy Hazelwood received special recognition for being one of the Oldest in the Class.

 

 

 

 

        USS Lexington CV2 (Originally CC-1), 1927-1942

                  

USS Lexington, a 33,000-ton aircraft carrier, was converted while under construction from the battle cruiser of the same name. Built at Quincy, Massachusetts, and commissioned in December 1927, Lexington was one of the U.S. Navy's first two aircraft carriers that were large and fast enough to be capable of serious fleet operations. During the late 1920s, through the 1930s and into the early 1940s, she took an active part in the development of carrier techniques, fleet doctrine and in the operational training of a generation of Naval Aviators.

displacement: 41,000 tons
length: 888 feet
beam: 105½ feet
draft: 32 feet 
speed: 34¼ knots
complement: 2,122 crew
armament: 8 eight-inch and 12 five-inch guns
aircraft: 81

My friend and shipmate, Jim Hazelwood was an enlisted man in the U.S. Navy during WWII. He was ship’s company on the USS Lexington when it came under attack attack by several Japanese torpedo bombers as described in the book, "Queen of the Flat-Tops." Jim’s battle station was atop the ship’s island about 60 feet above the flight deck. Around the upper rim of the island was a catwalk with a platforms for machine gun mounts. At 1121 hours the Lex was under attack by torpedo and dive bombers. All of the ship’s batteries were in action and the the blast of the second torpedo that struck Lex on her port side was almost inaudible because of the extreme noise of her weapons.

Jim was manning his 50 cal machine gun when a light bomb hit the Lex’s funnel. It exploded and kills and wounds several men on the catwalk. Moments later, the Zero dive bombers machine guns wounds and kills many more of the men around the catwalk. Jim told me about the sudden moaning eerie wail of the Lex’s steam siren. It seems that a jap bomb struck and kinked the metal tube in which the lanyard, operating the whistle from the bridge was housed. When the tube bent it pulled the lanyard tight causing the whistle to continue to hoot and moan until somebody turned off the steam to it.

The Japanese did not sink the Lex. They damaged her to a degree that secondary internal fires created an inferno that cooked off airplane fuel and some 20,000 pounds of torpedo war-head guncotton. The ship was abandoned because all resources to fight the fires and continue damage control were 100% out of commission. She became an internal infrerno.  One of our Destroyers sank her with two torpedoes.

Jim Hazelwood, also told me that he had to swim away from the Lex which was drifting towards some of the men in the water. She drifted away and floated down wind leaving a stream of swimmers and loaded rafts strung out for nearly 1,000 yards. It is speculated that shark attacks were not reported probably because of the the repeated heavy explosions that may have scared the sharks away and also perhaps of the abundance of fish that were killed great distances from the Lex.

Jim Hazelwood found himself , by the grace of God, alive and swimming among his shipmates whose thoughts were, "we are only a 400 mile swim from Australia." The survivors were rescued by the Carrier and Destroyers that were part of that Task Force and from Australia were shipped back to the States. Jim had met the "White Elephant!" in the Battle of the Coral Sea, 7-8 May 1942.

In early May 1942, Lexington returned to the South Pacific in time to join USS Yorktown (CV-5) in successfully countering the Japanese offensive in the Coral Sea. On 7 and 8 May 1942 her planes helped sink the small Japanese aircraft carrier Shoho and participated in attacks on the large carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku. In turn, however, she was the target of Japanese carrier planes and received two torpedo and three bomb hits. Though initial damage control efforts appeared to be successful, she was racked by gasoline explosions in the early afternoon of 8 May. When the fires raged out of control, Lexington was abandoned by her crew and scuttled, the first U.S. aircraft carrier to be lost in World War II.

Lexington's task force sortie from Pearl Harbor 15 April, rejoiningTF 17 on 1 May 1942. As Japanese fleet concentrations threatening the Coral Sea were observed, Lexington and Yorktown moved into the sea to search for the enemy's force covering a projected troop movement the Japanese must now he blocked in their southward expansion, or sea communication with Australia and New Zealand would be cut, and the dominions threatened with invasion.

On 7 May search planes reported contact with an enemy carrier task force, and Lexington's air group flew an eminently successful mission against it, sinking light carrier Shoho. Later that day, 12 bombers and 15 torpedo planes from still unlocated heavy carriers Shokaku and Zuikoku were intercepted by fighter groups from Lexington and Yorktown, who splashed nine enemy aircraft.

On the morning of the 8th, a Lexington plane located Shoksku group; a strike was immediately launched from the American carriers, and the Japanese ship heavily damaged.

The enemy penetrated to the American carriers at 1100 and 20 minutes later a torpedo to port struck Lexington. Seconds later, a second torpedo hit to port directly abreast the bridge. At the same time, she took three bomb hits from enemy dive-bombers, producing a 7° list to port and several raging fires. By 1300 her skilled damage control parties had brought the fires under control and returned the ship to even keel; making25 knots, she was ready to recover her air group. Then suddenly Lexington was shaken by a tremendous explosion, caused by the ignition of gasoline vapors below, and again fire raged out of control. At 1508 Capt. Frederick C. Sherman, fearing for the safety of men working below, secured salvage operations, and ordered all hands to the flight deck. At 1707, he ordered,"abandon ship!" and the orderly disembarkation began, men going over the side into the warm water, almost immediately to be picked up by nearby cruisers and destroyers. Admiral Fitch and his staff transferred to cruiser Minneapolis, Captain Sherman and his executive officer, CDR. M. T. Seligman insured all their men were safe, then were the last to leave their ship.

Lexington blazed on, flames shooting hundreds of feet into the air. A destroyer closed to 1500 yards and fired two torpedoes into her hull, with one last heavy explosion, the gallant Lexington sank at 1956, in 15°20'S. 1oo°30' E. She was part of the price that was paid to halt the Japanese oversee empire and safeguard Australia and New Zealand, but perhaps an equally great contribution had been her pioneer role in developing the naval aviatorsand the techniques which played so vital a role in ultimate victory in thePacific.

Lexington received two battle stars for World War II service.

 

 

 

                                   

Sam's Ciechon photo taken in 1947 off China

 

02toxicity3_small.jpg (5231 bytes)

 

 

 

 

 

 

              


 

 

11 Are Missing

Subject: More recent pictures of rig fire in the Gulf Of Mexico
Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2010 22:33:06 +0000 
Tuesday’s Gulf of Mexico oil-rig explosion and subsequent sinking.

We got us a real Burner diving boys.... Thought you might want to see these pictures.
About 20 miles from Blind Faith..The transocean horizon drill ship blew up last night…. 11 still missing and 8 critically injured …..supposedly!! They were working for BP. 
The DEEPWATER HORIZON was drilling at MC 252 #1 in 4992 WD at BP’s MACONDO prospect. The last scout report (below) had them fighting lost circulation at 18260’. 

Al Cooper 



LWD(RLL,BATSON,PWD) @17173, M 14.1,NO SWC,9 7/8LNR @14759-17168,LOT 15.9,LWD(RLL,BATSON,GEOTAP,PWD) @18260,LOST CIRCW/14.4 MUD,C&C SPTTD LCM 

MACONDO is a 3 way fault trap amplitude play 4 Blks. Northeast of MC292 Gemini E. Prospect partners are: "BP 65%, Anadarko 25%, MOEX Offshore 2007 LLC 10% (They were BP's partner in Will K, parent company Mitsui). As the attached ppt shows, this was Texaco’s “Rigel” prospect. Operated



ALL OF THE MISSING WERE ON THE DRILL FLOOR WHEN THEY RECEIVED A GAS KICK FROM THE WELL WHICH EXPLODED. IT IS BELIEVED THAT ALL OF THEM (11) EXPIRED AT THAT TIME. 
THE RIG HAS SANK IN 5000 FSW AWAY FROM THE WELL HEADS. 
THE SEARCH GOING ON IS A RECOVERY NOT A RESCUE. 
REGARDS,      BEAR 


              Photos compliment of Doc Ball

 
This image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard shows fire boat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the off shore oil rig Deepwater Horizon Wednesday April 21, 2010. The Coast Guard by sea and air planned to search overnight for 11 workers missing since a thunderous explosion rocked an oil drilling platform that continued to burn late Wednesday.

     

 

 

  Hyrum B. "Hank" Mullikin MDV USN
       
May 23, 1925 Wyoming  -  Apr 11, 2010 Florida

                    

"Hank" died at home after a long battle against metastasis of cancer.  On Wednesday 14 April 2010, There will be a viewing 1500-1700  followed by a ceremony for Hyrum "Hank" Mullikin MDV USN (ret) at The Church of Jesus Christ of latter-Day Saints located at 1751 Sea lark Lane,Florida (850)939-3035    Burial will take place 15 April 2010 1145 at the Barrancas National Cemetery
Pensacola Naval Air Station,80 Harvey Road, Pensacola,Florida (850)453-4108 or 4846
Hyrum’s widow Linda can be e-mailed at lindamullikin [at] gmail.com v/r Bernie Campoli

                

                                                     

PRESCENCE OF THE MAN

By:  Frank B. Mullikin    (son of Hyrum Mullikin)
04/13/2010

Although the presence of man is gone
The spirit of the man will always carry on
Eternal life is true
Living for ever
Just not here with you
What a joy it must be to feel no pain
Worry and strife no longer remain
You family and friends all show up for you
The trumpets sound
And a voice says let him through
The presence of the man approaches the throne
He is given only one order
Prepare a place
Those you left behind will soon be home.

 

                                 
                              Jim Noble RIP                Shaun K. Flynn 

          
                         Pat Hudnall                                                                   MDV Joe Bates

 

                   
Bruce "Piggy" Banks, Bobby "Guinea" Vendetto, and David "Doc" Ball                        VN  LDNN diver

 

     Invitation to B/D party for
Master Diver
Charlie “The Silver Fox” Coggeshall

                                                     

----- Original Message -----
From: Erasmo Riojas
To: Doug Coggeshall
Sent: Sunday, December 20, 2009 8:02 PM
Subject: Fwd: Charles M. Coggeshall : USN Master Diver -- SEALAB and EOD : 2009-12-20 
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Doug Coggeshall Date: Sun, Dec 20, 2009 at 4:03 PM
To: docrio45 [at] gmail.com  
Subject: Charles M. Coggeshall : USN Master Diver -- SEALAB and EOD : 2009-12-20


Mr. "Doc" Riojas, 
Good afternoon … 
I discovered your website while searching for information regarding Ken Wallace, former US Navy Diver, and president of Taylor Diving and Salvage. 
I was sad to learn of Ken Wallace’s passing. 
My father, Charles M. Coggeshall, is a former US Navy Master Diver – SEALAB II-III and EOD, who worked for Ken Wallace at Taylor Diving for twenty years. 
My dad’s eightieth  birthday is this coming 22 February 2010 … 
I like to give him a surprise birthday party. I will invite his former Navy friends and colleagues to attend. 
I noticed the names “Murray Cato”, “Shorty Long” at your website. These two  names my dad has mentioned before .


Could you forward this e-mail to Murray.  Possibly post an internet invitation to anyone who’s ever served or worked with Charlie “The Silver Fox” Coggeshall. Ask them if they will  attend my dad’s surprise birthday party.
I’ve attached a couple of photos for your reference
BTW. I live in Dunedin, FL … which is due west of Tampa … just north of St. Pete and Clearwater … 
Thanks for your time ! 
Douglas A. Coggeshall 

Email:
Douglas-A-Coggeshall [at] TampaBay.RR.com   for info.

 

                            
   
Corpsmen NEC: HM8492(Diver)  & HM-8493 (Special Ops Tech)  

Today, Jan 16  2007, I received a phone call from MCPO Roy Dean Matthews a retired U.S.Navy SEAL.  He said, "Rio, you were a diver much longer than you were a Navy SEAL, why don't you post something about Divers?    Okay Roy, here they are !

 

 

                                         

All UDT-SEAL are SCUBA Divers. They are Combat Swimmers but not Deepsea Divers (hardhat divers.)   Some UDT - SEALs were both ! 

 

 

                               

 

 


Master Divers Web Page                The (John) Roat Deal


 

 

The 1st Class Deepsea Diving School was at the U.S. Naval Gun Factory, Wash. D.C. and the Salvage Diving School was at Bayonne N.J.  There were many 2nd Class Deepsea Diving  Schools throughout the U.S. Navy Diving Navy.  Diving  shore duty billets included both the Submarine Escape Training Tanks in 
New London Conn. and 
Pearl Harbor Hawaii.  

E. "Doc" Riojas was fortunate enough to have been stationed at both of them.  The other cushy shore duty billet was at the U.S. Naval School for Underwater Swimmers (UWSS) in Key West FL.  I also pulled shore duty there.  All the Navy's Tenders had billets for Divers, those were also great billets for married sailors who did not want to go to sea often. I did duty on the USS Fulton (AS-11), 
USS Proteus (AS-19) and the 
USS Simon Lake (AS-33). 


Diving Pay varied for each class diver.  1st Class divers would pull  a monthly diving pay plus footage pay, I believe it was $0.05 a foot.  Hospital Corpsmen (Deepsea Diving Techs) drew 1st class diving pay and underwent the same training as 1st class divers in D.C.

 


Did you know that?   

 The ASRARSASSN.ORG's web site was closed due to lack of interest by the members.  By order of the Sec.-Treasurer, we stopping paying for our domain name and opted to get a FREEBE website.  this is the URL:  The Official web site of the ASR/ARS Assn.  HERE ! It is all about Deep Sea Diving during the era of the MKV helmet and the modified MKV for helium-oxygen deepsea diving off ASRs.  ARS divers did not have the He02 capabilities.

                                        
                                   Chuck Micele (Sec-Treas.)  E. "Doc" Riojas (Webmaster)

 

 

 

 An Email from my Teammate LCDR Roy Boehm "The First SEAL."

                                          click on photo

To the Doc's Riojas:  here is how it was when I found out that I didn't have any idea what I was doing for ten years. Before Diving School. This a part of my book (The First SEAL)  that did not make it into the pages. 

DEEP SEA DIVING SCHOOL, U.S. NAVAL GUN FACTORY,  Washington, D.C. 

Prior, to reporting to my new command for duty under instruction. The moving of a family was first priority, we had decided the only way to remain together during all these changes of duty and travel was to provide affordable housing, the way to accomplish this was with a trailer. Money as always was scarce and we had bought a Masonite trailer, (superior.) This luxury item, was equipped with a bed, room for the kids, a convertible couch, table and kitchen (that I preferred to call the galley,) bath room facility was a chamber pot. 

The trip from Long Island to Washington, D.C. was rather slow and uneventful with the exception, of those terrifying moments, when the device, towed behind me, took on the human characteristics of a clod. This happened once or twice, mid the hysterical screaming of my mate. This always produced the calming effect, I am sure it was intended too. The arrival in the District of Columbia resulted in two positive accomplishments. Roy, (my first born) quit sucking his thumb as I had told him he would not be allowed to enter Washington, D.C. `our nation's capital' if he sucked his thumb. The second was, I was able to unhook that monster I had been towing, as the shrieks of hysteria subsided, and it again looked like I might get to share that "chamber pot." My second son Robert D. was thoroughly entertained by all that took place especially the swaying vehicle followed by his mother's Hysteria. He felt that, this all was done, solely for his entertainment. 

With the family settled in it was time to hit the books, It was also time for me to be shocked into the world of realism. I had been diving for ten years, and did not know the first thing about it. This was a higher level, with in depth medical lectures on diving physics, and the absorption of breathing gases into fat tissue. The whys and wherefores of decompression and the use of the decompression chamber were also subjects that had to be perfected. We learned how to mix gases as a breathing medium how to extract CO2 from your recycled air, and how to use the decompression tables. On the practical side we accomplished the overhead patch, a challenge in a deep sea diving-rig. We Learned to weld, both underwater and on the surface. Proficiency in oxy arc, (oxy-arc a tubular cutting rod) and a hydrogen torch, also for under water cutting of heavy steel. Each educational step, meeting a sadistic test designed by extremely competent instructors, with a sense of humor. 

One project was to build a ten-inch box out of 3/8 inch steel, six ten-inch squares were cut with an acetylene torch. The edges ground at a forty-five degree angle and the box tacked and welded inside and out with the exception of the one side that went on last. this was drilled and tapped to receive an air hose. The project was completed on Friday afternoon each box was submerged in a drum of water located in the machine shop. the air hose secured tightly in place, then the air hose was turned on the air pressure was 100 Pounds per square inch. At first nothing happened my steel box was perfect! . . . I did it! . . . As the air pressure forced the water out, my project looked more like a shower head than an airtight box, blowing water all over the shop. We were all in the same boat. The instructor said, "Well its time for me to go home." Come, Monday morning, a box that won't hold air or a machine shop that does not shine . . . Will require your presence at the office with a packed sea-bag. You may at that time pick up your orders, back to the Fleet. Needless to say all home plans, or anything coming under a heading of `my wife, she' . . . `my car, it' . . . or household affects came under, the heading of, . . . . `not now dear.' We pitched in together and by 2200 (ten PM) Saturday all of the boxes held air and the Machine shop never looked better. We slept through Sunday. 

Charles Hiltry Jones was slower then the second coming of the late J.C. of Biblical fame. or the first depending on your preference. I was his opposite so in their infinite wisdom, the instructors made us diving partners. I guess they figured I would speed him up, and he would slow me down. The conversations between us, (we could talk to each other by touching our helmets together,) would have made good material for Bob, and Ray of radio fame. We dove with Emil Mikich he later became my commanding officer in USS Penguin (ASR- 12), Bos'n Domagalla and Tom Moss, our instructors became our Bos'ns so we were under the watchful eyes of our peers. H.R. Williams (Willie Lump Lump) a shipmate from my past was also a classmate and our journey through the Navy would continue together. This friendship could not be considered, a career enhancement arrangement. `We were always in trouble.' 

Enters Snake Dennison another instructor they were all-perfectionist. The dive was called a balancing dive. The tank it was to take place in contained twelve feet of water. A diver in full rig, depending on height, runs a little over eight feet. On the command from the instructor viewing you through a glass port. The diver would grab his chin exhaust valve in his right cheek and his air intake valve in his right hand and try to make himself neutral. The requirement being don't break the surface and don't touch the bottom. Three to four minutes of balancing was usually enough to pass this phase of the test. When my turn came Snake had heard me say "piece of cake." I balanced for ten minutes, never touching the bottom or breaking the surface, when I heard the intercom say O.K. yellow diver prepare to surface. Upon getting undressed from the diving rig I went down to see Snake Dennison, "What kind of Mark did you give me Snake?" Not looking up he grunted, "three point seven five.". . . "Hell that was a perfect balancing dive!" Said I indignantly! . . . "Look Boehm I'm only a three eight point five diver myself and you sure in hell ain't as good as I am!" I laughed and said, "damned if you don't learn something new every day." 

It wasn't all work and if we had a short day which was seldom we would stop off for a drink before going home for the day. One of the ex instructors having lost his eye in a diving accident took care of the issuing of gear at the school, for the days activities. Stopping in for a quick drink before heading home we encountered Fogwell (Foggy for short) I sat on one side of him and Williams (Lump Lump) on the other. We bought Foggy a glass of beer, he thanked us and told me to watch his beer, he had to pump bilges. He took two steps, came back and said never mind I'll watch the beer my self and dropped his glass eye into the glass of beer. Lump said he don't trust you, and I don't blame him. Then there was the time that Foggy drank his eye, we don't know whether he recovered it or not, but he had sort of a shitty outlook on life after that incident. One weekend, expecting Harry Richard Williams Alias Lump Lump, over for dinner, we couldn't help but wonder what happened, he was late. going out the door to see if he some how got lost. I notice a note, tacked to my door. The following was scribbled on it. "I said what is it? upon my visit. The trailers rocking. I wont bother Knocking." I told the wife Lump says he can't make it. 

I was scheduled for the USS Penguin ASR-12 upon graduation, when the orders came through, the senior officer had changed my orders to his ship in New England `the  USS Skylark (ASR-20), ' I asked him how that happened? He laughed and said "I can't understand it?". . . Time to pay a visit to an old friend Edmund B. Taylor at this time a senior captain in the Navy, and over at the Bureau. I walked into his office and asked his secretary if I may see him? She informed me that he was in conference. Captain Taylor said "is that gravel voiced visitor by chance named Boehm?" I nodded. She said "yes sir." He said "send him in." The captain had about four other captains in his office he introduced me, offered me coffee and said stick around this is just about over. After the meeting we kicked around old times, I told him I wasn't flying under any false flags, I was here for a favor. He laughed and said then we don't have to work up to the problem delicately. Hell no! This guy had my orders changed for his ship when I had already been assigned to the USS Penguin I'd like to carry out my original orders, if you can swing it I would appreciate it. If not that's okay too. . . . Nothing happened from my visit to my old skipper and the orders apparently had not been modified. . . . As I was leaving the building, transfer papers for the USS Skylark in hand, the yeoman came in with the mail and said "hang in there Boats! I have a change of orders for you." Following him back into the office he presented the change to the officer in charge. "How in the hell did that happen" he asked, I laughed and said "I can't understand it." 

The diving school published THE FACEPLATE a newspaper that was sent to all the Submarine rescue vessels it had all sorts of good information. The ships in their summery of operations kept the school informed and it contained information, pertinent to operations and personnel. Often you would make your first dive with a man that you had never met but read about and you felt you knew him. This also was an informative, communication of the problems and how other ships were addressing them. An organization united by a common bond can accomplish much. I would live to see divided rivalries, result in discord and ruination of morale Usurping our Navy of a needed capability. 


                                           

GRADUATION OF DEEP SEA DIVERS SCHOOL 

Charles Hiltry Jones, Tew, Barker, Darby Lt. Mulrooney, Gerry, Boehm, Williams A thank you note is in order here, for if it were not for the girls on 8th street providing answers for our home work and tests we may not have passed. Jimmie Dean "B.S." (Before Sausage) and Roy Clark, provided the entertainment in Maryland a friendly barn. We thank you, also . . . for your support, ---`the drink chit's helped.' 

May 3, 1952, we hooked up the Masonite monster and headed for Kittery Main pre commissioning detail of the USS Penguin. We swapped the Superior in for a Walco trailer shower and bath inside, but it was to light for all weather use, and wasn't rugged enough for the Travel we would subject it to. We swapped the walco in on an Anderson thirty five and a half feet long. That not only did the Job but went through a hurricane unscathed. Our trailer later appeared in the Saturday Evening Post in a (Trailer Coach Manufacturing Add.)

Tu Amigo,  Roy Boehm

 


More from Roy:

The U.S.S. Penguin was busily conducting an event one thousand drill (SUB SUNK EXERCISE) There became a lull in the physical activity, and that  was always a dangerous thing to happen where  Lump was concerned. 
 Any idleness immediately transmogrified Lump  (H.R. Williams)  into a mischievous youth seeking adventure.  In this case it was a weather balloon about three feet in diameter that caught his eye.  He filled it with helium and, tying a string to its neck, he began to cavort about the deck as the crew watched amused by his childlike  antics.  At one point, Lump skipped past the evil  engineers who ran the deck machinery from the safety of the first deck-- that is, the one just above the main deck.  With a swift cruel move --a nasty engineer reached out and touched his cigarette to Lump’s toy.  The balloon exploded with a  loud bang!  Poor Lump.  He not only lost his balloon, he had to endure our taunt.  We all kidded  about life being full of mean engineers.
 Undaunted, my friend went off in search of another.  Finding one he filled this one up with a mixture of acetylene and oxygen from the-arc welding tanks. Tying a string, just a tad longer to his second balloon, he repeated his cavort about the fantail of the Penguin doing a passable Freddie Bartholomew.  He began maneuvering close to the bad man that first broke his balloon.  Several attempts to reach out and break the other balloon were made, as Lump, ever the Wile evasive rascal, dodged off.  As Lump danced closer and closer, the holder of the cigarette tried harder and harder to reach the balloon.  Stretching out, he finally made contact with Lump’s three foot bomb.  It exploded with a deafening roar, singing the engineers hair and eyebrows. Lump was never bothered again by the First-deck Mafia, no matter what - he danced around the fantail with.

NOTE:  Roy, why was did not included in the book?   doc Rio

Roy's answer:   Doc,

The original manuscript was written as a memoir called the " Reluctant Mustang." It was over six hundred single spaced pages, and was not written for publication. My book was 308 double spaced pages; there is a lot of things that was left out.

 

Roy

 

 

 

                        Diving Med Techs 

 from:   http://navydivers.net/dmt.html

Ctrl+F to search on this page.

 

 

 

 

         
               Med. Diving Tech.

      drawing of UWSS graduate he returned to our ship as a real "hot shit SCUBA Diver"  USS Coucal ASR-8,  I'll think of his name and add it.    Becker?                                              by Doc Rio

                                                            

 

 

 

 

                                  Emails from Shipmates

From: chuck detmer
Date: 01/19/07 09:30:52


All Team guys had at least one Hard Hat Dive because making a dive to
determine if you were claustrophobic was part of what you had to do to get
into training. Newell got talked into eating a banana underwater in a tank
during a demo at Panama City while we were stationed down there. Also a
place to look for pictures is from the Key West guys because we taught
Second Class Diving to both Regular Fleet Divers as well as EOD guys. Myself
and a few of the other team guys went through the training while in Key
West...Unfortunately no pictures.

                                                               

 

From: Tom & Peggy Shoulders Date: 01/19/07 08:48:16   Good God Almighty, I had forgotten O'brien had a red DC tattoo put over his caduceus, became a Boatswain and a MDV. Tommy

  Hey Doc, I'm not sure what your looking for.  Horse Kurcinski was a salvage diver, "Red S" that went through Bayonne. Team guys that I know of that became Master Divers after leaving the Teams were Dusty Rhodes, Tom King, Tom Shoulders, and one guy whose name I can't think of that was a certified underwater welding guru at SIMA Little Creek.  Check out      http://www.masterdiver.com

Tom

                                                    

Rojo....

Doc O' Brian died around 1979 or so. Some of the guys were in town on some gaggle and I linked up w/ them at the hotel bar by the 14th St. bridge.

 We were there too long ; almost got into a serious fight; I hit one guy w/ a fire extinguisher...sorry..first tool I could find. The bar was "officer country" being that close to the Pentagon.

O’Brian  had a heart attack driving south to Alexandria where the troops were billeted. He ran into a telephone pole.   He was "packing" at the time which caused a little stir.  

He knew of his heart problem but had gundecked his physical. His brother died of heart failure at an age of around 42 as I remember. Typical team mentality  "I'm invincible & can fix myself."     He was a good trooper and dicksmith.

Info from a SEAL teamate.

 

From: Cptnjolly@aol.com

Date: 01/19/07 06:58:39

 

Another shot of "OB" for you.  Right in the middle of "..............What do the druummms say???"

 

 

                     

          

 

 

 

                No Muff Too Tough,  Will Dive For Five

                                        

This is no shit;  William Berryman HM1, and I were stationed at the USNAS Corpus Christi TX.  He was a Pharmacy Tech and I was a Fleet Marine Force Tech.  One day he came into Sick Call where I was assigned and asked me if I was bored being stationed here.  I said I was not because I had just gotten married to a local girl and was quite happy working 8 hours and going home to my wife.  He then told me that I would be doomed to be stationed on Naval Air Stations and Aircraft Carriers as he was if we did not go a school that would change that.  I asked him which school he had in mind.  He said Deep Sea Diving School.  I laughed and told him to go back to the Pharmacy.

It was colder than a witches tits in the Klondike when I reported to the U.S. Naval Diving School at the U.S. Naval Gun Factory in Washington D.C. in late January to start class four (4-55) February 1955.  Six months of school plus one extra month for Mixed Gas Lab and advanced aspects of medical diving medicine.  Our class proctor was an SF1(DV) George Stromer.  He made a statement at the classroom  indoctrination that there were four pecker checkers in class 4-55 and that he NONE would graduate!  

About 1962, I  was an HMC (DV) (nec: HM-8492) and reported to  the USS FULTON (AS-11) at State Pier New London Conn. after graduating from a Deep Sea Diving refresher at DSDS in D.C.   I had to check into the Diving Locker where SF1 George Stromer was the senior diver.  I reminded him that he was my class procter at DSDS and that I was one of the four pecker-checkers that graduated with class 4 back in 1955.  He remembered vividly.  George was promoted to CPO the following year.  He reported to the goat locker for the usual CPO initiation.  We were on a shake down cruise down in Norfolk Va.  It was winter.  I am willing to bet that to this day George still remembers me, Doc Riojas, who made his miserable BOOT CPO initiation a living hell!  That was the good old days. I believe CPO's don't go through that kind of initiation anymore.  We became very good shipmates and diver brothers.  I do not know if he is still alive. I hope he is.

                                                       

 

 


Solomons: this is where we came down on

the 5 boat to do our deep Open Sea dives both on air and He02.

 

 

SEAL Team TWO Corpsmen that were Hard Hat Divers
Don Stone
Richard Martin
Erasmo Riojas   Check out the ASR/ARS Web site HERE !
Bo Burwell
Bob Clark

were there others after I left from ST-2 ?

 

 

 

Contents of the "ole" ASR-ARS pages

 

 

 

 

          Hard Hat Divers, My Shipmates

                                                       
             Bo Burwell                                            Tom Blais                                      Captain G.F. Bond MC           
                                               George F. Bond MD, Capt. USN; (1960)his discoveries enable divers to stay below indefinetly.

 

                        
                                                                Captain Bond and ENC Cyril Tuckerfield

Bond entered active Navy service in 1953.[1] Soon after he qualified as a Diving and Submarine Medical Officer and served as Squadron Medical Officer from 1954 to 1958.[1] Later that year, Bond transferred to the Naval Medical Research Laboratory in Groton, Connecticut where he served as the Officer-in-Charge until 1964.[1] It was during this time that Bond conducted his earliest experiments into saturation diving techniques.[1] 

On October 2, 1959, approximately 15 miles southwest of Key West, Commander Bond and Chief Engineman Cyril Tuckfield safely completed a 52-second, 302-foot buoyant ascent from the forward escape trunk of the U.S. Navy submarine USS Archerfish. Both men received the Legion of Merit in 1960 for establishing the feasibility of deep submarine escape by locking out.

                               Dr. Robert Thompson, SEALAB I aquanautRobert Thompson, a U.S. Navy doctor and one of the four original SEALAB I aquanauts, died Feb. 11. He was 84.    Thompson is pictured here, Bob Barth, on the left, who was with the SEALAB program from its earliest days in the 1960s. The other three pictured are, from left: Capt. George F. Bond, aka "Papa Topside" and the father of SEALAB; Lester "Andy" Anderson; and Sanders "Tiger" Manning. They're all missed, but their legacy in the diving world lives

SEALAB I was lowered off the coast of Bermuda in 1964 to a depth of 58 m (192 feet of seawater (fsw)) below the sea's surface. It was constructed from two converted floats and held in place with axles from railroad cars. The experiment involved four divers (LCDR Robert Thompson, MC; Gunners Mate First Class Lester Anderson, Chief Quartermaster Robert A. Barth, and Chief Hospital Corpsman Sanders Manning), who were to stay submerged for three weeks. The experiment was halted after 11 days due to an approaching tropical storm.

 

 

                             

                                                 
                                       Bob Shouse Tending Tender is Bob Shouse
Bob Shouse going through 2nd. class diving school at the Navy Ship yard, San Diego, CA in early 1953. The picture in the rig is Ens. Gleason and I'm tending. We had to go to second class diving school before going to EOD school, Indian Head, MD .  Hoot Andrews was in my EOD class in 1953.

 

                                                           
Hoot Andrews                                     "Hoot" Andrews

Rio, 

James "Hoot" Andrews  went thru 2nd class diving school aboard the USS FULTON. 

 Mike Murphy and DiCatarina were the Master Divers and in charge of the school.

  I also qualified as a 2nd class diver at EOD School in 1953, along with Bob Shouse. 

 


 

                                      
                                           Doc Berryman                                                               Doc Riojas   

                                  

 

                          

 

                                                               
"Shorty" Long (SEAL)

 

                       
LCDR Linda Ball, best looking DV in the USN!                             Chapel Bedford Moore HMC

                               
                  Jim HazelwoodPhoto is a LINK click on it !

 

     The  Diving Gear that is long gone and Forgotten

 

        

             Here is a LINK to some details of the gear and  other facts.

         

                                                                     

                     

 

                                          
                                      The Newest TOYS for the DV boys!

 

 

 


USS_Thresher_(SSN-593)

 

Losing the USS Thresher SSN-593:
the 50th anniversary 


x


 

When the nuclear submarine sank with 129 men aboard in April 1963, it was a turning point for the Navy – and for the survivors who will remember lost loved ones next weekend. 

By Tom Bell tbell@mainetoday.com Staff Writer 

KITTERY — For perhaps a minute or so, the 129 men aboard the USS Thresher probably realized that their submarine would be crushed by water pressure.    Debby Ronnquist, right, and her daughter, Marcye Philbrook, show a portrait of Ronnquist's former husband and Philbrook's father, Julius Francis Marullo, who died on the USS Thresher. 


Photos by Jill Brady/Staff Photographer 


Yellowed newspaper front pages from 1963 announce the loss of the USS Thresher. 
MEMORIAL SERVICE   THE DEDICATION of the USS Thresher Memorial Flagpole will be held Sunday, April 7. 
     

 

Wreck of USS Thresher (SSN-593)This page features views of wreckage from USS Thresher, on the sea floor some 220 miles east of Cape Cod.

You will find a lot of pictures of the Thresher's parts on the ocean floor.

 

 

 
"That's the horror part of it," said William Olsen, 72, of York. "They had to know." 
Had he not been attending a training program, Olsen, a crew member, would have been on the submarine when it went down that day, April 10, 1963. 
The sinking of the Thresher 50 years ago was a turning point for the Navy. The nation's newest and most advanced nuclear submarine at the time, the Thresher sank when a weld on a pipe gave way during a test dive 220 miles east of Cape Cod in waters nearly two miles deep.

        

 

FROM:      http://www.pressherald.com/news/thresher_2013-03-31.html?pagenum=3

"Monitoring the dive from the surface, the USS Skylark received a mostly garbled transmission saying that the submarine was "exceeding test depth," the depth at which the submarine could operate safely. One minute later, the Skylark detected a high-energy, low-frequency noise characteristic of a submarine imploding. 

The Thresher disintegrated into pieces as it tumbled 8,400 feet to the bottom of the Atlantic. 

On the surface, the Skylark continued to try making contact with the Thresher. 

Ira Salyers, 80, a crew member on the Skylark, was instructed to throw hand grenades over the side to signal the Thresher to resurface. He said the crew was hoping that the problem was only that the Thresher's communications system was down. 

He said the Skylark conducted a sonar search for several days but never found any sign of the Thresher. 

Salyers said he was a tough, hard-drinking sailor and never thought much about the loss. But 12 years later, while attending a church service in Florida, he thought about the men on the Thresher and never thought much about the loss. But 12 years later, while attending a church service in Florida, he thought about the men on the Thresher and began to weep uncontrollably."

NOTE: Erasmo "Doc" Riojas also told this reporter, when he was contacted, "I was J.O.D. on the bridge when BM3 Mowen , who was manning the radio, informed us that he had lost communications with the Thresher."  Rio was relieved and went to test the sea water for radio activity with the ship's giger counter.

 

 

 

                                      USS Thresher (SSN-593), 1961-1963.

Whereas at approximately 7:47 a.m. on April 10, 1963, while in communication with the surface ship U.S.S. Skylark, and approximately 300 miles off the coast of New England, the U.S.S. Thresher began her final descent;

Not to blow my own whistle, but as historical record, I was JOOD on the USS Skylark (ASR-20) when we lost the Thresher.  Contrary to the story on THE HISTORY CHANNEL TV Show, there was no oil slick, there was no debris, there was no radiation on the surface of the water.  Master Diver Hyrum Mullikin and GM1 (DV) Ira Salyers went around the Skylark dropping hand grenades and I had a SN going around getting me buckets of water to check for radio activity with our geiger counter.

It was until the next day that we were relieved by some destroyers that continued the search.  The weather turned very heavy and we departed for New London Conn, our home port.

Because I was an HMC I was given the third degree at the board of inquiry as to my seamanship qualifications for standing the JOOD watch.  I had experience on the USS COUCAL (ASR-8) as an HM1(DV) in CIC watches  back in Pearl Harbor and Japan.  The only question that hangs in my mind is that one of the officers on the board asked me to explain the "Williamson turn."  I had just finished a Seamanship course and since we practiced man overboard drills, i may have surprised them with my answers.   Anyway, what is a JOOD, just another better paid man than a seaman who is there to keep the OOD awake?  Just my opinion, I dunno?          Erasmo " Doc"  Riojas  HMC (SEAL) USN Ret.

                                            
http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=5054421

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


From: Joe G     jgarrett10  [AT]comcast  DOT net
To:     Doc Riojas      docrio45  [AT]  gmail   DOT  com
Date:  17 Mar 2013


Subj:  USS Thresher (SSN-593) Lost during her shakedown cruise


I was on Hardhead at that time also, we had just left Portsmouth from a battery change and a week or so after we( all 4 of us left in Dev Group 2) went out with huge wreaths on deck to make a dive over her and to let the wreaths float off our deck as we pulled the plug

 The TV channels had all kinds of helicopters hovering over us to live our dive as “we honored our fallen comrades to quote them”. Well as luck would have it our main induction stuck open on the dive and the diving officer( and rightfully so) said emergency surface, immediately countermanded by the CO from conn.

 He said continue the dive and over the 1MC said mess hall get that induction shut we are diving. Later he said he was NOT going to have the world see another boat in trouble on top of Thresher. The cooks got the main induction shut and we all changed our skivvies at periscope depth later, dive was a success. 

I was playing ball with the Thresher crew a few days earlier, don’t remember who won and now it seems so trivial ,but somehow important. I lost a lot of friends on her, most of her crew came from Cavalla and Hardhead<both Dev Gru 2 boats. 

Our engineer had just left Portsmouth as ship sup for her and they flew a chopper out to us( we were at sea then) and choppered him back to Portsmouth for the inquiry, we didn’t see him for months. 

That must have been a horrible moment for all of you on Skylark, Was your CO a Louey Tew LCDR then? I don’t remember if he had Skylark then or later? He is a friend here in New London, but I have not seen him for a few months 

Do you want to see the memorial stuff that Portsmouth is doing on Apr 7th ? 

If so I will send it to you as I am invited to the memorial 

Cheers, Joe

 


Webmaster's Note:  The CO of the USS SKYLARK (ASR-20) was LCDR Stanley Hecker.  Please go to the link above and scroll down a tad below the midway of that page for more info and other LINKs to the Thresher disaster.     Doc Riojas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                     Andy Adams (MDV) USN Ret                                  

                                  

     Andy Adams was my shipmate aboard the USS COUCAL (ASR-8), home port Pearl Harbor Territory of Hawaii 1956.  He is a Retired USNavy Master Diver and lives in the Corpus Christi TX area.

 

                                         

9-1-08 Hello Doc.
     I would like to try and contact Any divers that I served with
      I went through Salvage Diving School in 1954 Class 57 I was in the class after Carl Breshear. We became Friends and stayed in touch until his death
    I went to First Class School at the Naval Gun Factory In 1956-57.  After 1st class school did a tour on the USS Coucal ASR 8 (!959-60). To Quonset Point R.I.  In the Diving locker  Then  I got Side tracked from diving and was sent to Gitmo in the Fleet Training Group  Made Chief and went back to Wash D.C. For master Diver Training. Then to the USS Petrel. After a tour on the  Petrel was off to the Naval Mine Defense Lab, at Panama City Fla. There I was Selected for WO1 and was off to Subic Bay and HCU1. There i decided i was not going to accept the promotion to Warrant Officer. I was sent to the Diving School at Subic. I stayed there until I ret. in Nov. 1967.
     I Am 81 years old now still in good health I live in a small town just north of Corpus Christi, Tx. I sure would like to contact any and all of my old Ship Mates
      Andrew Adams SCPO Ret.
      Master Diver
      WW11, Korean, Vietnam, Vet.
      PH. 361 776 7203  aadamsjr [@] cableone.net

Source from:  http://www.navydivers.net/mail.html

 

                                            

                                                                   Andrew "Andy" Adams

 

                       

 

 

 

x

i

USS NEW JERSEY… Korea-May 21, 1951 

                “My special sea detail was on the anchor, and my job was to operate the brake to lower or raise the anchor.  The best I can remember, it was about day break when the word was passed to man the special sea and anchor detail.  As soon as we got to our station, we could see North Korean shells hitting nearby the ship.  The word came down from the bridge…   “let go the anchor Bos’n!” and Chief  Warrant Bos’n H.J. White (he was from Mississippi,) told me to let the brake off, and by then we were backing down at flank speed.  When the end of that anchor chain cleared the chain locker, it flew up and over, and took a bite out of the gunwale.  And so we left our starboard anchor and chain back in Wonsan Harbor…  One thing that still bothers me today, is why did we anchor in harm’s way?

            Now at about this time, GQ was sounded and we manned our battle stations.  We didn’t leave the area… we stayed around long enough to take care of the guns that were firing at us. 
            The Chaplain was our battle narrator.  He would get on the P.A. system, and relay the info to all of us that were inside the ship and couldn’t see what was going on.  When he passed the word that we were receiving fire, and had taken a hit on Turret #1, I got very concerned as my younger brother, GMSN Neal Adams, was a gunner in that turret.  But as it turned out, he was OK, and he told me later that he didn’t feel a thing when it hit.

            My job when we were steaming, or in port, was as the air test crew.  Each quarter, a number of compartments had to be tested for water tight integrity.   Now there are a lot of compartments in a battleship, and many of them are not easy to get to.  On some of the tests, I would have to have a man hold a ball of string, and I would take it with me so that I could find my way back out.
            When we were on our way back stateside, my enlistment was up, and I was going to call it a career.  But the word came down that President Truman had extended us all for another year, so I re-upped for six more.
            I retired in 1967, and went to work deep sea diving, but this didn’t last long.  They were not as concerned with our safety… they just wanted the job done. 
            My last few years I worked in civil service as an aircraft mechanic overhauling helicopters… I am 80 now, and my health is good.  

ii

Submitted by:
Andrew Adams, DCCM, (MDV) USN/Ret.
Master Chief Damage Controlman (MDV) - Master Diver
WW2, Korea, Vietnam
Ingleside, Texas

 

 

 

 

 

                 
1958, Holding the MK5 helmet's Spit Cock; Erasmo Riojas HM1 (DV)USS COUCAL (ASR-8), home port Territory of Hawaii, Pearl Harbor.  My relief HM2 (DV) Mc  ??? (forgot his name) .  Doc Riojas went to shore duty at the USNavHosp Corpus CHristi, TX.

 

 

 

                            Gerry Flowers , Canadian Vietnam Veteran

                    

Marauders Recon Team Leader; Former United States Marine Corps Battalion Recon Sergeant, 0311/8654; Retired Pilot/Safety Officer, fixed and rotary wing pilot and Marauder Scuba Team Member. Resident of Richmond, British Columbia, Canada.  

Gerry is a Recon Marine who graduated from the UWSS Key West FL and a very good friend who is a licensed pilot and currently diving the world with the MAURAUDER Organization.

       Gerry is one of about 35,000 Canadians who joined the US Military during the Vietnam War.

                      Please click on the photo to enlarge it.

 

 

Mixed Gas and Rebreathers

 

U.S. Navy Deep Sea diving helmet MK mod 1

The US Navy developed a Mark V recirculating helmet. They started by modifying a Mark V mod 1 helmet. In the pictures below you see one of those early recirculating hats. You see that it features a banana exhaust on top. It had to be moved there because of the canister attached to the back. Some divers died using this hat: water leaked into the banana exhaust (when the diver is upside down for instance) and reached the extremely dangerous natron. I will explain that later. 

     

In the final design the perforated end of the banana exhaust is replaced with a second control valve. This valve looks a bit like a Chinese straw hat so it was referred to as a China Hat Model. The helmet was called the Mark V mod 4.  A  large canister was attached to the rear of the bonnet. This canister contained a carbon dioxide absorbent. Gas is supplied to the diver through a normal hose to the divers supply valve. However, the main supply valve is kept closed. Just to the side of it is a much smaller valve called a "hoke". It is attached to one side of the absorbent canister. Look at the little valve you see in each picture below. The gas supply goes from the hoke to a jet nozzle that acts as a pump to circulate the gas through the canister where carbon dioxide is removed. The fresh gas enters the helmet on the other end for the diver to breathe. Thru the nozzle a constant flow of fresh gas ventilates the helmet. The exhaust valve is normally kept close to repeatedly reuse the gas.

Have a look at the third picture, the rear view:

The Mark V deep sea helmet was the first heliox hat (for military purposes) in the world

Introduction

Soon after initial problems like air-supply and protective suits were solved, divers began to experience some physiological difficulties after deeper dives and longer exposures. In fact they suffered from:

without knowing it. This caused terrible suffering and death in the early days of diving. For many years the causes and cures for these illnesses were unknown due to a general lack of knowledge in the physical science.

Here are some names and dates of interest:

With this knowledge around the turn of the twentieth century, it was custom to lower and raise divers very slow: only a few feet eacht minute. Even with these precautions many times problems occurred at greater depths.

John Scott Haldane did some important work in this matter. He found out that existing air pumps were not very suitable for greater depths: Due to bad ventilation of helmets carbon dioxide build up inside them causing problems for the diver. He also developed a "stage decompression" in 1905 that was accepted by the British admiralty. Haldane was the godfather of the decompression tables that we use today. 

Understanding and controlling oxygen poisoning did not go that fast. Henry Fleuss invented the first oxygen rebreather in 1876 but he did not have a clue that the gas could be very dangerous under pressure. Many trials in the years after that showed that oxygen could be dangerous under pressure. In WW II many secret military operations were carried out with oxygen rebreathers.

Nitrogen narcosis proved equally difficult to cure. Every diver was influenced by it in some degree. For many years no suitable solution to the problem was found.
In the early 1900's, compressed air diving was limited to depths less than 300 feet. 

Mixed Gas

In 1912, the US Navy began a continuing series of programs to expand diving technology and techniques. They experimented with gas mixtures other than air. In 1924 an experimental dive was made to 150 feet (about 50 meters) using a mixture of helium and oxygen. Substitution of helium for nitrogen in the breathing mixture produces two main effects upon the diver under pressure:

By using a mixture of helium and oxygen (called Heliox) the working depth is no longer limited. Heliox is now used to depths up to 1500 feet and more ! It is also the second lightest gas known. Absorption and dissolution out of the body tissues is much more rapid than that of nitrogen. This all means that a diver can go down deeper, stay there longer and have shorter deco-stops on coming up !

However, there is one problem in using Heliox: As depth increases, the danger of oxygen poisoning rises unless the amount of oxygen in the breathing mixture is carefully controlled. For this reason helium and oxygen are mixed together before the dive for that specific depth. We have a minimum amount of oxygen for any dive for the diver not to die, we also have a maximum amount for the diver not to die of oxygen poisoning !

This type of diving is called mixed-gas diving.
Breathing mixtures are classified as:

The US Navy played an important role in Heliox experiments: In the US there were natural gas fields of Helium. In Europe there were none. Therefore experimenting with the gas was very very expensive for the Europeans. Practically all the efforts in this field go to the United States.

       

 

 

                                       

   Diving Museum at Islamorada Key  Fl.
                     Photo Album
this is a must see if you are a Diver!

            

 

 

 

 

 

THe USS COUCALS ASR-8 out of Pearl Harbor used to chase down the first rocket missles fired by the boats.

 

 

 

 

                        getting dressed to make $$$$$$$$$$!           

                               
      William "Doc" Berryman was adwarded the Navy Marine Corps Medal for a heroic rescue. Doc Berryamn is the guy responsible for me getting to DSDS, Nav Gun Factory D.C. into 1st class diving school. We were stationed at the USNAS Corpus Christi TX.  He said if we did not get out of the Airdale navy we would end up on Aircraft carriers the rest of our carreers.   Berryman was in DSDS Class 3/53 and I was in class 4/55, he was almost done when i arrived at the Diving school. He was stuck with EOD for his entire career and I got stuck in Submarine Force until I went to navy SEALs.  It was a great move for us two.  Doc and I keep track of each other, he live in Kailua Oahu Hawaii with his wife and family.

 

 

 

                            
                                                                       Joe "Doc" DeAngelo

  

 

 

 

HM1 Doc Erasmo  Riojas graduated in CLass 4/55 at DeepSeaDivingSchool (DSDS), U.S> Naval Gun Factory, Wash, D.C.  He was transferred to the Subase, Escape Training Tank, Pearl Harbor , Territory of Hawaii in September of 1955.  HM2 "Red" Maurath quit diving just as the USS Coucal (ASR-8) was about to make a WestPac Trip.   Doc Riojas was transferred to the Coucal. 

 Master Diver Bob Sheats put all Tank Instructors through SCUBA class at the Tank.  I learned SCUBA very well from him and his crew and I was hooked on SCUBA diving at work and on Liberty.  My hobby was SCUBA diving for sea shells and sea coral.

I learned to be a Deep Sea Diver on the USS Coucal (ASR-8).  We dove a lot at LaHaina, Maui. I Cannot remember the name of our Master Diver, but we had a terrific diving gang.  The Coucal set the record in 1956 for the deepest McCann bell transfer of men from a bottomed submarine in Hawaii.  I forget the depth, I wish I would have kept a diary.  The Story was in the ALL HANDS magazine.

 

                       


Wrong Year?! 

Hey Doc,

That ain't me in this picture of MDV reunion 2007.We think it's Paul Heckert prior to 2000.  The old Hathaway bridge is in the background. Here is a picture of me at the reunion this year. I'm closest to you. Tom Shoulders

                         

I was in eighth platoon with Andy Hayden, ST-2  in Nam from October 69 to March 70.

Lt. Aubrey Davis was the Platoon Officer,  Lt. Dave Strong was the assistant Platoon Officer.

Doc Lusk (deceased) was the corpsman.

I've left a message on Captain Davis's phone answering machine waiting for him to call me back

if I had the right phone number for him.

Any way I can help I will.

 

Tom Shoulders

             
                       Hank Mullikin & Erasmo "Doc" Riojas

                     


                                         Ted Kassa

                 

 

   The Official Web Site for the ASRARS Association is HERE !

 

 

 

 

Angels in Lead Boots


by Bob 'Dex' Armstrong


 

One night when we were sitting around in the After Battery somewhere between the last reel of Cheaper By The Dozen and the arrival of mid rats. Some lower-order citizen in raggedy dungarees and a four-week old beard looks over at the chief and asked,

“Hey Dutch, you believe in angels?”

“Sure, horsefly. Not the kind with wings… The kind who wears rubberized, canvas suits and bronze helmets… Descend from above to save you… Navy Divers. When you hear those magnificent bastards clomping around on your walking deck, you can go back to issuing liberty cards.”

Nobody respects and honors Navy Divers more than the lads who ride underwater ordinance platforms. Any man stupid enough to speak ill of a hardhat diver in the presence of a smoke boat sailor could count on the next twenty to thirty seconds of his future being filled with activity specifically designed to place his dental work flush up against his spinal column.

There’s a line in an old vaudeville song called the Darktown Strutters Ball. It goes,

“Be down to getcha in a taxi, baby…”

…Or something close to that. They should paint that on the side of every ASR. That’s what they do for a living… They come and get you. If you can reach bottom with watertight integrity, they will come get you. You can make book on that.

If you are beyond the ‘Continental shelf’, you will end up wearing your pressure hull as a pea coat and spending eternity with your crew… Either way, God and the United States Navy have removed all doubt about the ultimate outcome.

Our ‘rescue vessel’ was the USS Kittiwake. She was always tied up aft of whatever nest we happened to be in. There was something very comforting about her being there.

They used to do something with those big ugly looking diving suits… I think the proper name was ‘deep-diving dress’. God did not provide me the size testicles it would take to use ‘Navy Salvage Diver’ and the word ‘dress’ in the same sentence. They would hang those deep-diving suits up and perform some kind of maintenance on them.

Looking at them gave a kid riding submarines a good feeling… They were a silent symbol of a navy that gave a damn about her undersea bluejackets. If you could be gotten, men who wore those canvas suits would come get you. You knew that and it made you feel good about the outfit you belonged to.

That was a confidence the poor bastards who rode Russian boats never had… Or if they did, it was an ill-placed confidence, as became all too evident with the Manny, Moe and Curley ineptitude shown in their repeated attempts to bring up the lads of the Kursk.

If those idiots had placed a 911 call for U.S. Navy Divers, I have no doubt that a few more Russian boat sailors would be tossing down vodka with an arm full of Olga and Natasha tonight. The poor sonuvabitches ran out of air while a clown act tap-danced all over their superstructure. What a way to turn in your gear… Sitting in darkness, listening to idiots trying to ‘get it right’.

Salvage divers hold a very special place in our hearts… As well they should. There are boat sailors alive today who got the opportunity to grow old, compliments of Navy Divers. Forget that and you become at best, an ungrateful sonuvabitch.

The ones I had the honor of meeting were big burley rascals, with hands the size of a picnic ham and fingers like half smokes. I never shook hands with the Jolly Green Giant but it has to be like shaking hands with a diver.

The rascals splice steel cable. I was a leading seaman… I know how to splice 3 and 5 lay hemp line… But gahdam steel cable? You’ve got to be out of your mind! That is how they get those oak bark fingers. You spend your career getting wire cuts all over your fingers and God compensates you for your trouble with hands like a junkyard crane bucket.

Fine brave unselfish bastards… God’s weirdest emissaries, who descend from above in bronze helmets with lead belts and heavy boots to save mother’s sons who make their living riding this nations submarines.

I work with a gentleman named Bill Duvall. I have known Bill for many years of professional association. He is an executive engineer with the federal government.

The other day, I learned that Bill Duvall was once Lt. Garner W. Duvall, a rated Navy Diver and OPS officer on the salvage ship, USS Cree. Bill Duvall, a Navy Diver.

This means I am obligated to buy this old saltwater ‘breathe through a hose’ bronze helmet soul-saver, cold beer and listen to his sea stories. E-3s learned early that if you failed to buy a hardhat diver his first beer, you ran the risk that the bastard would splice your toes together and hang you upside down in his paint locker.

But the best thing about learning that Bill was a diver is that it lets me say a long overdue ‘thank you’ to men who took incredible risk on our behalf… And Bill is the kind of man you expect a diver to be… A big smiling rascal with those vice grip mitts and an I-beam spine built to haul a couple of hundred pounds of working gear.

God bless all deep-depth divers…. wherever in the hell you are.

 

 

 

 

>

Frank De La Oliva,   Master Diver            Photo Page

 


 

 

 

 

 


Frank "Doc" Munger

 

 

       
                                      Joe Baimbridge

 

 

 

From: George C. Rekow   <gcr11[at] verizon.net>
Date: Thu, Feb 26, 2009 
Subject:  Your web site www.sealtwo.org  the DV page
To: Erasmo "Doc" Riojas ;  docrio45 [at] gmail.com 


Doc, 

I’m not sure how I came into viewing your web site, but it looks pretty good; lots of diving stuff. 

First of all, my name is George Rekow. I’m a retired W-4 Diver. Was a GMCM/MDV and went Warrant at W3, mustered out with 30 as a W4 in 92’. 
I noticed in your web site that you were aboard Coucal; so was I, and it was a good ship while I was aboard. 

I transferred off in 76 and went to EOD Group at West Loch. While I was at TEU 1 the Coucal went out of commission. I had been invited to the ceremony and after the get together; I was asked if I knew anyone who wanted the ships scrap book? I didn’t know anyone who did, but I didn’t have it in me to just let this thing go to the shit can, so I took it and still have it. 

I would gladly give you the book or certain pictures it you wanted them. In your web site you also mentioned the deepest bell op of the time; well I have an artist’s rendition of that event and will make a copy for you if you want. 

Also, I see that Tommy Shoulders tried to remember former team guys who became master divers, well you can include Chuck Ledger, and he was the underwater welding guy who Tommy couldn’t remember. Also, Coy Payne, coy was a TM in 11, 12 or 13, I can’t remember which one, but I met him when he was at the Tank in Pearl, around 75. He went on to make MDV. If I try I think I can muster up another name, but right now can’t remember…but…give me time… 

Anyway Doc, let me know if you want any of the items I offered. 

Take care. 
George

 

 

 

     

 

 

Howard "Joe" Baimbridge DV Officer

 

 

 

 From: two2scoops [at] aol.com  Ernie Caltenbach MCPO
To: docrio454@gmail.com
Sent: Monday, April 27, 2009 4:25 PM
Subject: Hey Ernie a question about Sol Atkinson UWSS, Bends case in 1968

Doc 

I was transferred before the bends  happened to Sol. We are on the way now to the MDV reunion. In Solomons MD. 

I was also hit with the bends, a spinal and not treated because of the time lapse from dive to symptoms. Dived on Fri  and got Lt. leg mega pain for about 10 sec and then complete numbness. 

Started acting up so I have everything and submitted claim 2 wks ago. I am 70% now. Severe Spondylosis and C-3-4 fuzed. and also major narrowing in C & L.          We'll talk about Sol when I see you. 

Stay well.    See you in Panama City Fl in May 2009 

The Best .  Ernie Caltenbach, Master Diver Ret.

 

                               

                Master Diver's Reunion 2009              John Harter

    
            Ken Wallace                                Divers at Ken Wallace Funeral:  STANDING lt to rt:  MURRAY CATO, (MDV RET),GARAHAND, JOHN HARTER, (RET DV OFFICER), JOE BATES, (RET. MDV) KNEELING lt to rt: JIM MULLEN (RET. MASTER DV); FERNANDO LUGO.

 

                James Joseph Becker "JJ" (1939 - 2008)

     Mr. James Joseph "JJ" Becker entered into eternal rest Monday, Sept. 15, 2008, at Bay Medical Center in Panama City, Fla.

He was born March 6, 1939, in Philadelphia. JJ served in the United States Navy for 26 years. Among numerous other medals, JJ received a bronze star during three tours in Vietnam as an EOD diver. Following his military service, he worked for 16 years as a civil service employee. He was an active member of the FRA Branch 346, VFW 10555, AMVETS Post 47, all in Panama City Beach, Fla., and American Legion Post 356 in Lynn Haven, Fla.

 


    

----- Original Message -----
From: Palm7De [at] aol.com
To: docrio
Sent: Thursday, September 17, 2009 1:54 PM
Subject:  UWSS reunion pictures 
Rio,
that photo is me with DEE Clark. I hadn't seen him in over 30 years, he hasn't changed a bit....[lol] it was also good to see Ernie C , hadn't seen him in over 25 years. when i was in IUWG 2, in 71, Little Creek, got to know just about everybody on the base. co of iuwg 2 sent me over to spec warfare . Al Mann the corpsman and me would go running in the mornings to get in shape for UWSS school you know we would have to stop at the 1/2 club. Dave Sutherland, little fat rat, was my Procter at UWSS like i said, i was the last hard hat student to go thru..can't remember everybody that was there. here are some of the names i remember doc west, peterson. al mann,[who was always going AWOL and turning himself into the hospital] ed Leasure. we were always playing horse shoes. I can't think of the seal that died in 73, in Athens Greece. 

well, keep in touch.I see pee wee's daughter once in a while...made a copy, pic of the statue and gave it to her.. 

BMC Dean Palmer USN/DV1

This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm

1 Oct 2009

Hey Doc,

I thought you would like a copy of this picture.  It is #58 of 300.  I gave Jodette (Little PeeWee) a copy.

Two names just to mind.  John Slaughter, I think that is his first name.  He retired in 1982 at NSWC Ft. Lauderdale.  Last time I hear he was walking the beach with a metal detector.  Also remember Jim Bunning.  I don’t know what happened to him.

I retired in 1981 at NSWC Solomon, Maryland and then went to work at Ft. Lauderdale .

Pardon the hand writing and spelling. I am getting old.

                          Dean Palmer

 


Don Checote

 

  

Robert Vendetto, R.I.P.

 

Surrounded by his family, Chief Petty Officer Robert Alien Vendetto, was born in New London, Connecticut on Sep. 4,1936.  Retired Navy Diver, died on Friday, Jan. 22, 2010 in Houma. Bob,  known as “Guinea” among his military brothers, served our country 23 years. He was aboard the: USS Albany, USS Skylark, USS Sunbird, and the USS Lipan. Bob was a diving Instructor at the 2nd Class Diving School. He was In Vietnam with the Harbor Clearance Unit One. Bob's last tour  was on the USS Seawolf (SSN) 575. . He was awarded the coveted “Legion of Merit” for his valiant service to our country. After his retirement from the Navy in 1979, was an Offshore Saturation Supervisor at Santa Fe Underwater Services.

 

 

David "Doc" Ball Photos

These were taken at DSDS in DC on the barge in either the winter of ’69 or the spring of ‘70

                

1510ft FSWSatDive1977.jpg (232840 bytes)
Here’s the write-up in my hometown newspaper of my participation in the 1977 1510 FSW dive at NEDU.  I am the CPO in the pictures.                 click on image to enlarge it

 

 

 From: David Ball davidball [at]cox.net
To: 'Doc Rio'  docrio45 [at] gmail.com
Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2010 
Subject: Your pictures 

Rio,
It was around mid October 1969 and my class picture was taken 1 May 1970 and I was in HCU-1 in the P.I. on 15 May 1970. I went on leave from DSDS ON 5/5/70. 

David 

www.navydivers.net

 
San Juan P.R., 1965;  L-R:  MR1 Denny Morse, CS2 Albert Moore, SF1Andy Anderson USS SKYLARK (ASR-20)


Sub Escape Training Tank; 2010 model 

 

 

U.S.Navy Diving History

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcSduoKj6KU&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz5KdLfseWs&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiQs56dgHQE&feature=youtube_gdata_player 

 

 

ASR ARS Diving ASSN (the old web page)


ASR ARS SITE, another oldie

 

SEAL TWO Photo ALbums by Doc Rio

Gadgets powered by Google

 

http://www.offshorediver.com/content/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1317:byford-

dolphin-diving-bell-accident&catid=76:essay&Itemid=110 

 

   ASR - ARS  Assn.     Emails the guys!
                                

 

 Doc, 

Read your E-Mail to Oz and he said that definitely add his name to the
e-mail list.    He also reminded me to let you know that back in the day he
was  know as "OZ" He  was on the Greenlet 61-64, The Tank till 68(this is
where he made Chief) and then to Keyport ,Washing ton where he retired in
his favorite year"69".
I check the ASR-ARS website frequently to see if any of his old running
buddies have signed in and to check to see who as answered the call.
unfortunetley more have passed than we would like.
Now we just hope that the fat lady doesn't sing for a long time.

Sally Jo(email us!) 


                               
USS Petrel (ASR-14)

Six of the divers in this picture were master divers. or would become one.       At the time ,The two masters on the Petrel were Christoffersen and Alaman       The diving officer was Bos'n McCafferty

The names of the divers from left to right:   Pop Stevens,BM1,Alcorn BM1,Christofferson SFC,Josenahns BM2,Joe Guerrierie SF2,Powell TMC,BOS'N McCafferty, Alaman SFC.

The mini sub in the Picture was being tested for The USNavy because the builder said it could maintain neutral buoyancy ? I don't remember if it did or not..?

I just like the picture because I still have some hair !                        Josenhans


From: stahlmarine@sprynet.comJim Stahl To: erasmo "doc" riojas Sent: Sunday, September 16, 2001 4:15 PM Subject:Skylark Pictures

doc: Iam the diver on the left. I'm sorry I didn't get back sooner but I have been very busy. I seen you in a picture with Billy Kitchen I think he was on the USS SKYLARK in the fifties.

Would you have a email address for Billy I would appreicate

if you would send it to me.

Thanks

Jim Stahl

 

To: Jim Stahl

Sent: Friday, September 28, 2001 8:33 PM

were you a diver? rio: I was a second class diver I recieved all my training aboard the Skylark. I was in charge of the compressor room and diving manifold> Iwas trained by Joe Fontanna and others. Our first Master diver was Chief Strickland And the second was Crief Carew Did you recieve the picture I sent you? I have no pictures of you, but I have a friend who might.

----- Original Message ----- From: Jim Stahl To: Erasmo "Doc" Riojas Sent: Monday, September 17, 2001 4:48 PM Subject: Re: doing fine

----- Original Message ----- From: webmaster asrarsassnErasmo "Doc" Riojas To: stahlmarine@sprynet.comJim Stahl Sent:Monday, September 17, 2001 10:18 AM Subject: Re: doing fine

https://elticitl0.tripod.com/photolog/photolog.htm

check this one out. did you go to UWSS? doc; No, doc I did not go to UWSS I spent the best four yours of my life on the USS Skylark ASR20. Iam going to the Navy Seals reunion in Nov. I have a friend in Columbus IN ( who you probally know) Chief Jim "Patches" Watson he invited me to go.Hope you are there.

Thanks

Jim

jimstahl_small.jpg (6031 bytes)

 

A Seastory by Jack F. Brown (First Class Diver)

October 20, 2000

This is no doo-doo.

In 1950, the USS Pirate and the USS Pledge both minesweeper with steel hulls struck mines during their sweeping ooperations in Wonson Harbor Korea. They both sank in about 170 feet of water.

The USS Conserver got orders to go dive on the two ships and totally destroy them as they sat on the bottom of the ocean. The USS Concerver did not have on board divers qualified to dive to those depths. Jack Yarbrough and I were flown from San Diego CA to do the diving jobs.

We received 16 tons of C-2 and C-4 and we dove and placed every pound of it on the two ships. The USS Missouri was dispatched to give support fire while we were diving to place the demolition on the Pirate and the Pledge.

At 170 feet, we felt the effects of the "Mighty MO's" 16 inch gun blasted. The vibration thru the water rattled my head around inside my MV diving helmet. This make it difficult to concentrate on the job.

We set timers and by the time the speed boat returned us to the USS Conserver, the ships were blown up. Later we inspected the site of the sunken minesweepers and the area looked like a metallic junkyard.

Jack and I were also on a salvage job of an LST in Korea by the USS Conserver.

Story was told to Doc RIojas at the ASR-ARS Assn Reunion year 2000 at Panama Beach, FL.

A Seastory by Jack F. Brown (First Class Diver)

 

09-26-01           from: WIlliam Blewett

Hello Doc Riojas,    I am an old retired diver here.   I did the Salvage school in Bayonne about 54 - 55.  The CO was Thurmon LCDR.  One of the instructors was James McDole.  Later he was Diving Officer at NOTS, Long Beach.   I was also stationed there.    I made Master DIver in about 1966/67 and retired in March 1968 at Kodiatk AK.  I was checking on some old diving Buddies.   Sad to see a lot of them have passed on.    I am 74 years old  now.   I had a great time diving in a lot of places.  I sure do miss the rush of it.

William Blewett SFC(MDV)Retired.  frogmanb@ptialaska.net

Thank you Chief,   I would like to recruit you for the ASRARSASSN.  contact the sec-treasurer  Chuck  Micele


November 15, 2000

I was on Coucal ASR-8 1953/1957 and Greenlet ASR-10 early 60's Somwhere in there I was on the Nerius.

Damnedest thing I ever thought I would ever see. I remember lots of fun stuff we did together especially in Japan. I remember drinking rusty 190 in 1/2 pint can in your sick bay [that is if BMC Warren didn't get it first]

I would really like to shoot the shit a bit if you remember me, I think I was a MR3 when I was stationed with you. Did you relieve McWright or visa versa? It has been so long ago I can't remember everything but, I SURE REMEMBER SOME HIGHLIGHTS! What good old days.

Willy Reuter
willride@home.com


from: I lost his name and email! sorry.

About the U.S. Navy Divers. the books that I read helped me through the 
tough times in School. My faverite was ON THE BOTTOM/ by cdr Edward Ellsberg 
USN Salvage Boat USN FALCON. Again Thanks Navy


Hi, I'm MMC(SS)SEL Danny Hager, is there a contact
point of email or a mailing address that I can mail Rudy Boesch
the Masterchief a congratulations? I think he did
good for the Navy, and any man that can put up with
45 years is tuff as nails...
hagar,
another bubblehead
he just proves how tuff you guys really arer

Danny Hager


Enjoying your web page, and all the pic's. Sorry about you're wife, I lost 
my wife Karen age 52 to cancer 5/23/00. So with my spare time at night I surf 
the web. Got the chance to watch a udt team out of Subic work,in Vietnam on 
an extended operation in the summer of 64 before the Bay of Tokin. We were on 
the Uss.Epping 
Forest LSD4. Started in the South and went up the coast to Da Nang. I think 
the frog's went over and hit the bar's in their swim trunk's, but that was 
just a rumor, they did have a funny looking speedboat with teeth painted on 
the hull, in the well deck. But then you properly know all this. Good luck 
hoot! BKENNIS@aol.com <>
BKENNIS@aol.comBig Bill I.U.W.G1-12


USS Brewton FF-1086 
Mr. Mike McCain 517-453-2227 
ussbrewton@hotmail.com or mccain@avci.net 
Reunion: 19-21 Apr. 2001, Harrah's, Las Vegas, NV 
Click here for the USS Brewton Website.


Doc Riojas: Change of address and phone no. J.H. "Hoot" Andrews 5554 Petaca Rd. Las Vegas, NV, 89122-3391 PH: (702)435-0775 Haven't got the compputer set up as yet. Will advise. Mi Hermano, HOOT



Name: Jim Pastore

Email Address: neohiocop1@aol.com

Website URL: http://www.angelfire.com/oh3/neohiocop Website Title: NEOhioCop

Comments:

Great site. I served on the USS Sunbird ASR-15 from 02/74 to 11/75 in New London Ct. I have such great memories and have been looking for old shipmates for the past 4 years on the net. Until just a few day's ago I was unable to locate anything on ASR's or ARS's. I'm going to send you a few pictures of the Sunbird, maybe you can use them on the website. I'm looking forward to meeting all of you at the reunion either this year or next.


6/11/2000

Hello Guys,

The hard suit 2000 is a product of ours here at STOLT where I work.
Last year I had the privelage and was the only one they could get to do the job, we installed a fibre web system to 3 platforms using the SUIT. 978' , 875' , 770' The jobs were a sucess but we lost financially because the jobs were bid way to low.
Here in the not to far away future I will again be given the very great privelage of doing it again, WHY ME??????? 
Ive got great pics and know how and why if yall ever want to b/s about it or any thing else!

Your Bro Roger-Roger SMITH (SEAL)

Roger: Contratulations! A.Dee Clark and I would like to get together at your house and see all your stuff. I got questions that I'd like to ask you. tu amigo, doc Riojas


Who is DiverDan? you guys know him? I need a picture of Paul Heckert, he was a CDR? tu amigo doc rio


paul heckert was a hmc at the time. he retired from edu pc fla as a hmcm(dv). he still lives in pc. you will meet him at the asr/ars reunion. captain dan is dan turner who was a civilian craft master who ran the salvage operation of a/d. he now lives in new fernandina beach fla where the statue also lives. i visit dan every other year when attending the master diver reunion.

while stationed at quonset point, RI nas diving locker in 1962. i continued jumping for the next 15 years. while at nsds wash i made 500 + for free at pax river. jumped while on skylark 64-66, tringa 66-67, kittiwake 67-69, nsds 69-72, kittiwake 72-76. during my 67-69 kittiwake tour i was a jumpmaster at suffolk. i put a gal out on her first jump who latter became my wife and still is. i finished up my jump games with 1102 jumps earning uspa gold wings # 711. feel free to correct any of my ramblings. i hold no sensitive pride of authorship. in spikefish if you could please change B.F. MORSE to D.F. MORSE Thank you Denny

Thank you Denny,           will change your initials ma~nana.            Rio

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  -                                                                                  Letter from Joe Fontana's son:   11-04-01:

Hi Doc 

I was poking around the web site and seen a interestinmg question that I might help you with ! The question was "who is Diver Dan " ! Well I was told by Jerry Wright ( who was in the Salvage Class with my Pop, Bayonne 1954 Class#56 ) that Diver Dan was the CPO instructor on the left in this picture !

Hi Doc
I have some more info for you about "Diver Dan " Crawford ! It was a reply
from Jerry Wright who was in the class picture with my Pop ! I hope this
answers some questions about the mysterious "Diver Dan" ?

Warm Regards

Joe

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jerry and Edith Wright" <jered363@sunline.netjered363@sunline.net>
To: "Joe Fontana" <chocy@99main.com>
Sent: Friday, November 09, 2001 3:45 PM
Subject: Re: Diver Dan


Joe,Im sorry that it so long to get back to you.Chief Dan
Crawford workerd & dove on the Normandy when it caught fire in New
York and went to the bottom along side the pier,she rolled over
on its,there was a patch called the Tucker Patch it was use for the
port holes or any round opening,Dan made up many of these from
what I was told. That is all I can help you with Joe.Best of
luck Jerry Joe Our new e-mail will be atlast03@home.com

Joe Fontana wrote:
Hi Jerry

I hope all is well with you and your family ? I have another question
for you ! This instructor at Bayonne you told me about "Diver Dan" who
is in the Class#56 picture, why was he so well known back then ? His
name from what I could find out (with your help) is "Dan Crawford DDC
USN" !Any more info would be helpful !

Respectfully

Joe
                                      

 



Paul Heckert was the HMC when I was onboard 63-66 we had a CS1 named Hopkins he left and we had a CS1 Lick he left then I took the galley as a CS2 and had it for over a year made CS1 and was transfered to the USS Benwah APB-35 Flag Ship TF-117 out of Dong Tam. I no Denny Morse real well he and Doc Heckert,Jim Nobel, Hiram Mulikin and a few others Ton Moss was the XO Louie Two relived him.. She was a good ship with a damn good crew when were you onboard..

I'll be in CA sometime in the near future and would like to see Fred he was always a nice guy.. I was sending him a MRFA newsletter but the last two I sent came back so I guessed he had moved....any info given would be appreiated...how's your FL. reunion coming along if you see Doc Paul Heckert tell hirt Moore said Hi Jim Nobel as well. I was a CS2 on the Skylark with them I was getting ready to get out of the Navy my enlistment had expired I wanted to reenlist on the west coast..

Doc and Jim got me drunk at the CPO club and the next thing I knew I was looking at 6 more years hell I was to drunk to piss in the bottle and Doc did that for me.. what a crew...I did finnaly get back to the west coast but it was all spent with the MRF in the Delta 2-67 / 10-70 .. Albert Moore mrfa@abts.net MRFA is the Mobile Riverine Force Association https://www.mrfa.org/


Subject: Re: andrea doria

Thanks for the info. It has been 30 years since I saw Bob Schwarze and maybe >I misunderstood his comments about the Andrea Doria. Would like to read or >find out all of the particulars about open circuit at the depth that the A/D >was at. > >Have a good day ! >Holly Houfek >Tampa, Fl.


Bo'sun holly,
nsds trained and qualified divers to 300 on air and 400 on heo2. the fleet routinely requaled on air and he at 200ft. the reason for this was the time involved to requal 30 divers on asr , 4 dives every 6 mons. the asr people were very comfortable at 200 ft on air. we had no mental problems with deep air and in fact considered it routine.
all the east coast asrs shared the ongoing job in ft laurderdale of recovering test sub/asroc missles from 200+ on air. we would usually hit the bottom in 20-30 seconds, this was before dv med off and navsea ( essentially 2 groups of parasitic nondivers ) decided we could not do many things even though we had been doing them for many years. S4 or F4 sunk in 315 ft off hawii in 1915. divers on air had no problems salving it. 
the previous was of course all hard hat. during the search for the h-bomb at palmares tringa divers dove to 190 ( no d limit ) almost daily. arss dove deep scuba for years because they did not have adequate air for hard hat deep air. 
mt morris dam, a unit of nots pasadena dove regular decomp dives in scuba to 200+. the point is that deep air scuba is not a problem for properly trained and acclimated divers. however it is not for all divers and there are many who have no business over 100ft. in the 60s and 70s we masters acclimated our divers for deep air by numerous chamber runs enroute to the mission. this worked very well and the divers felt comfortable at deep air depths. navsea, dmo, shore duty/tender officers were scared of these dives because they were non divers or non deep divers.
slowly but surely deep diving got lost. twa 800 was a good example of this. the majority of the people in volved were not ready for depths 70ft shallower than earlier asr routine requals. eod routinely work 200 this day. the eod efforts to demine the persian gulf were done from rubber rafts ( can not moor vessles containing metal over magnetic mines ) using only scuba. a good friend of mine was mdv on that job if you need more info hope this helps, 
e-mail if you want more 
denny morse dencor@inteliport.com
Origional message from: Hhoufek@aol.com


The American Sailor sent in by Albert Moore (USS SKYLARK-ASR-20)


"U.S. NAVY DEEP SEA DIVERS"

My name is Robert Don Carter I was on the USS Norton Sound AVM-1 from 11-01-58 untill 06-09-62. I went to the USS Orion AS-18 12-01-64 untill 01-01-66, went to second class diving school at the barge @ D&S piers Norfolk. First class diving school @ DC. Transfered to the USS Skylark ASR-20 01-01-66 untill 01-01-68. Class "C" welding school @ San Diego. I would like to hear from any divers out there especially any one that remembers me.

http://sites.netscape.net/robertdoncarter/homepage rcarter@mail.tds.net

 

 


 

Folks are asking Doc Riojas "how to find a picture" on www.sealtwo.org 
HERE IS NOW !

SEAL TWO Photo ALbums by Doc Rio SEARCH this site ONLY!

 

"LONE SURVIVOR"  the movie showed an "FNG" reciting our well known poem: AROUND THE WORLD TWICE but in the film it was edited.             Here is a LINK to the real one:    AROUND THE WORLD TWICE!   

                  

 

                                                                                                 Just Say No

Mi Vida Loca - Copyright ©1998 - All Right Reserved       Webmaster:  Erasmo "Doc" Riojas        email:   docrio45@gmail.com     

 

 

PHOTOS & SeaStories usaribbon.gif (1684 bytes) 

click on the stampsize graphics to enlarge them.          If they don't work,  please let me know

I have a couple of pics of 2 of the boats I served on, which you would be
welcome to. Funny how it worked back then, I had 4 kids, and couldn't afford
a camera, or much of anything else either. I'm sure you recall that we
didn't make near the money they do today. My kid made more money for sea
pay, than I did as EM2(SS). And he didn't hot bunk or stand port and
starboard watches!

Stories? Well yeah, we all have stories. My problem is that they are getting
pretty dim, and everything is beginning to run together. You know, things
like which boat was that on?, which ocean were we in?, who did what to
whom?, etc.
 I recall picking an aircrew out of the sea, but can't recall which boat, or
when. All I remember is that they wanted off that stinkin' submarine at the
earliest possible time. Hell NO!......they weren't interested in going to
Bermuda with us, get us OFFA here! Buncha pussies!

I remember getting a practice ASROC stuck in our sail, during fleet
exercises with some tin cans, but don't remember the details, except that it
hit our main induction, and caused some flooding in the boat.

I remember operating with Enterprise in the Med, in 64, and landing a smoke
flare on their flight deck. We were supposed to fire a flare when our
Skipper had reached a torpedo firing solution. He tracked them, got inside
their air cover, outwitted their destroyer escorts and the Skipper got a
good shot at them. So we fired the flare, the wind caught it and it landed
on their airplane floor. Guess that pissed 'em off! We got reassigned that
same night.

Another thing I remember was when our Cap'n made full Commander. We got the
word when we pulled in to St. Thomas, V.I. We were tied up across the pier
from some Gator boat, full of Jarheads. CO came up the forward room hatch,
decked out in full dress whites, with sword, going to some big shit meeting
with other ranking officers. His crew met him topside, and promptly threw
his ass over the side. A congratulatory ceremony for us "bubbleheads", and
the Skipper accepted it as such. Never lost his composure and even managed
to throw his hat back on deck before he hit the water. Seems the duty
officer up on the gator boat, saw this happen, and sent a squad of Marines
over to help the Skipper control his mutinying crew. We had the skipper back
on board by the time they got there, and he was some kinda pissed. Not at
us, but at the skimmer duty officer. He explained it real plain to the
ensign that he didn't need any #^$(()6$@^* help. He was having a party with
his crew, and get his $#%%^%$&* Jarheads off our boat!!

As I recall, I was on a boat in company with Thresher, when she went down,
in 63. We were her surface contact, and our sonarman is the one who
initially made the call she was in trouble. Details of that are real hazy.
The SO was a guy named Paul Waters. He is mentioned in the book Blind Man's
Bluff, as a Chief Sonarman. He was SO2 when I knew him.

I'm sure there's other stories that come up, but like I said, it's getting
hard to sort them out. I recently visited with some of the guys I served
with, and our wives got sea sick, or tired of the smell of BS, maybe. But we
had a great time reminiscing the old days. Your Sec/Treas, Charley Micele,
is an old friend and shipmate, from USS Corporal. He was one of the guys
visiting.

I'll try to attach pix to this e-mail, but please Doc, bear in mind that I
am the original Cro-Magnon man when computers are the subject. I have a
lengthy download of pictures of an Australian Mk 48 torpedo attack
(practice) on an old ship. Are you interested?

Regards,
Bob

PS, did you go in to Cuba?

sennet.jpg (33595 bytes)
-----Original Message-----
From: Erasmo "Doc" Riojas [mailto:elticitl@mi-vida-loca.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2001 10:24
To: Machen,Robert C
Subject: Re: thank you


hehehheheheh,
do you have any pictures or stories from your diving ship history to
contribute to the web site?

visiit it again at:
http://www.asrarsassn.org/index.html

thank you very much   doc rio
----- Original Message -----
From: "Machen,Robert C" <rmachen@mwdh2o.com>
To: "'Erasmo "Doc" Riojas'" <elticitl@mi-vida-loca.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2001 12:12 PM
Subject: RE: thank you

Sorry, didn't make the association. Navy Seal eh? My respects, Sir! 

-----Original Message----- From: Erasmo "Doc" Riojas [mailto:elticitl@mi-vida-loca.com] Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2001 10:02 To: Machen,Robert C Subject: Re: thank you 

you must be having a senior citizen moment. Bob, you signed the ASR-ARS Assn guest book. 

I am the webmaster for the asrarsassn.org erasmo doc riojas go to: www.mi-vida-loca.com and see about me. 

doc riojas class 4/55 DSDS i am also a Navy (SEAL) usn Retired.


 

 


 

 

Doc,

I got this from John Luke, please put it on the web site.        Chuck Micele    Sec-Treas.

Congratulations to Jim Donahue,Chuck and all the bar tenders who made the San Diego Reunion a huge success. It was a huge party and all of us attending owe a vote of gratitude to the committee for the hard work they provided.


Chuck you need to put out an ALL HANDS to let everyone who did not attend that the missed a good reunion and  welcome them to Reno.


The attachment is some trivia that may amuse some of those attending the reunion. It comes from an article in the NEW LONDON EVENING DAY. How I saved it is beyond me.
Can any one recognize any of those younger pups in the article. The plane connections to VA. BCH. were hectic. I had a lay over in DALLAS/FT.Worth for 2 days and had to make the best of what Irving Texas had to offer with a little help from American Air Lines.

I hope all have recovered from the reunion.
Regards  JOHN LUKE                                                Chuck, where is the article?




"ASR-ARS   Guestbook" has been signed.

Name: Joe Frederickson                    Email Address: svatus@pe.net

Served on Safeguard (ARS-25) 1963-1965, SA to SM3.
Check out that site at military.com and be sure to visit National Association of Fleet Tug Sailors at nafts.com.


June 1, 2001

Hyrum "Hank" Mullikin and his son visited us here in Pearland. We went to Matamoros Tamps, MX to see a dentist friend of mine so they could have prostesis.hanktooth.jpg (82966 bytes)   If you don't believe me, email Mullikin yourself.

On the way down to Brownsville TX Hank told me the following sea story. I was relieved on the USS Skylark (ASR-20) by Chief "Doc" Paul Heckert so I knew "Frenchy" and the noise that came from the engine room adjecent to the goat locker’s bunk space.

One night while underway, the Chiefs were in that racks ready to sleep. A very loud noise was coming thru the bulkhead that started as a very crescendo high frequency whistle which terminated with an extremely loud "Bang!" Loud enough to wake the dead. This noise repeated itself about every 5 to 10 minutes.

Frenchy Gillmetter GMC (DV), was a short "cajun" sailor about 4 feet 12 inches tall. He had that very noticable cajun french accent, and a very short fuse. "Frenchy" shouts , " did you guys hear that sound?" Paul said , "no." Hyrum , Ernie Reed, and the other CPO’s said, "no."

Frenchy said, "you did not hear that sound?" Immediately after he said that , the sound occurred again. French said, "there, there it happened again, did you guys hear it?" Everyone said, "no we did not hear anything." Frenchy insisted that he was not crazy that a loud sound was coming into the bunk space thru the bulkhead. The guys told frency to be quiet and go to sleep.

Again, the noise. Frenchy exploeded, " I can not stand that sound! It is driving me crazy!" You guys hear it? Every body said that they could not hear anything at all and for him to be quiet so they could sleep.

Frenchy grabbed his pillow and a blanket and headed out of the goat locker.      This is no shit!


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A Seastory by Jack F. Brown (First Class Diver)

October 20, 2000

This is no doo-doo.

In 1950, the USS Pirate and the USS Pledge both minesweeper with steel hulls struck mines during their sweeping ooperations in Wonson Harbor Korea. They both sank in about 170 feet of water.

The USS Conserver got orders to go dive on the two ships and totally destroy them as they sat on the bottom of the ocean. The USS Concerver did not have on board divers qualified to dive to those depths. Jack Yarbrough and I were flown from San Diego CA to do the diving jobs.

We received 16 tons of C-2 and C-4 and we dove and placed every pound of it on the two ships. The USS Missouri was dispatched to give support fire while we were diving to place the demolition on the Pirate and the Pledge.

At 170 feet, we felt the effects of the "Mighty MO's" 16 inch gun blasted. The vibration thru the water rattled my head around inside my MV diving helmet. This make it difficult to concentrate on the job.

We set timers and by the time the speed boat returned us to the USS Conserver, the ships were blown up. Later we inspected the site of the sunken minesweepers and the area looked like a metallic junkyard.

Jack and I were also on a salvage job of an LST in Korea by the USS Conserver.

Story was told to Doc RIojas at the ASR-ARS Assn Reunion year 2000 at Panama Beach, FL.

A Seastory by Jack F. Brown (First Class Diver)

 

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s_bakahachi.gif (13088 bytes) Thank you Willy, USS COUCAL (ASR-8) Keep the photos coming. doc riojas

Doc,

I couldn't send all these at one time so I will send them one at a time. I hope you can use them, I have a few more but it has been so long ago I might not be able to identify them. I also have a bunch from the Greenlet if I can find them. Do you want some more?

Willy Reuter Baka Hatchi ASR-8


Thank you Willy for this great loggo of the Baka Hatchi.

willride@home.com

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December 2, 2000

Rio,

Delete my personal letter and put this on the ASR site if you want, maybe somebody will read it and get some help.

In 1970 I almost lost my career because of booze and in 1972 I was the 18th person to be sent to the Navy Alcohol Rehabilitation Program here on the east coast. After staying sober for awhile I received a set of orders [I had requested] to the same Alcohol Rehabilitation Center here in Norfolk and became a counselor. That has been my second career and I have been doing it since then.

When I learned that alcoholism was an illness [disease] and that it was treatable, wow, I really could quit drinking and still live, I didn't think it was possible, Until that time. I could and did quit, but I could never stay quit for long and of course it got worse and worse Until I got help. Once I was able to stay stopped I decided that what I wanted to do was help others with drinking problems, God knows there are a lot of us.

I met and married a gal here, and have lived in Chesapeake Va. since 1975 when I retired. Life has been really good to me even with the setbacks, I attribute it to AA and a God who for reasons unknown loves me, He has sure pulled me out of some tough shit and keeps on doing it.

In 1983 I bought a new 33ft Cape Dory masthead sloop and my wife and I were going to sail around the world starting in 1990 and we made vigorous plans for seven years and then poor health put a stop to that. I sold the boat a couple of years ago. It was like parting with a loved one.

I spend a lot of time in my shop [woodworking] I also went back to riding motor cycles [when I got out of the Navy] My wife and I and one of our niece nephew [married couple] buddies rode from Maryland to Kentucky all the way on the Blue Ridge Mountains a couple years before I got sick, I also rode to Connecticut [where my nephew and niece live several times and of course everywhere else when the weather was nice, but bikes have gone there way too, still have one old baby left, I don't ride it but I still love it.

I'll ask my wife if you can put the picture of her sitting on it on the site. That is if you think it goes there.

s_janebike.jpg (6018 bytes) Jane on my bike.s_wileycollage.jpg (5294 bytes) Jane, Me, my bike, my sailboat.

I have bragged about my escapades through the years and some of the good things included you, so I thought I'd share a little of my own life and maybe some other onlookers will do the same too.

Until next time,

Willy Reuter
willride@home.com

P.S. Do you remember letting me help give shots on the USS COUCAL (ASR-8) fantail before our first WESTPAC cruise? Some of the guys let me do it.

Chuck Micele and Doc Riojas


Al Moore, StewBurner USS SKYLARK (ASR-20)


Doc :

I sent both the links you sent to our web master he should have them on within a couple days he's a state trooper in OK. and stays pretty busy...

Did you no Lt. Trane who was KIA with team 2..I met him and his team a couple times while I was stationed at the Inshore Undersea Warfare Group 1 out of Vung Tau it was a base overlooking Vung Tau harbor had a Aussie EOD team station there.....

My NOTE: Yes, Lt. Trane(SP) and I were in ST-2. He died at an Army Hospital. I head they gave him the wrong type blood.

Doc

will send the photo tomorrow also have a couple good ones of the Skylark...Will have our web master post your web site to our site as a link

if this okay with you.. was a member of the ASR/ARS assoc but let my dues laspe I belong to so many things but will renew hell whats another one.. Have sent The American Sailor application with this message

..hope you enjoy it.

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LT. Master Diver and also snake eater.


(snake eater) web site Home

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a_redman.gif (2453 bytes)Fraternal Order UWSS Key West Y2K Reunion a_redman.gif (2453 bytes)
Panam Beach FL May 19-21

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elticitl @mi-vida-loca.com(not a link)
email me with the errors you may find

klik to enlarge



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1c-diver.jpg (3590 bytes) divemo.jpg (1602 bytes) The U. S. Navy Divers' Locker ASR / ARS Assn.

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EMails from YOU!


April 08,2001
Name: Jim Stahl
Email Address: stahlmarine@sprynet.com
IP Address: (May not be obtainable) 63.52.235.6
Comments:
Served aboard the USS Skylark ASR 20 1954 - 1958.
Jim Stahl (DV)


November 15, 2000

I was on Coucal ASR-8 1953/1957 and Greenlet ASR-10 early 60's Somwhere in there I was on the Nerius.

Damnedest thing I ever thought I would ever see. I remember lots of fun stuff we did together especially in Japan. I remember drinking rusty 190 in 1/2 pint can in your sick bay [that is if BMC Warren didn't get it first]

I would really like to shoot the shit a bit if you remember me, I think I was a MR3 when I was stationed with you. Did you relieve McWright or visa versa? It has been so long ago I can't remember everything but, I SURE REMEMBER SOME HIGHLIGHTS! What good old days.

Willy Reuter
willride@home.com


Tuesday, March 13, 2001 9:35 AM Subject: USS Current ARS-22 > Hello, > > Just found your diving web site. Very interesting. > I just completed a web site for USS Current. Can you add my site to your > web site. > > http://www.geocities.com/jimvasko_94555/index.htm > > > Regards, > > Jim Vasko >


from: I lost his name and email! sorry.

About the U.S. Navy Divers. the books that I read helped me through the
tough times in School. My faverite was ON THE BOTTOM/ by cdr Edward Ellsberg
USN Salvage Boat USN FALCON.

Again Thanks Navy


Hi, I'm MMC(SS)SEL Danny Hager, is there a contact
point of email or a mailing address that I can mail Rudy Boesch
the Masterchief a congratulations? I think he did
good for the Navy, and any man that can put up with
45 years is tuff as nails...
hagar,
another bubblehead
he just proves how tuff you guys really arer

Danny Hager


Enjoying your web page, and all the pic's. Sorry about you're wife, I lost
my wife Karen age 52 to cancer 5/23/00. So with my spare time at night I surf
the web. Got the chance to watch a udt team out of Subic work,in Vietnam on
an extended operation in the summer of 64 before the Bay of Tokin. We were on
the Uss.Epping
Forest LSD4. Started in the South and went up the coast to Da Nang. I think
the frog's went over and hit the bar's in their swim trunk's, but that was
just a rumor, they did have a funny looking speedboat with teeth painted on
the hull, in the well deck. But then you properly know all this. Good luck
hoot! BKENNIS@aol.com <>
Big Bill I.U.W.G1-12


USS Brewton FF-1086
Mr. Mike McCain 517-453-2227
ussbrewton@hotmail.com or mccain@avci.net
Reunion: 19-21 Apr. 2001, Harrah's, Las Vegas, NV
Click here for the USS Brewton Website.


Doc Riojas: Change of address and phone no. J.H. "Hoot" Andrews 5554 Petaca Rd. Las Vegas, NV, 89122-3391 PH: (702)435-0775 Haven't got the compputer set up as yet. Will advise. Mi Hermano, HOOT



Name: Jim Pastore

Email Address: neohiocop1@aol.com

Website URL: http://www.angelfire.com/oh3/neohiocop Website Title: NEOhioCop

Comments:

Great site. I served on the USS Sunbird ASR-15 from 02/74 to 11/75 in New London Ct. I have such great memories and have been looking for old shipmates for the past 4 years on the net. Until just a few day's ago I was unable to locate anything on ASR's or ARS's. I'm going to send you a few pictures of the Sunbird, maybe you can use them on the website. I'm looking forward to meeting all of you at the reunion either this year or next.


6/11/2000

Hello Guys,

The hard suit 2000 is a product of ours here at STOLT where I work.
Last year I had the privelage and was the only one they could get to do the job, we installed a fibre web system to 3 platforms using the SUIT. 978' , 875' , 770' The jobs were a sucess but we lost financially because the jobs were bid way to low.
Here in the not to far away future I will again be given the very great privelage of doing it again, WHY ME???????
Ive got great pics and know how and why if yall ever want to b/s about it or any thing else!

Your Bro Roger-Roger SMITH (SEAL)

Roger: Contratulations! A.Dee Clark and I would like to get together at your house and see all your stuff. I got questions that I'd like to ask you. tu amigo, doc Riojas


Who is DiverDan? you guys know him? I need a picture of Paul Heckert, he was a CDR? tu amigo doc rio


paul heckert was a hmc at the time. he retired from edu pc fla as a hmcm(dv). he still lives in pc. you will meet him at the asr/ars reunion. captain dan is dan turner who was a civilian craft master who ran the salvage operation of a/d. he now lives in new fernandina beach fla where the statue also lives. i visit dan every other year when attending the master diver reunion.

while stationed at quonset point, RI nas diving locker in 1962. i continued jumping for the next 15 years. while at nsds wash i made 500 + for free at pax river. jumped while on skylark 64-66, tringa 66-67, kittiwake 67-69, nsds 69-72, kittiwake 72-76. during my 67-69 kittiwake tour i was a jumpmaster at suffolk. i put a gal out on her first jump who latter became my wife and still is. i finished up my jump games with 1102 jumps earning uspa gold wings # 711. feel free to correct any of my ramblings. i hold no sensitive pride of authorship. in spikefish if you could please change B.F. MORSE to D.F. MORSE Thank you Denny

Thank you Denny, will change your initials ma~nana. Rio



Paul Heckert was the HMC when I was onboard 63-66 we had a CS1 named Hopkins he left and we had a CS1 Lick he left then I took the galley as a CS2 and had it for over a year made CS1 and was transfered to the USS Benwah APB-35 Flag Ship TF-117 out of Dong Tam. I no Denny Morse real well he and Doc Heckert,Jim Nobel, Hiram Mulikin and a few others Ton Moss was the XO Louie Two relived him.. She was a good ship with a damn good crew when were you onboard..

I'll be in CA sometime in the near future and would like to see Fred he was always a nice guy.. I was sending him a MRFA newsletter but the last two I sent came back so I guessed he had moved....any info given would be appreiated...how's your FL. reunion coming along if you see Doc Paul Heckert tell hirt Moore said Hi Jim Nobel as well. I was a CS2 on the Skylark with them I was getting ready to get out of the Navy my enlistment had expired I wanted to reenlist on the west coast..

Doc and Jim got me drunk at the CPO club and the next thing I knew I was looking at 6 more years hell I was to drunk to piss in the bottle and Doc did that for me.. what a crew...I did finnaly get back to the west coast but it was all spent with the MRF in the Delta 2-67 / 10-70 .. Albert Moore mrfa@abts.net MRFA is the Mobile Riverine Force Association www.mrfa.org


Subject: Re: andrea doria

Thanks for the info. It has been 30 years since I saw Bob Schwarze and maybe >I misunderstood his comments about the Andrea Doria. Would like to read or >find out all of the particulars about open circuit at the depth that the A/D >was at. > >Have a good day ! >Holly Houfek >Tampa, Fl.


Bo'sun holly,
nsds trained and qualified divers to 300 on air and 400 on heo2. the fleet routinely requaled on air and he at 200ft. the reason for this was the time involved to requal 30 divers on asr , 4 dives every 6 mons. the asr people were very comfortable at 200 ft on air. we had no mental problems with deep air and in fact considered it routine.
all the east coast asrs shared the ongoing job in ft laurderdale of recovering test sub/asroc missles from 200+ on air. we would usually hit the bottom in 20-30 seconds, this was before dv med off and navsea ( essentially 2 groups of parasitic nondivers ) decided we could not do many things even though we had been doing them for many years. S4 or F4 sunk in 315 ft off hawii in 1915. divers on air had no problems salving it.
the previous was of course all hard hat. during the search for the h-bomb at palmares tringa divers dove to 190 ( no d limit ) almost daily. arss dove deep scuba for years because they did not have adequate air for hard hat deep air.
mt morris dam, a unit of nots pasadena dove regular decomp dives in scuba to 200+. the point is that deep air scuba is not a problem for properly trained and acclimated divers. however it is not for all divers and there are many who have no business over 100ft. in the 60s and 70s we masters acclimated our divers for deep air by numerous chamber runs enroute to the mission. this worked very well and the divers felt comfortable at deep air depths. navsea, dmo, shore duty/tender officers were scared of these dives because they were non divers or non deep divers.
slowly but surely deep diving got lost. twa 800 was a good example of this. the majority of the people in volved were not ready for depths 70ft shallower than earlier asr routine requals. eod routinely work 200 this day. the eod efforts to demine the persian gulf were done from rubber rafts ( can not moor vessles containing metal over magnetic mines ) using only scuba. a good friend of mine was mdv on that job if you need more info hope this helps,
e-mail if you want more
denny morse dencor@inteliport.com
Origional message from: Hhoufek@aol.com


The American Sailor sent in by Albert Moore (USS SKYLARK-ASR-20)

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"U.S. NAVY DEEP SEA DIVERS"

My name is Robert Don Carter I was on the USS Norton Sound AVM-1 from 11-01-58 untill 06-09-62. I went to the USS Orion AS-18 12-01-64 untill 01-01-66, went to second class diving school at the barge @ D&S piers Norfolk. First class diving school @ DC. Transfered to the USS Skylark ASR-20 01-01-66 untill 01-01-68. Class "C" welding school @ San Diego. I would like to hear from any divers out there especially any one that remembers me.

http://sites.netscape.net/robertdoncarter/homepage rcarter@mail.tds.net

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please send me photos for this page. thank you

email them to: Webmaster

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Graphics created and owned by ASR/ARS Assn. and may not be used on any commercial pages without specific permission of the owners.

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There are three corpsmen and one Hospital Corps WO-4 Mr. Harper

send your stuff to me for inclusion on this web site, my address is on the ASR/ARS Roster: Erasmo "Doc"   Riojas  webmaster:

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