During my naval career, I was involved in two collisions at sea, and one is the one referred to by HN1 Shipley. HANCOCK was steaming in the South China Sea during flight operations, and we were also engaged in taking on stores and fuel during an underway replenishment (UN-REP), from the Fleet Oiler USS KAWISHIWI (AO-146). I was on deck on one of the sponsons with some other Sailors observing this evolution on the starboard side, aft of the island. All of a sudden, we saw all the Sailor's on the main deck of KAWISHIWI start to run like hell from the port side to the starboard side, many of them yelling and pointing, and I heard "emergency breakaway" called out over the 1-MC. The it happened! Our rear elevator on the side of the ship I was on struck the KAWISHIWI just aft of her CPO Quarters on their port side. It made a loud scraping noise, and scraped along the deck a ways, wiping out some gear on their main deck. By this time, we had broke-off all hoses and lines between us, and began to pull away from the KAWISHIWI. I heard later that KAWISHIWI had temporarily lost power and veered into us. Apparently this must have been what happened, as after the investigation neither commanding officer was relieved, which is usually what occurs when you have a collision at sea. Most of the time it just ruins the hell out of a Skipper's day! We did quite a bit of damage to KAWISHIWI, but just bent some parts of our elevator, and tore off some side screening on it. Luckily, no one was injured.

by  NCCM(SW) C. R. "Corky" Johnson, USN (Retired) 

I was "Quartermaster at the helm" during the UNREP with Kawishiwi in '75. And believe me, it was the most difficult evolution I had ever done! According to our division chief (QMC Steve Brown), the problem was caused by Kawishiwi losing power to her rudder and the venturi effect pulling the ships together. I had only been on the helm about 10 minutes when things went wrong, in a hurry. For the record, I was one of only six qualified Special Evolution helmsmen on board. As you know, the Special Evolution helmsmen have the responsibility for driving the ship in and out of port, and taking the helm during Flight Ops and Unreps. We would generally have 2 or 3 Special Evolution helmsmen for each UNREP, rotating every twenty minutes. Here is what happened on the bridge. My compass heading would not hold, no matter what I did on the helm. I reported to the Conning Officer that I was unable to hold my course. But with each correction in the rudder, the lines and hoses between the ships would pull us closer together. Capt Fellows on seeing the danger, relieved the Conning Officer, because we were not gaining distance between ships fast enough. He ordered the Quatermaster of the Watch to sound the Emergency Breakaway signal on the ship's horn and ordered the 1MC announcement on the breakaway. We successfully pulled away, after "All Ahead Flank, Emergency" was ordered. The first and only time I had ever heard that particular command. It's a funny thing, after writing this, I remember it like it was yesterday. Hard to believe it's been 25 years!!! Only by speeding up and literally pulling away, did we get out of harm's way. Our division Leading Petty Officer (QM2 Mende) wanted to relieve me in the middle of the breakaway, but Chief Brown refused to let him on the helm. Mende thought I wasn't turning the rudder fast enough. Capt Fellows was giving me rudder commands every few seconds. And believe me, I had never done so many rudder reversals in my life. My arms felt like lead. The credit really goes to Capt Fellows for recognizing the danger we were in and directing me correctly on the helm. I later received a commendation from him for expert performance on the helm. I'm just glad there were no serious injuries. Even though UNReps can become routine, you must always be prepared for emergencies. I also want to give credit to Chief Brown for my training and his guidance. It saved the day. Footnote: It should be noted that while I was doing my best to keep up with rudder commands and course changes, my counterpart in after-steering had to match everthing I did on the bridge. The after-steering gang really saved everyone, by staying alert and by keeping both steering engines on line. And for those who remember, QMC Earl (Steve) Brown. He passed away unexpectedly on March 11, 1997, after complications from surgery on an old injury to his shoulder and neck. He served over 26 years active duty, before retiring to Dolan Springs, AZ with his wife Judy. The VFW in Dolan Springs, where he served as Post Commander, gave him an excellent Honor Guard farewell. He is missed, but not forgotten. Judy has returned to Napa to be closer to their children.

Fred Shacklett, QM2, N Division 1974-1976 (Last LPO of N-Division) fjshacklett@west.raytheon.com