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The Ship

Originally published May 31st, 2009.

4 Comments

by | May 31, 2012 · 3:21 am

4 responses to “The Daily Lex – May 31st”

  1. Bill Brandt
    May 31, 2012 at 5:48 am

    The way Lex describes a ship it is almost a living organism. And in the passage about navigation skills and the over dependence on computers – I was thinking of that goofball captain in Italy who grounded that $500 million ship.

    And the people who run the flight deck – I have heard it said that it is the most dangerous work place in the world – I remember seeing a video (at night) of a crewman wandering too close to the intake of an A6 and literally sucked in like a vacuum – every where you turn is potential death if you are don’t have situational awareness each moment.

    That has top be a stressful job running that.

    Reply
    • SoCal Pir8
      May 31, 2012 at 7:25 pm

      It is a living organism.

      As far as navigation goes I remember thinking the same thing when aboard the P3C we shifted from LORAN A & C, the periscope sextant for star and sun shots, and onboard INS systems to GPS and other sat systems.

      I remember when on the Kitty Hawk cruise (’81) we lost an AE who walked into the prop arc of an E2C. The flight deck is very dangerous place to work. Gotta keep your head on a swivel and even then you are not entirely safe. You always depend on your shipmates.

  2. Kris, in New England
    May 31, 2012 at 11:21 am

    I was on vacation when that was first posted and Lex was prodigious enough that sometimes you just couldn’t go back and get caught up. It was – impossible. So reading this is the first time for me.
    And I get – giddy, lots of giddy from Lex. He was so happy he was back aboard something that floated and that flung people off into the wild blue.
    I wonder – we all know why he did it but I wonder if he ever thought about the alternatives he had to taking that desk job…

    Reply
    • Bill Brandt
      May 31, 2012 at 1:35 pm

      Kris – I am finding even this site moves so fast that things i am interesting in continuing…..ya gotta s c r o l l 😉

      Lex sure had a gift for bringing situations he experienced alive for the readers.

      i would imagine for a lot of sailors – well military in general – after a longtime in service – to retire – brings a lot of melancholy

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