Diaries of an Electrician - Shipboard Duty

Duty on the USS Stein DE 1065

Once my electrical schooling was completed, I was transferred to my new duty station in San Diego. It was a ship named the Stein - DE 1065 to be exact. It was a destroyer escort, later called a fast frigate. Our ship was assigned to be the body guard for larger ships such as the carrier USS Enterprise.

We were an anti-submarine vessel. That meant we had communication and armament that would find and destroy any submarines that may be lurking about. For example, we had this thing called the FISH which could be dropped out from the aft end of the ship and lowered deep into the water to hone in on subs. We had sonar as well, but this was more accurate and did not reveal our whereabouts so easily. An example of attack weapons was our ASROC (anti submarine rocket). These were rockets that could be launched into the air a couple miles drop into the water and go on a search for the submarine. Cool stuff, even for the 1970’s.

It wasn’t all hi-tech. I lived in a compartment with eighty other guys. Three bunks from floor to ceiling spread out not two feet from each other. All our belongings were stashed in the bottom of the bunk…pants, shirts, socks – everything. And don’t wake up too fast, because hitting ones head on the bunk above you is not a great way to start the day.

As an electrician I had the run of the ship. We went as low as the bilges and as high as the crow’s nest, changing and/or repairing lights and other equipment; hopefully without getting injured or electrocuted. Speaking of electrocution, I remember when I had to do a maintenance check on a motor controller in the Engine room. I turned off the power at the circuit breaker and went down to clean and inspect. When I opened the access door, I reached down in my pouch for my voltage tester but it wasn’t there. I must have left it in electrical central. I wasn’t concerned, because I just shut off the power at the breaker. However, just in case, I took a screwdriver and passed it across the terminal of the controller to verify there was no power. Smart – only in emergencies. An arc, the likes of which I had never seen before, exploded from the terminals. It was so loud that the First Class of the Engine Room came flying down, and proceeded to scream at me for blowing things up. The explosion was soo bright that I was blinded. The First Class calmed down and was sympathetic for an instant…until I said my vision was returning, then he continued to barrage me with more choice words.

I’ve had many electrocutions: Once being thrown off a 440 volt bus bar that fed the forward end of the ship, another time when a coworker said he turned off the power and my muscles seized up like a pit-bull on its victim. It seemed that I got zapped at least once a month. All of these occasions were due to my negligence. I was told that people get killed from electrocutions due to inexperience and over confidence. I prayed I wouldn't end up as one of those people.

I’ve done some stupid things in the Navy, but there were times when I’ve done some smart things too. One night, I was on duty and an alarm came over the MC stating that there was flooding in the air conditioner mechanical room. Water was coming in at a fast rate and could have been real trouble flooding the adjacent compartments. I ran to the ladder (stairs) above the compartment and notice a group of men running down to fix it. The problem was that there was almost a foot of water on the deck and it was getting deeper, and fast! All I could think of was a bunch of heroic guys getting electrocuted by the water around all the live equipment in the area. So I sprinted back to the aft switch-gear room. It was too difficult to spend time trying to find the right circuit breakers out of hundreds of them. I kept thinking of men falling into conniption fits from being electrocuted. I didn’t have time for the slow search and did the only logical thing left...slam off the main breaker feeding the back half of the ship. The emergency lights came on and it gave me a few minutes to find the correct breakers while the crew could find and repair the leak.  After I turned off the power in the correct area, I reset the power to the ship and went back to see how the repair team was coming. It was determined that a relief valve had blown off, letting seawater spill in. Thankfully no one got killed and other than a little clean-up we were back to normal.  I slept pretty well that night knowing I had a hand in keeping men alive...even if it was only on my tiny cramped bunk.