COMPHIBPAC
Nov 72 - Mar 74
No pictures while here either. I took over a job of
annually inspecting ships to see if they were carrying out their PMS, Preventive
Maintenance System. There may be worse jobs in the Navy for a junior LDO Officer, but I
can't think of one. No one told me that the ships were not supposed to fail
the inspections either. In the past a Commander from the staff would board the ship
with the Chief Petty Officers on the team and even on the worst ships, bless them and go
about his business. This dumb Snipe read the book, inspected the ships and if they weren't good, FLUNKED
them. It wasn't long before I was standing in front of the Admiral trying to explain
why suddenly a lot of his ships were failing their annual inspections. In the end I
inspected the USS Peoria. It was the worse case I ever saw. Two days later I
was transferred to USS Peoria as Chief Engineer. Admiral Salzer decided if I didn't
like it I could fix it. (Sigh)
Note: I received a letter from
Admiral Salzer's widow in June 1999. The Admiral died of complications from heart
surgery on 30 January 1988.
Fair Winds and Following Sea's Admiral
Salzer. You are missed, but don't worry, the Old Snipe and the rest of your mates
will catch up!
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