Sometimes things don't always go like they had been planned.  For instance, an air craft carrier with 3,500 sailors and marines leave home port (Mayport, Florida) for a 6 month Mediterranean Cruise thinking all plans were complete and ready for smooth sailing.  The year was 1964/5.  The ship was the USS Shangri-la (CVA-38).  Visits were made at Florence, Italy, Livorno, Italy, and close by...Pisa, Itay.  Tours were offered for those that chose to take them to Munich.

Cannes, France was a port of call that was looked forward to by every sailor on board, as well. That's when the plans began to come apart.  The ship was anchored about a mile off the beach at Cannes. Early Monday morning, July 12, repair of the catapult steam lines began. Those repairs required that a void (vertical space between two bulkheads used for liquid storage or ballast) be pumped dry. Unfortunately, within minutes an Engineering Officer noticed black oil coming from the ship. Although only five minutes had gone by, 3,000 gallons of black oil was in the water. To add to the emergency, it was the hight of Cannes' tourist season! 135 men were quickly organized and sent to handle the problem.  The working parties sunk about half with carbonized sand. and contained the rest.  The Mayor of Cannes gave the Shangri-la high accolades for their quick response. The Chief of Naval Operations praised the "prompt response and wholehearted effort to rectify a bad situation."  The day had been saved and everyone went to bed tired that night.

USS Shangri-la about a mile out. Crew "sinking sand"

The "Cruise of the Century" the following month brought an even worse event.  We were not in a combat zone.  Although, steaming in peaceful areas, there are still "tests" and "drills".  It was an almost  full moon night and the seas were calm.  The escort ships were in anti-sub protection routine.  Then the unexpected happened.  0115, August 27, the destroyer NEWMAN K. PERRY (DD-883) and the Shangri-la (CVA-38) collided about 115 miles southwest of Naples, Italy.

The moon at the time of the collision

I remember that night well, as my bunk in the living spaces of the Mess Deck workers, was right next to a metal ladder/stairway leading to the hanger bay.  I was awakened by the clumping of feet on the ladder, and the "bong, bong, bong, this is NOT a drill, General Quarters, General Quarters.  bong, bong, bong, this is NOT a drill . . . ."  I was up in a flash, dressed and at my GQ station in the aft part of the ship, ready to fight any fires or any other incident that might crop up in our area of responsibility.  After spending hours at our station without anything happening, and worse, without knowing what was going on, we were released from General Quarters.  We returned to our spaces and prepared ourselves for a busy day of enlightenment of what had happened.

The collision had happened in the forward, Starboard side, and created a gash that ran 20 feet below our water line and pealed the ships skin like a piece of torn paper.  It entered in our storage rooms, and no one on the Shangri-la was injured.  It happened to be on of my Mess supply storage rooms and was able to see the damage up close.  The skin of a ship looked to me to be about 1/2" or less thickness of steel . . . Holding out all that water.  Well, in this case, not so well, but I could look through the gash into the sunlight and see the Perry off at a distance.  The major thing I noticed is . . . I could read the Perry's hull number from the front, as her bow was bent at a right angle!

USS SHANGRI-LA  (CVA-38)

The Perry, however suffered worse, as the bow of a Destroyer is  paint locker space, and berthing area behind that.  Two men were trapped on the Perry.  A Doctor and Corpsman were transferred by helicopter  to Perry.  After 4 1/2 hours, the first man was freed, underwent surgery for internal injuries aboard Shangri-la and recovered.  The second man was freed only after 17 hours by work of his shipmates, but died an hour and a half later.  

USS NEWMAN K. PERRY (DD-883)
bow number is now seen straight on.

The Perry's bow would eventually be replaced, temporary repairs were made to the Shangri-la from the USS Shenadoah (ported in Naples) and after turnover with the USS Forrestal, headed back across the Atlantic to home.

Life at sea is not free of danger. ANY mistake, or mis-calculation can have grave results. . . in peace or at war.

Kind of a sobering story today, but it is part of my life...which seems to be getting more and more intense!  We all have our stories, and this is just one part of mine.  Someone made a mistake that day. They most likely lost the career that they loved.  Those that are put in positions of decision making are also responsible for those decisions....or so it used to be in those days.


Keep singing, Keep praying, and keep smiling . . .

Blessings,
Gary