November 26, 1968 Collision At Sea !!
The
Hancock leaves for the Gulf of Tonkin and another long period at sea. Singapore was very scenic and interesting, but not as
beautiful as Tokyo or Hong Kong. Dennis and his friends now all had some more pictures to add to their memories. All of his
friends loved to take pictures. This was an absolute must for every different port. Dennis always liked to pick up receipts,
post cards, brochures, or other souvenirs for the different places he went to.
During this period at sea another serious carrier accident happened again. This time it was to Dennis's ship, the
USS Hancock. Luckily, nobody was killed, but there were a few injuries.
It happened during the day. At the time, flight operations were not being conducted. Also, there were no launches
and no recovering of aircraft taking place.
The Hancock
was simply pulling alongside the USS Camden AOE2, a Sacramento Class Combat Support Supply ship, and was going to unrep with
the ship. Unrep is a term meaning, underway replenishment of one ship by another. Replenishing supplies while at sea was a
frequent and routine operation. A carrier replenishes fuel, ordnance, and food at least once a week.
To begin an underway replenishment with a carrier, the ship involved must be to the carriers
starboard or right side at a distance of about one hundred yards. Destroyers make the approach behind a carrier when they
are refueled by carrier. When carriers are the ones that are being serviced from a tanker or supply ship, the scenario is
different. The carrier will approach behind and to the port or left ship of the ship that will furnish them supplies.
Shroud lines are projected from one ship to another. These strong nylon
lines are attached to a projectile shot out of a gun. The projectile carries the line across the water separating the two
ships, where it simply falls onto the other ship. Men on the retrieving end simply pick up the nylon line and then attach
it to the end of a steel cable. At this point, men on the carrier attach their end of the nylon line to an electric wheel
assembly, similar to reel on a fishing pole. This will turn and bring the cable over from the other ship to the carrier.
Also, for ships to transfer supplies and fuel there would be a couple dozen
cables between the two ships involved. Along these cables on pulley assemblies, pallets of bombs, missiles, or food would
be transferred. Also, sets of large fuel hoses, a foot in diameter, would be suspended for the transfer of fuel and oil to
power the carrier and its aircraft.
This operation although
complex is so routine that it was often done during the dark or late at night. The two ships would simply steer along approximately
fourteen miles per hour, and make the necessary speed adjustments. The carrier's speed would be controlled by the rotation
of the gigantic shafts with screws at the end.
The change
in rotation of the shafts would turn the screws faster or slower. The speed of the carrier was faster with more revolutions
per minute and slower with fewer revolutions per minute. The ship's speed was maintained by speed adjustments of one revolution
per minute. Adjustments of the speed of the rotating shafts caused a change of the ship's speed. The ships would normally
keep a distance of a couple hundred feet away from each other during the entire underway replenishment.
On this day the Hancock approached behind and to the port side of the USS
Sacramento, a supply ship. Dennis was on the flight deck. He had been working on an aircraft problem, but stopped momentarily
to watch the Hancock's approach. He was always interested in things like this that were out of the ordinary and broke up the
monotony of his daily routine.
As the bow of the Hancock
was almost even and alongside the stern of the USS Camden AOE2, Dennis observed that the distance between the two ships was
unusually short. The USS Camden was almost only a couple hundred feet shorter that the Hancock and thirty feet less from
the deck to the water line. As the Hancock approached the USS Camden, the distance between the two large ships decreased instead
of growing larger.
He laughed at first. Dennis joked
to another sailor on the flight deck, "What are the men on the Camden going to do, throw our supplies over by hand?"
However, the humor was suddenly lost. Both ships were side by side, when he heard a horrible crunching noise. Dennis knew
that the ships where against each other and this noise was the sound of solid steel being ripped.
While the Camden collided with the starboard side of the Hancock, its hull smashed
into the starboard elevator number three of the Hancock. Two aircraft tied down to the elevator were pulled from their chains
and fell over the side of the carrier. Both aircraft landed on the other ship. They came to rest atop rows of bombs that were
on deck waiting to be transferred to the Hancock. Luckily, the two aircraft, which were loaded with jet fuel, did not explode
or catch fire. Also, they did not fall on any individuals on the USS Camden.
Dennis had started to envision explosions, and because of the sound of crunching steel, both ships sinking. He had
run across the flight deck to the port side and was looking at the life boats, jackets, and vests. He had no idea of how to
detach any of this lifesaving equipment or use it. He was simply checking his options. Dennis knew better than to abandon
the safety of the ship. The ship would have to be sinking or on fire.
For a harrowing two or three minutes, Dennis heard the noise of the two ships rubbing against each other, steel against
steel. He had no idea how much damage had occurred above or below the water line of either ship.
Dennis had walked back to a point just behind the island or bridge and observed a large
fuel transfer hose. It was one of several that hung from the starboard side of the Hancock. These large hoses were used for
underway replenishment's transferring fuel. A large fuel hose was entangled in some twisted steel on board the Camden.
At the same instant, the Hancock had picked up speed to pull away from the
Camden. This caused the fuel hose to start stretching like a large rubber band. Suddenly someone yelled, "Take cover,
it is going to snap." Imagine a one-foot diameter hose swinging wildly through the air. If it had hit anybody, it would
cut them in half.
The men who had been watching, including
Dennis, ran for safety toward the stern. There they stood behind some aircraft. The hose snapped and banged against the side
of the Hancock.
The Hancock finally put distance between
the two ships and pulled forward and away from the USS Camden. Dennis examined the damage to both ships.
There was a couple of aircraft from the Hancock that were now laying on
the deck of the USS Camden. Protective side rails were torn away from the deck, and there was a long, wide tear in the hull
of the Sacramento. The tear in the hull was fifty feet long and two feet wide. The tear was about fifty feet long. While,
the USS Camden was still sea worthy, it had to steam for the Phillipine Islands for repair. It would be out of commission
for a couple of months or more.
Besides torn fuel hoses,
the Hancock suffered major damage to aircraft elevator number three. It had been bent. It was not inoperable, but it was rendered
unsafe. For the remainder of this cruise, the elevator was closed or folded up against the side of the ship. This would limit
the transporting of aircraft between the flight deck and hangar bay to the two remaining aircraft elevators. Also, the elevator
now had to remain in its folded position. This resulted in the loss of flight deck area of about nine hundred square feet
as the elevator would normally rest in the up or flight deck position. The elevator was approximately thirty feet long on
each side.
This mishap scared the daylights out of Dennis.
If the damage had resulted in fire on either ship, there was a very real possibility of explosions or bombs going off. It
could have been another carrier disaster like the USS Oriskany or USS Forrestal.
