The Absent Uncle: Thank goodness for memories

A friend of mine sent me a link to an article in the Bremerton, Wash., area newspaper. The link was about the USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63), which was decommissioned in 2008, and was being towed from Bremerton to Brownsville, Texas, to be scrapped. 

I served aboard the “Sh**ty Kitty” on two Westpac cruises in the early 70’s. I was an enlisted member of the Airwing Commanders Staff. Sounds important – but no more important than anyone else aboard. 

But the gist of my column today is that the article reminded me vividly of events from that time in 1972.  

When at sea, I worked the night shift in my department. We were the guys that got the entire 5000-plus crew paid twice a month (cash, check or keep it on the books – your choice!). 

Our department had just recently received a couple of new-fangled electronic calculators. They were half the size of a top of desk, but we could multiply, divide, and do all sorts of things mathematically. Remember – this is way before “just Google it”.

We determined to figure out how many razor blades would come from scrapping the ship someday. In short, the calculator was not up to the task, nor were our math skills, but we had a great time giving it a try.

While we had many other uneventful nights, we also experienced the Kitty Hawk in October of 1972 becoming the site of a rebellion, in maritime terms – a mutiny. It was frightening, profoundly serious, and people were hurt badly. Little has been ever reported about those events. The official reports are so vague you would not recognize what happened. A book has been written that is very good, but as the saying goes – “you had to be there”.  And I was.

For many years I have avoided those memories – and interestingly enough, an article about scrapping the Kitty Hawk brought them back – good and bad.

Thank goodness for memories.

Editor’s note: D.C. Schultz is the uncle of Journal editor Jill Meier.