>>>>Collision at sea w/ USNS Charlestown during unrep<<<< 1989/90

[RMC John Joseph]

  Although this is a USS King topic, I wanted to state that this is one of the most critical things that could ever happen to a vessel. I was aboard the USS John F Kennedy CV67 on November 22, 1975 when we collided with the USS Belknap. I only wish that it had been just a bump and a scrape. People died, and many were seriously injured. I was 18 and pretty scared but to busy fighting fires all night.

John

Weird Pres. Kennedy was assasinated on November 22nd. (1963?)

[sstewart]

I remember this like it was yesterday. I was the Gunnersmate manning the ready life boat when we collided and was right there when we did. I remember seeing two life boat inflated and in the water. I also recall damage to the stanchions around the Harpoons.
email me: Scott Stewart(GM2)

[Mark D]

This came up on the old message board about 2 years ago (http://www.uss-king.com/messageboard//43.shtml). ITCS Sweeney has the date pegged at April 23, 1989. That sounds about right to me.

I was in the 55B control room and heard something I couldn't understand on the 1MC. Went out into the passageway and asked FC3 Joe Hawkins what was going on. He opened the wtd to the starboard side 01 level and all we saw was a wall of gray. Joe promptly slammed the door shut, looked at me and said "Brace for shock!" (With a bit of a grin on his face I might add). It was less than 2 seconds after that that we hit. It wasn't hard enough to knock me off my feet, but it was a bit of a jolt. I do remember a bit of concern at first about the starboard side Harpoon canisters, but they were fine. Had we been rolling hard to starboard when we hit, that could have been a serious problem.

I remember LT Fries saved the day since we had a hard connection with the Charleston (not the normal probe). He cut the hose before it pulled the rigging apart as the ships separated after the collision.

[Kevin Fountain]

I recall hearing a new OSSA on sound-powered phones in communication with bridge saying, "Brace for what?" and Ops Officer LCDR Dalrymple storming into CIC looking bug-eyed with shock, after King lost steering and aft couldn't get us separated quickly enough. It was more of a nudge and scrape than a collision, but we all felt it. My life raft was one of the ones lost. Do I have the time frame correct?[/size] Go Fast, No Smoke![/color][/size]