Thomas R. Barnett, SO2, Memories (USS Illusive MSO-448, USS Leader MSO-490, 1960-1964)

I will be the first to admit that trying to recall memory from forty-two years ago may produce some inaccuracies, so I will limit my narrative to those facts that I can clearly recall.

Lest some may feel a young sailor at the age of nineteen may not see the complete picture of events that is taking place, I am writing this preface to clarify my comments and give the Captain of the USS Illusive (Aug. 1961-Apr. 1962) the benefit of doubt in his relationship with the enlisted crew.

In retrospect, I fully understand that there are many command decisions taking place aboard a Navy vessel that are away from the immediate knowledge of the enlisted crew members. I also understand there are times when the enlisted crew may not be living up to the expectations of the ship’s Captain. Both of these, I am sure, contribute to higher than normal stress levels during operation deployments.

Because I do not know all the mitigating circumstances leading up to the incident in Da Nang, I have rewritten the text and tried to be more objective in the presentation of what I can recall. I have used some literary license here, but the conflicts between the captain and crew are as I remember them.

Thanks to some of the crew of the USS Warbler MSC-206 at the recent reunion in Louisville, CO., for unlocking some memory that had been sealed for the last forty years. Even though I did not serve with them, just being in their presence and listening to old sea stories allowed me to recall many of the events I could not remember when I originally wrote about my Navy years.

***

After graduating from Navy Sonar/Electronics School I received my orders to report to the USS Illusive MSO-448 at Long Beach Naval Station. It was August 1960, I was eighteen years old, proud and arrogant as I strutted up to the quarterdeck, came to attention, my chest thrust forward, belly sucked in and firm then properly saluted the ensign on the fantail and asked permission to come aboard. I’m sure the quarterdeck watch got a kick out of my arrival, but only returned my salute, and welcomed me aboard as I handed him my orders.

One thing rings true aboard a Minesweeper, the least senior seaman in each division will have his choice of mess cooking! It did not matter that there was no Sonar men aboard the Illusive, (who needs Sonar men anyway?). The next nine months were spent washing, pealing, slicing and dicing potatoes, tossing salads, making gravy, mixing vats of dressing (ah-ha! I used my own receipt here and everyone liked it!) Then scrubbing pots, pans, trays, knives, forks, spoons, cups, ladles, prongs, tongs, sieves and of course decks and bulkheads!

I can’t say I really cared for doing all that, but by the end of my mess cooking duties, I had become so good at it that the Chief Cook asked me to change my designation to Cook Striker! No thank-you, I’d had enough.

Prior to setting sail for Subic Bay there was a command change aboard the Illusive. Our captain had been advanced in rank to full commander and reassigned. A new CO came aboard. The transition was swift, a week before we set sail.

I did not give much thought to the change of command, after all that is the Navy way. And so on August 12, 1961 we set sail as families and friends cheered and waved from the pier:

“The ship was cheered, the harbor cleared,
Merrily did we drop
Below the kirk, below the hill
Below the lighthouse top.

The Sun came up upon the left,
Out of the sea came he!
And he shone bright, and on the right
Went down into the sea.”
**-Rime of The Ancient Mariner

Our course was set, Hawaii, Midway, Guam, and Subic Bay, Bangkok, Saigon, Da Nang, Hong Kong, Guam, Midway, Hawaii, and Long Beach.

During the voyage some tension had began to build between the crew and the CO due to repeated General Quarter drills, brought about by the crew’s poor performance on time allocation specified for manning battle stations. There were those that felt the captain was pressing too hard on them. The drills continued around the clock day in and day out until everyone was completely exhausted.

They finally came to an end and a few days prior to docking at Guam the Captain allowed a movie to be shown on the fantail. “Mr. Roberts,” staring James Cagney and Henry Fonda. A few days later we docked in port.

For whatever reason, some over zealous and angered enlisted crew members paid a visit to a nursery in Guam (we had a few days liberty) and decided it would be a cute to purchase a palm tree and place it on the bridge of the Illusive. (This was Captain Morton’s (James Cagney) favorite tree!) If you have seen the movie then you will understand this did not set very well with our Captain, it was a slap in the face and angered him profusely. He took the tree and physically threw it into the harbor.

Everyone made light of the incident, but it would prove to be no joking matter.

Ah! Well a-day! What evil looks
Had I from old and young!
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung!
**-Rime of The Ancient Mariner

We departed Guam and things proceeded to go from bad to worse. The relentless GQ drills continued as we passed through the San Bernardino Straights and onward toward Subic Bay. Everyone was sick, and half the crew was not able to man the battle stations. We did break from GQ as the ship passed through the swelling seas. But once calm they continued. The tension between Captain and crew was having a demoralizing effect on everyone. There was no help from our division officers, and it often seemed they were as demoralized as the crew.

When the inlet at Subic Bay came into view, I think everyone breathed a sigh of relief. We knew we had some time to recover and rest. It was time, and if anyone needed to unwind from all the stress of the previous weeks at sea, Subic Bay was the place to let it happen!

Albeit the Captain did not cancel liberty for anyone (I suspect he realized everyone needed to unwind and regain their composure.) However over the time we were at dock, he would make it a habit of being on the Quarter Deck at midnight and have the watch put on report anyone that stepped onboard one minute or longer after liberty expired. Once again this action was not well accepted by the crew, as most were back on board within fifteen minutes of midnight. Thus with the remainder of our liberty in Subic Bay tension was dripping from the mast like morning dew!

Our departure from port was without incident, but we had hardly cleared the breakwater when the GQ drills commenced once again. At some point you hoped the Captain knew he had got his point across. But this seemed not to be the case. He was bitter with the crew and hell bent on letting everyone know it. There was a lesson in all this, if you are going to pick a fight, you better know your enemy! Although I can’t help but feel no one sensed it. The captain, it seemed was driving his point home, but the crew remained steadfast in its anger and defiance!

“One after one, by the star-dogged Moon,
Too quick for groan or sigh,
Each turned his face with ghastly pang,
And cursed me with his eye.”
**-Rime of The Ancient Mariner

You can only drive a point so much. And the captain knew when to stop and when to move forward. It was as though he was toying with the crew! After a few days the drills ceased and we sailed north toward Bangkok, Thailand.

I don’t know about the rest of the crew, but I was awe struck by the rich tradition, majestic architecture, and simple life of the Thai people. I boarded a bus and became thoroughly lost for more than four hours as it wound through the backcountry of Thailand. For the most part it was like sliding back in time to the 14th century: wooden plows pulled by oxen, workers tilling their fields with shovels and hoes. The country was clean, the farmlands plush and green, it seemed a place where farm workers toiled in the fields in harmony with nature.

Too soon the visit was over and our next port of call - Saigon, South Vietnam. The visit was not really for R & R as our liberty hours were limited. Saigon was on the west side of the river: a city that was obviously built with US investment. On the east side of the Saigon River there were no modern facilities whatsoever. The people lived in bamboo huts, bathed and washed their clothes in the river, drank the water, and emptied their sewage into the river. It was a real contrast, one half of the city lived in 1962, and the other half lived in 1362.

We departed Saigon with a small complement of South Vietnam sailors; I think there were four or five. The Mine Division sailed south down the Saigon River to the Mekong Delta where we conducted a number of training exercises with the SVN.

This was a very enjoyable part of our deployment. We were actually conducting exercises that would have an impact on the relationship with South Vietnam. After several days in the Mekong Delta, The division headed northward up the Vietnam coast toward Da Nang. We continued to conduct training exercises with the SVN, but at some point we received orders to act as a radar ship with the SVN Costal Patrol Boats.

Sea conditions were rough, and the Illusive was taking a beating and began to loose siding. Nevertheless she remained steadfast and seaworthy, but there was trouble onboard. You could sense it, murmurings in dark shadows and unrest with the crew. There just seemed to be a lot of anger and frustration.

“With sloping masts and dipping prow,
As who pursued with yell and blow
Still treads the shadow of his foe,
And forward bends his head,
The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast
And southward aye we fled!”
**-Rime of The Ancient Mariner

Being assigned to the signal bridge, did not exempt me from a lot of what was taking place.

Upon arriving at Da Nang harbor the flag of our mine division was transferred to the USS Epping Forest.
I can’t even speculate who leaked out the word concerning the tensions aboard the USS Illusive, but it did happen, and it was quit evident the captain had been spoken to by someone concerning his relationship with the crew, obviously someone who was in a position of authority.

When a couple of sailors did not return from an afternoon liberty in Da Nang, the tension aboard ship accelerated.

The AWOL sailors had to be reported to the Epping Forest and this further inflamed an already tense situation. Once again I believe someone spoke to the captain from the Flag Ship. All in all there was a real mess aboard the Illusive.

Of course I can’t imagine what the captain was thinking, but I’m sure his anger was near the boiling point. We were still anchored in the harbor at Da Nang when he called an all hands meeting on the fantail. I had the quarterdeck watch at the time the meeting occurred, but could not help but hear when he shouted at the top of his voice he would bust every enlisted man aboard unless someone confessed who was sending messages about him to the Flag command. I don’t think anyone said a word, and an angry Captain walked away and returned to his cabin.

Shortly after that the Illusive resumed radar picked duties. By now we had a Chaplin aboard and tempers seem to have cooled.

There was an unusual degree of rough seas and the ship continued to loose siding. We were encountering gale force winds and the situation became so serious that the USS Illusive was finally ordered to return to Subic Bay for repairs.

The ship rejoined the mine division (we missed out on the Hong Kong R & R) on the return voyage to Guam. It was during this leg of our return that once again the angry sea sent gale force winds screaming at the mine division. Up to this time I had not had any direct involvement with the Captain. The night before we were to dock at Guam, I had the 2000 to 2400 signal watch. The captain handed me a hand written note to send via flashing light to the captain of the other MSOs (I don’t recall which one). Winds were extremely high as were the seas. It was all I could do to keep the paper on a clipboard even though I had taped it down. As I was attempting to send the message (it was a personal message inviting the captain of the other MSO to meet him at some club in Guam for drinks and conversation) a very high gust of wind caused the ship to take a sharp roll tossing me against the bulkhead of the bridge, and I lost the clipboard with the message overboard. I sat for a few moments on the deck, holding on for all I was worth and knowing there would be hell to pay. All I could do was tell him he needed to rewrite the message because of what happened. Oh was he angry. He grabbed the clipboard out of my hands, jotted down another message then threw it at me calling me incompetent and stupid and to get it right this time! Well I did, and returned to him the answer from the captain of the other MSO, which was two letters (--- -.-) OK. It was not a pleasant moment in time, but I got through it.

After a lot of soul searching, I am not going to change my mind about the captain.
I believe the incident at our first arrival in Guam may seem disrespectful, but where are any of us without a little humor in our lives. Everyone needs to roll with the punches, if you can’t take a joke or a little jabbing now and then how are you going to deal with real time problems such as an enemy attack? My comment here is no disrespect for the discipline aboard a Navy ship, and there was no lack of discipline aboard the Illusive, the shipmates obeyed what they were told, when they were told.

Forthwith this frame of mine was wrenched
With a woeful agony,
Which forced me to begin my tale;
And then it left me free.

Since then, at an uncertain hour,
That agony returns:
And till my ghastly tale is told,
This heart within me burns.

I pass, like night, from land to land;
I have strange power of speech;
That moment that his face I see,
I know the man that must hear me
To him my tale I teach.
**-Rime of the Ancient Mariner

I was transferred to the USS Leader a year after returning from Wes Pac aboard the USS Illusive. I had a new command with new division officers, a new Captain and a Commodore. The Leader was the flagship of Mine Division 93. I met new friends and shipmates, and officers that took pride in their divisions on a ship that sailed proudly, westward across the pacific.

**Samuel Taylor Coleridge: 1772-1834

I had one very good friend aboard the USS Leader. Radioman Second Class Robert Stedman. I maintained contact with him until 1968. After that I lost track.

I didn't know an electron from a piece of bubble gum when I entered Sonar school in 1960. I graduated 4th in my class. It was not only the basic academic instruction that I received, but it was the controlled dicipline as well. I was an 18 years old, small town boy from Pismo Beach, CA, dumber than a rock with about the same amount of knowledge in life. The Navy changed me forever (espically that first visit to Subic Bay =:).

Allow me one more comment about the mission of the USS Illusive in 1962. Despite the boneheaded Captain, the Illusive and the rest of the mine division were the first US war ships to patrol the waterways from the Saigon river to Danang including areas North of the DMZ and all those water ways of the Mekong Delta that inlet into the South China Sea. This was three years before the Navy established the River Patrol Divisions (PBRs), called by some the "Brown Water Navy." It was a division of ships and dedicated men, some three hundred sailors and officers patroling an unknown region with unknown perils, and we had to do so without arming our wepons.

That is the pride of the US Navy. That was what being a sailor is all about. The American flag still flies in front of my house. I still get impassioned watching the Army-Navy annual football game. It was an adventure that will always be with me till the day I am no longer.

We were directed to conduct search for influence and magnetic mines. As I recall the mine field was twelve nautical miles long and four miles wide. It was a marathon event, 4 on and 4 off for myself and a seaman SOG (I wish I could remember his name.) We made crisscross passes at 1000 yard intervals both North-South and East-West. Our contacts were plotted on a velum overlay. Three passes were made through the field and plotted. At the end of the exercise the master plot was opened and our velum laid on top of it. There was a lot of cheering and hand clapping. We had nailed 86% and the remainder were within acceptable tolerances of the actual location. We were the best in the division, of course nothing less for the Flag Ship of Mine Division 93.

This may not be as good as high defination sonar, but the UQS-1 sonar was 1950s technology. I don't know, maybe the MSO mine fleet was laid to rest a little early!

During Typhoon Shirley in 1963 the USS Leader was diverted to the Rebublic of China on the island of Formosa.  I can tell you that we were there for three days, departed and once again turned back to Formosa due to a change in direction of the Typhoon. This was prior to the minesweep exercise off Korea.

I remember this because a second class radioman and myself got in big trouble with our operations officer.  He bailed us out at the cost of 20 cartons of Camels.  We owed a bar manager agood deal of money for which we had given him an IOU, because neither of us had a dime to our name.

We knew the ship would sail on the following day, and figured this was our out, to skip on the payment to the bar manager.  However we had no idea the Leader would return to that same port three days later.  The manager of the bar, we had visited, was standing on the pier when we docked.

How he knew the Leader would return is beyond me. Both my buddy and I were embrassed and got a through chewing out from the operations officer.

Young, dumb, and 21!

I believe the port was Cao Chang, Formosa. That sticks in my mind but I'm not 100% sure.  (Editor's note: This was probably Kaoshiung at the Southeren end of Formosa.  The usual stopping place for MSOs going to and from Hong Kong and Viet Nam.)