Carrier Classic

In this time of vast global conflict, many original and fitting Veterans Day celebrations occurred but few touched me as deeply as the NCAA Carrier Classic basketball game upon the USS Carl Vinson in which number 1 North Carolina beat Michigan State 67-55.

I imagine that this event tugged at my sentiment more than others because in 1983 as a young US Navy Avionics Technician, I sailed on the USS Carl Vinson's maiden voyage, in which we circumnavigated the globe to relocate the ship from where she was built in Virginia to her new home in San Francisco.

This break-in cruise brings back pleasant memories as Commander-in-Chief Ronald Reagan and Secretary of the Navy John Lehman capitalized on this event as an opportunity to display our military's brute force to the world. Therefore, as a side benefit to the sailors aboard, we enjoyed many port calls unavailable to other naval vessels.

I remember vividly, the bitter winter day that I left Whidbey Island, Washington, and my bride of less than two years, as part of VAQ-134 to board the ship at Norfolk Naval Base in Virginia. We departed the west coast late on Christmas Day and arrived in Virginia on December 26th. As we attempted to check in to our work station on the ship, we were informed that most crew members were on leave for Christmas and that there was no one available to check us in or no where for us to report for duty. We were ordered to report back on January 2nd. Apparently the east coast and west coast naval commands fell victim to their own lack of proper communication. I always enjoy making lemonade from lemons so I found a ride to the nearest Greyhound station and boarded a bus to Hagerstown, Maryland, a small town in western Maryland where I had spent the majority of my life until that point and where I still had plenty of friends and family.

My brother, who sponsored a very enthusiastic New Yers's Eve party that year, picked me up in his late model Subaru Brat and we partied continuously until my trip back to the Greyhound station on New Year's Day.

I checked into my command and within a day, we were under way sailing across the choppy, cold Atlantic. We spent the next eight months circumnavigating the globe and enjoyed the local hospitality in Monte Carlo on the french riviera, Casa Blanca, Monaco, where Humphrey was still enshrined, Abidjan and Mombassa on the African coast, western Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, the Philipines and Honolulu.

During our time at sea, I repaired many radar jammers and surveillance receivers, played guitar in an aboard ship band, and as a crew we broke the USS Nimitz's record for consecutive days at sea of 66 and as a reward we each received two frosty Budweisers.


I bubbled with joy when we pulled into port in San Francisco and flew home to NAS Whidbey but I still savor the experience that many will never taste.

I apologize for rambling but I felt the joy in reminiscing over the USS Carl Vinson's maiden voyage after reading about the basketball game in the paper the other day.

Earlier this year, the USS Carl Vinson also had the pleasure of conducting a "funeral at sea" and depositing Osama bin Laden's body into the ocean. What a tasty shark treat!