Terminus -> RE: Hi From Abe (3/21/2012 7:21:12 PM)
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ORIGINAL: Mac Linehan ny59giants - You gotta be kidding. Two members of this forum who were shipmates - I served on USS Bowen 1980 - 1981 as a GMG2, serving the 5/54 cal Mk 42 Mod 9 mount forward (ok - it's the only mount and kind of big... <grin>). Eddy (SuluSea) served on the USS Capadano FF-1093 the 1980's; I served on Capandano in 1977 - 1978, right out of gunnery school in Great Lakes. I am going to have to check my notes and make sure I have the dates right. I loved gunnery exercises, and loved being insided the mount - watching the two ammunition cradles cycle the semi fixed ammunition (on an alternating basis) to the transfer trays, which in turn rotated and opened to allow ramming powder and projectile into the breach. Massive pieces of machinery, working in awesome harmony until "cease fire" Then it was "bore clear, no casualties, five rounds expended". My first ship was the USS Midway, CVA 41, Dec 1971. Midway was armed with the 5/54 MK 39, the manually loaded big brother to the 5/38. As a newb Seaman Apprentice, I was "hot caseman" - supposedly there to catch the ejected powder cartridge and drop it thru the bottom eject doors (or so I was told by my jokester shipmates). I was totally unprepared for the sheer force and violence with which the powder cartridge hit the rear of the armored splinter shield, leaving a dent in the very hard rubber backing. Mom did not raise a fool, after that my main purpose in life was to dance around to avoid having my 120 pound body smeared accross the back of the mount by the demonized powder can, while the mount was erratically following the amplidyne signal. Ok - I digress and am (of course) carried away. Take care, Shipmates. Till Later... Mac USN Sept 1971 - Sept 1981, a four month break, then USMC Jan 1981 - Oct 1992. There is no better finishing school for life.. P.S. - no spell check on my wife's computer, or at least where I can see it, so please forgive any and all mistakes... I'm thinking you'd really have been carried away if you'd been hit by one of those cartridges.
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