Special Evolutions

The Ouellet was small for a warship. Therefore, many people had collateral duties. This was especially true if you were not that high in rank. Generally, the higher in rank you were, the less physical your work would be. This, of course, varied greatly from person to person. I've known Chief Petty Officers (CPO's) that would work their butts off and get "down and dirty" with the best of them. I've also seen seamen whose greatest skill was finding places to hide and sleep when they should have been working! Such is human nature, I guess.
Underway replenishment
Vertical replenishment
U.S.S. White Plains in trouble!
"Someone call the motor club!"
Sea and anchor detail
Gun plot - Naval Gunfire Support (NGFS)

Underway Replenishment
Underway replenishment (UNREP) is the method by which Navy ships replenish their fuel stores. The basic procedure is for a replenishment ship to "come along side". A line is shot over from one ship to the other. This line is tied to a cable. The cable is winched over to the other ship. The cables are connected to progressively thicker ones until the fuel hose itself comes over. This process requires great expertise, as there is little room for error. A mistake or accident can be fatal. Not all navies in the world can replenish in this fashion.

Vertical Replenishment
Some replenishment ships also carried food as well as fuel. Others carried fuel, food, and ammo. I guess these are the Navy's version of a floating 7-11! While fuel was being transferred, the helicopters would bring over food stores, slung underneath the aircraft. This was called vertical replenishment, or VERTREP. In this way, we could get replacement parts, mail, fresh meat, vegetables, even ice cream - thousands of miles from the nearest base.

U.S.S. White Plains in trouble!
Sometimes, life at sea can be deadly. Here, the U.S.S. White Plains is dead in the water and listing, after a fuel line explosion killed sailors in her engineering space. U.S. Navy ships in the area gather to render assistance to the stricken ship.

"Someone call the motor club!"
What do you do when your helicopter breaks down, and there's not a service station in sight? You pull into the nearest base that has a repair facility and crane it onto a barge. The crew was extremely upset that we had to interrupt our time at sea and pull into a well-known "party port" for a few days. NOT!

Sea and Anchor Detail
A photo of the aft line handlers, waiting around as the Ouellet pulls back into Pearl Harbor. You couldn't wait around without being in some kind of formation. God forbid someone should see you standing around haphazardly on deck!
There were only enough Boatswain's Mates to handle lines 1 through 3 on the Ouellet, so lines 4 through 6 were handled by Firecontrolman, Gunner's Mates, and Sonar Technicians. In the background, you can see line 6, the stern line. It, along with line 1, the bow line, were larger than lines 2 through 5.
I briefly escaped this duty when I advanced to the rank of Firecontrolman Second Class, only to be eventually brought back as Line Captain for line 6.
Same photo with names (Ranks are at time of photo)

Gun Plot
This is known as Gun Plot. In this room were the computer and radar consoles that controlled the gunfire for the 5 inch, 54 caliber gun on the bow of the ship. The large, gray rectangular thing on the right side is actually an analog computer. This was state of the art - in the late 1950's! Nonetheless, it did what it was designed to do, which was to process information from various inputs in order to aim the gun in a position to hit its target. If you know what an analog computer is, you have my sympathies! The radar consoles, only slightly more modern, are out of view to the right rear.
The Firecontrolmen pictured are, from left to right: A.J. Lujan, John Langley, James Lawson, and Lou Vlancsin.

	Underway Replenishment Underway replenishment (UNREP) is the method by which Navy ships replenish their fuel stores. The basic procedure is for a replenishment ship to "come along side". A line is shot over from one ship to the other. This line is tied to a cable. The cable is winched over to the other ship. The cables are connected to progressively thicker ones until the fuel hose itself comes over. This process requires great expertise, as there is little room for error. A mistake or accident can be fatal. Not all navies in the world can replenish in this fashion.
	Vertical Replenishment Some replenishment ships also carried food as well as fuel. Others carried fuel, food, and ammo. I guess these are the Navy's version of a floating 7-11! While fuel was being transferred, the helicopters would bring over food stores, slung underneath the aircraft. This was called vertical replenishment, or VERTREP. In this way, we could get replacement parts, mail, fresh meat, vegetables, even ice cream - thousands of miles from the nearest base.
	U.S.S. White Plains in trouble! Sometimes, life at sea can be deadly. Here, the U.S.S. White Plains is dead in the water and listing, after a fuel line explosion killed sailors in her engineering space. U.S. Navy ships in the area gather to render assistance to the stricken ship.
	"Someone call the motor club!" What do you do when your helicopter breaks down, and there's not a service station in sight? You pull into the nearest base that has a repair facility and crane it onto a barge. The crew was extremely upset that we had to interrupt our time at sea and pull into a well-known "party port" for a few days. NOT!
	Sea and Anchor Detail A photo of the aft line handlers, waiting around as the Ouellet pulls back into Pearl Harbor. You couldn't wait around without being in some kind of formation. God forbid someone should see you standing around haphazardly on deck! There were only enough Boatswain's Mates to handle lines 1 through 3 on the Ouellet, so lines 4 through 6 were handled by Firecontrolman, Gunner's Mates, and Sonar Technicians. In the background, you can see line 6, the stern line. It, along with line 1, the bow line, were larger than lines 2 through 5. I briefly escaped this duty when I advanced to the rank of Firecontrolman Second Class, only to be eventually brought back as Line Captain for line 6. Same photo with names (Ranks are at time of photo)
	Gun Plot This is known as Gun Plot. In this room were the computer and radar consoles that controlled the gunfire for the 5 inch, 54 caliber gun on the bow of the ship. The large, gray rectangular thing on the right side is actually an analog computer. This was state of the art - in the late 1950's! Nonetheless, it did what it was designed to do, which was to process information from various inputs in order to aim the gun in a position to hit its target. If you know what an analog computer is, you have my sympathies! The radar consoles, only slightly more modern, are out of view to the right rear. The Firecontrolmen pictured are, from left to right: A.J. Lujan, John Langley, James Lawson, and Lou Vlancsin.