Too bad NPR didn’t mention USS Mt. Whitney.
Also, the guy who says he wants a beer and real food. The food on some of the USNS was very good, of course some was the very worst, like the fried chicken that was still frozen inside abd USNS GRASP.
Isn’t “Grasp” a salvage tug out of Hawaii? Knew a fellow or two that worked on there a while back.
Right on the salvage tug, she was based in Norfolk in the early 2000s. Possibly decommisioned now, as her sister Grapple has been for a couple of years
Perhaps it was Grapple around 2015/2016 I think, couple of KP guys, one from Newport News area. Both played football at KP. Don’t remember where other guy was from. Said they have had better jobs since then.
The East Coast salvage tugs were good billets in the early 2000s.
Did you ever watch McHale’s Navy on tv? Like PT73 we had our own little base, known as San Helena at the end of a dead end road near the BAE Norfolk shipyard where no one ever bothered us. There was a civilian security guard at the gate.
Grocery, restaurants, downtown Norfolk were within walking distance. There were several churches nearby, too. It was crowded, I shared a room double the size of my small kitchen with 3 other civmars. Officers had their own tiny rooms.
That’s about right. Know the area well. I had my own tiny room as well. No complaints, Just chasing a paycheck. Fortunately, had a good cook most of the time.
PR blitz
I’m with these guys. For a touch of irony, MSC proclaims in bold letters that “Sailors and CIVMARS are One Team”.
As mentioned on gCaptain (below) something should be made clear. The report says:
All 50 crew members on board the ship have been quarantined, the CBS Boston report said.
The crew were quarantined before the outbreak. They were not permitted to leave their hotel/prison. They had to pile into cramped vans every morning and evening to go to the shipyard. However, the shipyard workers and contractors were completely free to go wherever and do whatever and bring that shit to the imprisoned crew.
BRAVO ZULU Admiral!
Not only did he imprison the crew and make them miserable, he utterly failed to protect them from disease and created the conditions insuring widespread infection of the crew.
Adversity breeds opportunity. 