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This is the article that "Bubblehead" has mentioned. http:http://www.sdreader.com/php/cover.php?mode=article&showpg=1&id=20070118. Personally I experinced a couple of bad drinkers on the "Baton Rouge" but nothing like the drug crazy sailors mentioned in the "Reader". I will bring up a drug story from the "Baton Rouge" and the "Dolphin" while I was on board. There is many, but these two are quite amazing and absolutly true.
99 % of us have memorys of crew members using and abusing drugs. These are two of mine.
While decoming the "Baton Rouge" in Vallejo, CA we had a standard floating office barge to take over for crew use during the decom. We had come over from Norfolk, Va for the decom. I reported for duty to take over as "barge watch" around 9 am on a weekday. No barge watch was to be found and a known heavy drinker was loged in as "on watch". I reported his absents to the "COB" after about ten minutes of searching for this sailor. The "COB" had me do a complete search of the barge for "the watch", so off I went. Can you imagine how amusing this was. This guy was ripe for seeing the captain at this time. I came to the last possible space he could be in "lower level deck 2". Behind the ladder in that space I found MM3 playing a hand held video game. I just went and got the COB and took over the watch. After a few months of alcohol counseling he was discharged from the navy. This guy was known by the crew as being "shit faced" one hour after getting off duty on the weekend. Definatly one of the bigger drinkers. Isn"t that amazing? He was also known as the guy for evacuationing half of tender in San Diego after over pressurizing the san tank hose while berthed off the tender on route to Vallejo. Shit was literally everywhere. I was on board the tender at the time and methane just infused half the tender. Cannot remember the name of the tender at this time.
Did two tours on USS DOLPHIN and on my first tour we had a "mess specialist" on his first and last hitch do a amazing departure. After a couple years of sea duty, a cook on board "Dolphin" had enough of the navy. The duty days where just to much for him he said. The total navy thing was too much for him. He smoked pot many of his weekends off and decided to use pot as a exit out of the navy. While the "Dolphin" was inport in San Diego this MS decided to smoke a joint and go to work the next day. After morning muster he went to our HMC and told him he smoked a joint the night before. His intention was to get out of the navy. Within 30 days he was discharged, "dishonorably" of course. Amazing! Good guy otherwise. I remember him just hating the watches at night. To those of you that know of watches for cooks, "USS DOLPHIN" was different. Our cooks stood "POOD" and other watches inport. We had a crew under 50 crew members, so this was just the way it was. I realize the nuke subs did not have their cooks stand watches as POOD. "USS DOLPHIN" had a totally different way of operating as a submarine.
