Loomis, Steven, IC3

Best Friends

SK3 Frank Rodriguez; EMFN Steve Lackner; ICFN Bill Beck and IC2 Charles Kenneth "Ken" Needels, Jr.; BT2 Bixler "Bix" Clark, the Oil King; DC3 Jim Wood, Goodman, Chuck Farnum (former HT's) Joe Castelli, EM3 Huck Aspuria, BM3 Tom Welch,  FN A. Delgado, and our mailman PC3 Jerry Looney. A few other names: BMC Light, QMC Wurrlow, CWO Gaskins, EM1 Bill Hannigan, John Woodhouse and Eddie Perez.  --  a few notes:  Frank Rodriguez became a very successful owner of a dozen Ford Dealerships including at least one in China.  I heard that both Ken Needles and Eddie Perez made Chief.  And, one evening, around 1985, I was covering an event at one of the largest resort hotels in north-east Phoenix when I ran into our ship's cook, John Woodhouse. He was working as Chef at the hotel.  I'm sure most of you know, Commander Vernon C. Smith became Rear Admiral Smith. Congratulations Skipper.

Best Moment

After a year in Viet-Nam I went to IC School and with my next orders... I was finally going to sea. I'd been in the Navy for two and a half years and I'd never been to sea, actually, I'd never been assigned to a ship until I got orders to the "Darlin' Harlan". 

I asked the Personnel Office at NTC San Diego, "Where is the ship located?" and to my surprise they said "It's at 32nd Street, it's still being built". So, I put on my dress blues and got a cab to the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company and walked through their main gate. Some kind of foreman asked me what I was there for and I told him I'd come to see the Harlan County, "I've got orders to her". He gave me a funny look and said, "Come on, come aboard" and took me on a brief, but memorable, top deck tour of the ship. In the meantime I had orders back to Norfolk for Pre-commissioning and Damage Control School. It would be more than three months before I saw the ship again and this time it was in Long Beach for the Commissioning Ceremony, 8 April 1972. From there we degaussed the ship and filled her with diesel fuel at San Pedro, then headed to Sea. Our first stop was Acapulco Bay, Mexico. We then headed south and crossed the equator at 84°W, off the coast of Ecuador (Spanish for EQUATOR), and then north to enter the Panama Canal. From there we headed north through the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, and up the Mississippi River to the port of New Orleans. Our next stop was Little Creek, our homeport. I was now a Plank Owner (ship's original crew) and a Shellback (for crossing the equator) on board the USS Harlan County, LST-1196, homeport Navy Amphibious Base Little Creek, VA. Next, we loaded cargo, the US Olympic Yachts, for what I consider the ship's maiden voyage; a journey across the Atlantic and North Sea to the Kiel Canal and onto Kiel Germany for the 1972 Olympic Games. Additional highlights included passing through the Strait of Gibraltar to our next stop, Barcelona, Spain, and then a port of call at the Azores before returning to Little Creek. Quite a first cruise! With my crossing of the Atlantic, and introduction to the Mediterranean Sea, I felt like I was now, truly "In The Navy". 

Like most East Coast ships we made a few trips to the Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (GTMO), and in June 1973 I was officially rung off the ship, ding-ding: "Loomis, Plank Owner, Departing" and honorably discharged, after my four year tour of duty. Now a civilian, I then put myself through a technical college on the GI Bill. But, I also spent time in a couple of US Naval Reserve units later on. There was something about putting that uniform back on. Those of you who have done it will know what I mean. Over the years in the Reserves I was assigned to three more ships and went back to sea with one that made a return to "GiTMO", one last time.
................. 
On the Harlan County LST-1196 -- trivia:  Here's one for you...  
Crossing the Equator for the first time 6/72 off the coast of Ecuador at 84° West...  
An interesting fact: 84 Degrees West is also the longitude of Harlan, Kentucky, the name sake of the ship; and Midland, Michigan, the hometown of our commanding officer Cdr. Vernon C. Smith. Coincidence? I wonder.

Worst Moment

I recall being in the Bermuda Triangle on the way down. It was the fall of 1972 and we were sailing from Little Creek to GiTMO. I remember it being so calm and windless that the water looked like glass. A small boat was adrift ahead of us and someone appeared to be waving a flag. It was a boatload of Haitians stranded in the calm. As we approached we could see that what they were waving was a mail bag. We put two LCVPs in the water and preceeded to investigate. Possibly because they were Haitians all we could do is render humanitarian aid. We offloaded fresh water and food and pushed off leaving them to their fate. 


Trivia... I have the song "Guantanamera" by the Sandpipers. The title, by the way... for all you GTMO sailors... the song  translates to: "girl from Guantanamo".  

Also, I see Guantanamo abbreviated as GTMO and as GITMO, but, there is no letter i in Guantanamo.  So, sometimes I use my own abbreviation: GiTMO as a happy medium. 

Chain of Command

CDR (V.C.) Vernon Charles Smith (later RAdm.), LCDR John Henry Withers (XO) and LCDR Dean A. Ablowich (XO), LT Leonard Zuga (Engineering).   -- Remember the Geedunk?: On "the Darlin Harlan" we called it "LaMonde's" in honor of the SK3 that ran it. We called it a lot of things, but like most sailors, the ones on the pier were called the Geedunk Wagon or Roach Coach.

Contact me if you have corrections.  Thanks for stopping by.  Steve

Other Memories

Our first Atlantic crossing:  In 1972 I was a plank-owner onboard the USS Harlan County, LST 1196. We brought her from San Diego through the Panama Canal and to her homeport of Little Creek without incident. Our first major cruise was to take the US Olympic Yachts over to Kiel Germany. This was our first Atlantic crossing and less than a third of the way there we got the call... "Man Overboard"... Being a new ship and crew it seemed we drilled a lot, but, this one was for real. My Sea and Anchor and General Quarters station was the bridge. It was a great location and was where the action was, which really beat the IC shop (below decks - next to Main Engineering). By the time I made it to the bridge the ship was in a full speed turn. Everybody was hanging on for the ride. My job was to run the bow thruster so I stood next to the helmsman. As luck would have it... it was not a calm sea. Fortunately, one of the crew had seen him jump... just a white t-shirt and dungarees. White caps were everywhere and so was the old man. He ran from one side of the bridge to the other and binoculars seemed to be appearing out of the thin air. All those white caps looked like t-shirts and by now the old man was fuming. Then we heard the call... they had spotted him and our DC men suited up. They got him along side and with a diver in the water they fished him out. His feet never touched the deck as he was hauled to our small but dry brig. As we crossed through the English Channel a helicopter came out and landed on our deck just long enough to take him off our hands as we headed for the entrance to the Kiel Canal and sailed into northern Europe. ....................  --  The North Atlantic on an LST:  With their flat bottom they tend to bob like a cork anyhow. We were riding high with little or no cargo in deep swells. A couple of us went up on the upper con and lashed ourselves to the rail with our belts. The bow broke waves and appeared to go under. Anyhow, all those levels above the waterline we were soaked. The (Newport Class) LSTs were pure aluminum above the main deck. This made it more buoyant and, so they said, could take a 45 degree roll and right itself. As the IC of the bridge I manned the bow thruster. An easy job which gave me a great view. I do not recall ever seeing more than a 20 degrees, maybe 25, on that super sophisticated glass tubed bubble roll indicator on the bridge. Steve Loomis, USS Harlan County, LST 1196, end of '72. ....................  --  Sailor vs Marine / Green Onion Bar, Virginia Beach. A marine and I entered the head at the same time for a healthy whizz. He unzipped and I grabbed the corners of my 13 button fly. Those thirteen buttons pop open as fast as any zipper... but of course when we were finished I had to button them up. As the marine washed his hands I buttoned and we left at the same time. He looked at me and said... "In the Marine Corps we're taught to wash our hands when we've been to the latrine". I looked back at him.. and said, "In the Navy we're told not to piss on our hands"................  --  IC Shop's Coffee Pot: My lead was a Second Class and he must have thought he was quite the coffee drinker because he bought one of those large coffee makers. It must have made two gallons of coffee at a time and he liked it strong. It was on most of the day and he would often point to it and say... "help yourself". It was bitter and almost thick. After a week or so I realized he just plugged or switched it back on every morning. When I looked inside it was full of mold. There were just two IC on the ship and I decided I was better off getting my coffee from the mess deck. Thanks just the same. ............ -- I also remember we had one of those "one day dependence cruises" on a fine calm day out of Little Creek. But, whoever was on the bridge seemed bound and determined to ride the crotch of the waves... and what seemed hours... our flat bottomed LST waddled through an ever sickening sea. By lunchtime there was puke everywhere. What I remember hearing over the 1MC was, something to this effect... "Now topside... Clean-up, Port and Starboard" ....................  --  Giving it the float test. You would be amazed at how many things "don't float".

Other notes: 
 

Best Moment

I was an original crew member, a Plank Owner, on the Harlan. I became a Shellback at 84 degrees west in mid June 1972 and was discharged from active duty in June 1973. Ding Ding, Loomis, Plank Owner departing...