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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 2561
Location: Rapid City, SD | Subject: He said,
"I was sitting in the radio shack copying code. A particularly bad roll came along and my typewriter fell in my lap. I rolled out the door into the passageway and hit the bulkhead still trying to type."
Are there any Radiomen on the board? Serving close to WWII? Surely the chairs in the Radio Room were not on wheels?
Cora |
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Master and Commander
Posts: 1606
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I don't know if they were on wheels - it would not surprise me if they were, but we took 33 degree rolls in some storms that were not considered that big. Those rolls created havoc thruout the boat. I saw guys get seasick for the first time ever besides having things strewn all over. I watched a Chief order a pile of eggs sunny side up. The roll knocked the plate into his lap. He took one look at his lap and barely made it to the AB head before heaving. Chief Thompson liked to tease every one, but nobody had the juevos to bring up that episode face to face with him after things calmed down.
Edited by Gil 2009-10-27 7:52 AM
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Master and Commander
Posts: 1324
Location: Oxnard, CA | Subject: RE: He said,
Cora: I don't doubt it. I was on a minesweeper and our radio shack was huge compared to the radio shack on the Torsk. We could have held a convention in Radion on the sweep, but on the Torsk, there was barely room for two. Our typewriters were bolted down to the desks to keep them from flying in heavy rolls.
The chairs were all the 4-legged variety, no casters at all, precisely because the minesweep took heavy rolls. Even our trash cans were attached to the deck in something akin to a cup holder, to keep it from rolling all over the place. We even had cup holders for our coffee cups, and any cabinet had doors and clasps to keep things from being tossed about.
You ain't experienced heavy rolls until you went through a typhoon in 172 feet of wood that is a Minesweeper.
Edited by JrKrup, Skimmer 2009-10-26 10:27 PM
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 2561
Location: Rapid City, SD | Subject: RE: He said,
I thought about saying, "I slid out the door," but with your replies (I think you're saying the chair might have had casters) I guess I'll leave it in his words. As someone said to me, these are his memories, and this is the way he first wrote it. It was also pointed out to me that two men could have two different memories of the same incident.
Or - it could have been a no-s**tter. Can I say that here? You know - the typhoon was so bad that the typewriter fell in my lap and we rolled through the door and hit the bulkhead while I was still typing.
He talks about at least three separate typhoons. And that's just the first two war patrols.
It's midnight and I'm really into it (the story) and hate to quit, but as Scarlett often said, "Tomorrow IS another day." Also, the later it gets, the more mistakes I make.
Cora |
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Great Sage of the Sea
Posts: 597
Location: Tucson, Arizona | Subject: RE: He said,
Sent you email with pictures of WWII Bergall SS320 radio room
Chairs stationary no wheels - all of my yo shack chairs were stationary no wheels - would be very hard to work with casters.
Hope the pic helps answer your question Cora
Good Luck
ski |
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Master and Commander
Posts: 2254
Location: Foothills of the Ozarks | Subject: RE: He said,
Corabelle - 2009-10-26 9:38 PM
"I was sitting in the radio shack copying code. A particularly bad roll came along and my typewriter fell in my lap. I rolled out the door into the passageway and hit the bulkhead still trying to type."
Are there any Radiomen on the board? Serving close to WWII? Surely the chairs in the Radio Room were not on wheels?
Cora
I read this as "he rolled out" not the chair. Not sure why the typewriter wasn't bolted down but I guess we'll never know the answer to that. I have this vision of him rolling out into the passageway with the typewriter firmly in his grasp and continuing to try and work. I imagine his shipmates had a little fun with that.
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Master and Commander
Posts: 1814
Location: Boydton, Virginia | Subject: RE: He said,
"It was also pointed out to me that two men could have two different memories of the same incident".
Imagine that!! Two sailors recounting a NTINS story differently?? That will never happen! We would never stray from the straight and narrow truth of the incident, no matter how much we are tempted to embelish it with humor, pathos, and salty grammer.
Keep writing, Cora, you are onto something. Save one of the galley proofs of the book for me!!
Steamboat sends |
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Great Sage of the Sea
Posts: 597
Location: Tucson, Arizona | Subject: RE: He said,
If it posts here is the WWII radio room of Bergall with the stationery chair
ski
 (bergall radio room.jpg)
Attachments
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 bergall radio room.jpg (56KB - 413 downloads)
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Plankowner
Posts: 9165
Location: Upper lefthand corner of the map. | Subject: RE: He said,
Who knows what the guys in radio had comshawed. Someone could have brought one aboard. |
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Great Sage of the Sea
Posts: 597
Location: Tucson, Arizona | Subject: RE: He said,
Here is the 1944 Emco Chair designed for WWII submarines - its web site now sells this chair for from 400-1500 dollars - the chair had stabilizing casters to avoid sliding -- most Navy ships had them as their chair of choice.
ski
Had nice ones in my yeo shacks they leaned back good for deep thoughts
 (1944 emco navy chair made exclusive for WWII subs.jpg)
Attachments
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1944 emco navy chair made exclusive for WWII subs.jpg (5KB - 416 downloads)
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Great Sage of the Sea
Posts: 561
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If memory serves me they were reinforced for leaning back in deep thoughts...
T.Spoon, DBF |
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 6180
Location: Summerville, SC | Subject: RE: He said,
Also because of the mass of the arse. |
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 2561
Location: Rapid City, SD | Subject: RE: He said,
Yes. thank you, Ski. I have an almost identical picture of the radio room on the Bowfin that Cam took when we were in Hawaii last year.
Can I use this picture in the book? It might be a little clearer than the one I have. I'll enlarge mine and see how they compare. The chair thing baffles me. Doesn't seem as though they'd use chairs with casters on any ship or boat. He may have meant 'slid,' but used the word 'rolled,' so I think I'll leave it in.
Cora |
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Great Sage of the Sea
Posts: 597
Location: Tucson, Arizona | Subject: RE: He said,
picture is useable if identified as being on the bergall keep writing - the casters were on the bottom of each leg and stabilized the chair so it would not roll
glad it helped
ski |
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 6180
Location: Summerville, SC | Subject: RE: He said,
Cora, as small as Elmer was in stature, he may have caught the typewriter while it was airborne, off the desk, during a sharp roll and the weight of it "rolled" him out the door as in head-over-heels. |
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Master and Commander
Posts: 1814
Location: Boydton, Virginia | Subject: RE: He said,
Cora, I think you are hung up in the eternal quandry of a woman trying to make sence of a man's story. A man does not dwell on, nor care anything about the exact facts nor the veracity of the details, whereas women get caught up in those details so much that they loose the focus and thus the human interest of the story.
The joy is in the telling, not in the minute details
Mary and I spend hours discussing this difference in story telling, but it will never be resolved.
Viva La Difference!!
Steamboat sends |
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Plankowner
Posts: 9165
Location: Upper lefthand corner of the map. | Subject: RE: He said,
I do believe this is true. When I was married and working on my web pages I'd block out the page and slap some words in fully intending to go back and work it over if it felt right. I was was looking for "Look & Feel" of the page. Denisse, being a typist, could not get past the point of a word spelled wrong or a missing comma when all I was wanting "how does this look" visually opinion. |
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 2561
Location: Rapid City, SD | Subject: RE: He said,
Steamboat -
To 'keep the focus' I intend to keep it as Elmer originally wrote it. I can picture my brother with the typewriter in his lap, rolling (or sliding) out the door of the radio shack, and still typing.
Another typing story he told me was that he didn't have to concentrate on what he was typing. The code hit his ears and the words came out through his fingers, even while he might have been thinking of something else. Kinda like the Northwest pilots sitting in the cockpit, both working with their lap tops. I understand that they no longer have their pilot's licenses. Makes one wonder how often this goes on while us passengers are sitting in our seats, sublimely ignorant. Eh?
And Ralph - On Elmer's enllistment papers, it says he was 5'9" tall. That was pretty normal for men of that era. When I was looking for a mannequin for the museum, I noticed that one said it was 5'9" tall, and the info said that it would be ideal in a museum wearing a WWII uniform. I looked away, and it was gone, so someone else must have been doing a project similar to mine.
By the way, the 'dummy' now has a T-shirt on. I cut up a perfectly good (new) T-shirt; removed the sleeves and cut it very short, so one could say that the mannequin is wearing a 'dickie.' But you can't tell that by looking at it.
Cora |
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He said,
