Best Cat Shot Ever!

In 1984, I made a deployment on the USS Saratoga (CV-60) to the Mediterranean Sea.  Two events stand out about this deployment.  The first is that I was chosen as one of two enlisted sailors who got to fly the “TRANSLANT”, which means Transit the Atlantic Ocean by flying across, rather than ride the ship across.  The second is the subject of this story about the best cat shot ever.  So before I get too far into this story let me lay some groundwork.  By the way both aircraft and ships TRANSLANT.  It generally takes about 10 days for an Aircraft Carrier to do it.

I Believe I can Fly!

One of my goals upon entering the US Navy was to FLY.  I did not have the eyesight necessary to be a pilot, so I decided that I would try to become an Aircrewman.  While I was in school learning my trade as an Avionics Technician, I did all the pre-qualifications necessary to become an Aircrewman.  I completed a flight physical and did the first class swim qualifications in hopes of being assigned as an in-flight troubleshooter for my first Fleet assignment.  My good friend, Paul Poudrier, did the same thing.  We were both Avionics Technicians and going to school together.  Paul got selected to go to Aircrew School, and I got assigned to a Fleet Squadron, VS-30, doing maintenance.

Throughout our careers Paul and I ran into each other.  In fact at one time our respective squadrons were deployed to Roosevelt Roads Puerto Rico and I got to fly in his squadron’s aircraft as a guest aircrewman on the last NC-121 Constellation in the Fleet.  But that is a separate Sea Story…

VS-30 “Diamond Cutters”

The squadron I was assigned to, VS-30, flew the S-3 Viking aircraft.  The Viking had a crew of four, 3 officers (Pilot, Co-Pilot, and TACCO) and 1 enlisted aircrew (SENSO).  After a year or so in the squadron I inquired if I could become qualified to fly in the SENSO seat.  No one had ever asked that question before, and the Skipper decided that if I did the quals, he would let me fly.  So I proceeded to do all the training and qualifications required of an Aircrewman, I just did not get to wear the wings.  I really didn’t care, I just thought it would be awesome to fly in a Navy jet. 

I was the first maintenance person in the S-3 community that got “back seat” qualified, but three or four others in our squadron soon followed.  One of those was Tim Simpson.  Tim was an Aviation Machinist Mate and worked on the aircrafts engines.  He and I share a Sea Story about the beginning of this cruise that happened to us during the TRANSLANT, but again, I’ll save that one for a later post. Tim and I were Flight Deck Troubleshooters and Aircraft Final Checkers.  There were five of us on each shift designated as such, and we were responsible for launching and recovering the aircraft and fixing them between flights.  We rarely left the Flight Deck.  It did not matter what the weather conditions were, we worked in it.

The Rest of the Story

Now to the “rest of the story” as Paul Harvey would say.  The deployment in 1984 of the USS Saratoga came to be known as “The Love Boat” cruise.  In previous deployments we would spend months and months operating at sea with no port visits.  This cruise was different.  We hit so many ports that us sailors ran out of money and often just spent time on the ship even in port just because we were broke.  I counted the actual days at sea (which included 20 days of TRANSLANT) and the days we spent in port.  We had more days in port than at sea!!!  In fact at one point during the cruise we pulled into Augusta Bay Sicily and dropped the anchor and just sat there doing absolutely nothing for two weeks.  There were no funds to buy fuel for the ship or the aircraft.

During one port visit we stopped in Palma de Mallorca Spain.  Palma is a renowned port visit for us sailors, being one of our favorite port calls for liberty.  Just before we pulled into port, one of our aircraft was discovered to have some major corrosion in one of its wings.  It was so troubling, that the aircraft was forbidden to fly except for what’s called a “One time” flight to the repair facility, which was located in Naples Italy.  During this time I worked as a Quality Assurance Representative and was tasked to do safety of flight inspections and such.  I was also flight qualified, so the skipper authorized me to fly in the aircraft to Naples and make sure the repair was done safely.

More like Anchoring…

When an Aircraft Carrier pulls into port, it rarely actually “pulls in”.  The carrier is too big for most ports so we just drop the anchor about a mile offshore and ride smaller boats into Fleet Landing.  Palma was no different.  This ship is often surrounded by small boats that come out to gawk at such a mighty warship.  There are always a fairly large number of “tourists” who come aboard the ship for tours and such.  Normally it’s not an issue since there are no flight ops and everything operates at a more leisurely pace.

The S-3 Viking has the distinction of being able to launch from a carrier with NO WIND over the deck.  During normal operations the ship is steaming at around 20 knots or so.  This is to provide a 20-30 mph head wind for the jets to take off into.  Even with a catapult flinging them off the deck, jets need plenty of airspeed.  So a very rare event was about to take place on the Sara; we were going to go into flight ops and launch an aircraft AT ANCHOR and IN PORT! 

No Time for Autographs

After getting our flight gear on we strolled across the flight deck slowly so all the tourists could get a look at us brave aviators getting ready to fly off into the wild blue yonder.  We put on our helmets and pulled down the dark visor to increase the coolness factor.  Yep, we were awesome if I don’t say so myself.  I was just praying that the show would not be a REALLY BIG SHOW, and the wing would stay attached to the aircraft when we got catapulted off the ship. 

The wing falling off was a very real possibility!  Due to the way the deck was stacked with other aircraft we had to shoot off of catapult number 4 which is the shortest one.  Also there was no wind over the deck so they had to set the catapult to the maximum that it could go to get us airborne within the 90 feet we had. 

Holy Moly!!!!

During my career, I experienced many catapult shots off of a carrier and as many landings.  This cat shot was a monster!!  It was significantly more violent than others I had experienced.  After a few moments in the air, I thought that if the wing can hold up during THAT, then we would have a safe flight to Italy.  As a bonus to this story, the pilot invited me up to actually fly the plane for a while!  I switched places with the copilot and got to do some real flying!  Too cool!

An interesting side story: my daughter in law’s dad was also in the Navy.  One day while we were smoking cigars and drinking port around a campfire we started telling sea stories as sailors often, ok always, do.  We named off the ships we had served on and had the USS Saratoga in common.  He started telling a story of the only time in his career he had seen the ship launch an aircraft while in port.  I told him, “That was in Palma, right?”  He said, “Yes, you’re right! Were you there on that cruise?”  I said, “Not only was I on that cruise but I was IN that aircraft!!!”  Good stuff!