From Carl Cox on October 13,
2000:
I wasn't a "Crew Member" of the Beak but I did do a TAD trip in
1968 on board. If you start a Alumni list I would like to be a part
of it. I was a CTR2 "Spook". Took my First Class exam on
board.... Sure hope some guys have pictures of inside the boat. I have a
couple of her if you would like me to send them.
I'll never forget when we surfaced off the Norway coast and were searching for
Bergan with both Loran Alfa and Loran Charlie down. Actually we weren't
that far off. Spent 5 days in Bergan before heading back across the big
pond. I have a few pictures of Bergan taken back in 68 if you would like
those. Anything I can do to help just give me a hollar. Carlton
"Carl" Cox
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From Beef Franceware on
November 15, 2000:
First, congratulations Hal for a job superbly done. I did find the information about the boat to be wrong in one instance. I went aboard in
January '49 and Stu Sturgis went on in August of that year. I am sure we both agree the boat went to the Navy Yard here in Portsmouth in 1949, but it
was NOT for conversion. Halfbeak was already a GUPPY II when I went aboard. It was converted at EB in 1948.
I don't know to whom I should direct what follows. John McCarthy (Halfbeak YN in 50-51) and I went to a wake here in Dover, NH last Friday.
Another Halfbeak shipmate passed away. He was Elbert "Mike" Wheat, who was a QM on the boat when
Stu, John and I were on it then. Mike went through the ranks and eventually attained Commander rank. He had command of a
couple of ships, which is unusual for a Mustang. I also served with him in Vietnam, although not in the same command. I was with COMNAVFORV and he was
with MSTS. From Nam, he became Training Officer here at the naval prison and he got me assigned to him temporarily and I was
teaching Math, English, Science and Social Studies to the prisoners before I retired in '69. Again, my compliments on the work you guys are doing and I am really
looking forward to our next get-together in Groton in 2002. Billy, I am sending you, by separate mail, some pictures I took at our
reunion. You will know better what to do with them. Beef
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From Stu Sturgis on November
15, 2000:
Hal, Please add my congratulations for a great job. Our new page should draw
many new shipmates to our association. I agree with Beef Franceware about the
guppy conversion of the HALFBEAK. I went aboard on Aug.27, 1949 and the
conversion was already done. I would like to add an incident that may be worthy
of inclusion in the history of our old home. When we deployed to the arctic in
1951, a very serious fire (due to a short circuit) broke out in the Maneuvering
Room on February28, 1951 north of Iceland near Jan Mayen island. The fire raged
for about 10 or 12 hours until everything burnable was consumed in the
compartment. Squadron Commander Capt. Barney Seiglaff, (later Rear Admiral at
GTMO during Castro's threat to take it back) was aboard and it was determined to
not stop at Iceland as our damage was too severe. We proceeded south at about 7
knots against a northerly gulf stream of about 3 knots for a gain of 4
knots. (30 days to New London under our own power). The loss of the COCHINO,
whose place HALFBEAK took in the squadron, contributed to our survival. The
installation of remote battery disconnects operated from either side of the
battery compartments made the difference. Up until the COCHINO loss, the
batteries could only be disconnected from within the battery compartment I
know Beef Franceware remembers as he was in the radio shack sending the proper
messages. This may be too long for inclusuion but should be remembered somewhere
as it was a dark day for the ship and crew and only good training and necessary
modifications made it possible for the newer shipmates to have a ship named
HALFBEAK. Again, congratulations and thanks, Hal. Stu Sturgis
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From Ken Johnson on 17 August 2002:
Oh God! Now you have me in "Halfbeak mode" and the sea stories and names are starting to come back to me. For example, after scanning the list of off-line Halfbeak shipmates, I think I can ID Jesse Denson. I note that Chief Baskey is on the list as well and he is in several of the pictures I haven't scanned yet.
Somewhere I think I saw an e-mail address that could be John W. Asher, III, a Ltjg. We called him "J Washer Three" and it was him that we tricked once. His wife was pregnant and while at sea we made up phony messages that kept coming in saying his wife had given birth. We kept them coming to see how long it would take for him to catch on. When we got to the third baby, he finally got it. I was determined they would never do that to me and told my pregnant wife that if our child was born while I was at sea, she should send a message that the baby weighed 5 lbs 4 ounces regardless so I would know it was legitimate. My daughter, Robin was born September 1, 1966 my last day at sea on Halfbeak. I knew, because the message said "baby girl 5 lbs 4 ounces".
I also remember the costume party we had at Capt. Moreau's house. My wife, Judy, was pregnant and came as the white whale. I was Capt. Ahab. We had an officer, a Ltjg named Gaylord Galiher who came to this party wearing a wig and one of his wife's bikini. We all wondered where Gay was and who the strange woman was that came with Norma Jean. Another jg I remember was Mike Malmros. Have you located either of them? John, Gay and Mike were all nukes and probably went on to the "Moonbeam Navy" after they qualified.
Then there are the darker memories. In December 1965 we won the prize at a squadron party the base "O" Club for the best table centerpiece, a large Della Robia gold anchor. The next day we painted the ship's anchor gold to rub it in. Then, through a freak series of events, we flooded the main motors with seawater while moored at State Pier and had to have a tug to shift our berth. We hastily painted the anchor black again. It took days to clear the grounds.
As for electrical grounds, my Electricians were constantly fighting grounds with the Prairie-Masker compressor motor. The cause was due to improper "O" rings in the hull valves for the system that caused them to leak profusely resulting in highly corrsive salt water vapor filling the engine room every time we lit off snorkeling. I finally had the motor pulled and reinsulated and we changed the "O" ring material to Viton. Hopefully, that solved the problem. I never really found out since I left the boat shortly thereafter.
I have more Halfbeak stories, some better left untold, but some that aren't too incriminating. Thought you might want to share these with those aboard in 65 and 66.
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