VETERAN'S DAY AND MEMORIAL DAY ARE EVERYDAY.
A VETERAN LIVES AS LONG AS HE OR SHE IS REMEMBERED.
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." ---C. S. Lewis
"If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair." ---C. S. Lewis
Description RIMPAC, the Rim of the Pacific Exercise, is the world's largest international maritime warfare exercise. RIMPAC is held biennially during June and July of even-numbered years from Honolulu, Hawaii. It is hosted and administered by the United States Navy's Pacific Fleet, headquartered at Pearl Harbor, in conjunction with the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard, and Hawaii National Guard forces under the control of the Governor of Hawaii. The US invites military forces from the Pacific Rim and beyond to participate. With RIMPAC the United States Pacific Command seeks to enhance interoperability between Pacific Rim armed forces, ostensibly as a means of promoting stability in the region to the benefit of all participating nations. Described by the US Navy as a unique training opportunity that helps participants foster and sustain the cooperative relationships that are critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world’s oceans.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
April / 1975
To Month/Year
April / 1975
Last Updated: Aug 11, 2022
Personal Memories
Memories Partying down with the HMAS OTWAY (S-59) In March 1975, we put to sea to participate in Exercise RIMPAC '75, the multifaceted combat readiness exercise that brought together units of the American, Australian, Canadian, and New Zealand navies. The exercise concluded on 21 March. Garry Coombe has waded in on the question "who was Otway's host boat"? Otway was a strange boat full of even stranger people and I am not surprised at the confusion. Rumour has it that the boat was supposed to be exercising off New Zealand but got lost and ended up in Hawaii for RIMPAC instead. Even the CO, Peter Horobin, looks confused (or panic stricken) in this photo taken on the casing with Milly in one of his more informal rigs. "I would like to add my two bob?s worth to the debate raging around Otway?s host boat at Pearl Harbor in 1975, as I was on the boat at the time. USS Seadragon was intended to be our host boat but certain events occurred which saw her relinquish that role. She had been in dry dock undergoing an overhaul but was taken out of the dock some days prior to our arrival and was scheduled to be alongside the submarine base when we arrived. Unfortunately she was involved in a collision of some sort on the way across the harbour and was returned to the dry dock. USS Swordfish was then designated as our host boat but they were in the middle of a work up and could not spend too much time with is. The guys from USS Bonefish and USS Sargo, which were alongside at the time, filled the void and showed us a good time. Swordfish arrived back in Pearl before we sailed and hosted us on a run to Pearl City and the Primo brewery. They referred to the Seadragon as the Shoredragon as she spent so much time alongside. The guys who organized a lot of the entertainment at the time were Charlie Eichel and Chief ?Tiger? Lyons. (He could never understand why we called him Tiger ? my name is Lyons, goddammit!) Tiger arranged for a beer machine to be moved from the Laundromat on the ground floor of the BEQ to the third floor where we were billeted. The beer delivery man constantly complained about having to lug crates of beer up three flights every day! He calmed down somewhat when Porky Porzuczek met him at the top of the stairs and gave him a tip, albeit in a variety of coins from all nations he had collected from the crew. Sandy Freeleagus wrote and illustrated a terrific article for the Navy News called The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Otway with regard to the visit and all associated dramas. I seem to recall we received a letter from the president of the Santa Fe railway, one Louis Cena, who wanted to know where we got the Santa Fe locomotive from! From there we went to Subic Bay and into the floating dock. It was April 1975 and the Vietnamese government had just capitulated. As a consequence there were thousands of Vietnamese refugees housed at the base and there was no room for us. It was a terrible situation as we had to be billeted in a hotel out in Olongapo. It was hell. Sorry to see you go Norm. All the best for the future
