Welcome to the USS Plymouth Rock Newsletter

Sixteenth  Edition:  The USS Plymouth Rock Newsletter is a publication issued every four months by the USS Plymouth Rock Ships Association.  If you would like to contribute an article, a piece of Navy or Plymouth Rock history, photo, memory or anything that might be of interest to you or other shipmates, you can sent it as an e-mail to:

Bill Provencal, Association  Secretary at:
billinp@metrocast.net

or regular mail at:
Bill Provencal
37 South Main Street
Pittsfield, NH   03263

If you change address or e-mail address be sure to let me (Bill Provencal) know so we can update our Crews List.   My e-mail is billinp@metrocast.net  Our ships website is found at www.ussplymouthrock.com

In The Navy

On 23 August 1779, the USS Constitution set sail from Boston, loaded with 475 officers and men, 48,600 gallons of
water, 74,000 cannon shot, 11,500 pounds of black powder and 79,400 gallons of rum. Her mission: to destroy and
harass English shipping.

On 6 October, she made Jamaica, took on 826 pounds of flour and 68,300 gallons of rum. Three weeks later, Constitution reached the Azores, where she provisioned with 550 pounds of beef and 2,300 gallons of Portuguese wine.

On 18 November, she set sail for England where her crew captured and scuttled 12 English merchant vessels and took
aboard their rum. By this time, Constitution had run out of shot. Nevertheless, she made her way unarmed up the Firth
of Clyde for a night raid. Here, her landing party captured a whiskey distillery, transferred 13,000 gallons on board
and headed for home.

On 20 February 1780, the Constitution arrived in Boston with no cannon shot, no food, no powder, no rum, and no
whiskey. She did, however, still carry her crew of 475 officers and men and 18,600 gallons of water. The math is
quite enlightening: Length of cruise: 181 days Booze consumption: 1.26 gallons per man per day (this does NOT
include the unknown quantity of rum captured from the 12 English merchant vessels in November).

Naval historians say that the re-enlistment rate from this cruise was 92%.

Contributed by BTC Harry Andersen

Dining out

The German military of WWII was famous for a number of technological inventions, which, at the time, were the benchmarks of their time. The MG42 (which is still used by the German army today as the re-chambered MG3) machine gun, the 8.8cm FlaK 18 (commonly known simply as THE "88"), the PzKpfw Mk. VI (the Tiger I tank) are just a few. One of the devices for which they are, unfortunately, less well known is their excellent mess kit. The German mess kit is a 3-piece design that incorporates a large boiling pot, a small frying pan, and a small bowl. All three pieces nest to form a compact kit with ample space within the kit to store condiments such as salt and pepper shakers, hot sauce, as well as matches, fire starter, and dish soap. While the army has phased out its 3 piece aluminum kits years ago, I still use the German kit simply because of its versatility. The pot and frying pan seal to form a container capable of transporting prepared food, which means that you meal gets delivered to you still hot and dirt free as opposed to cold and full of dust, which is how most meals are delivered in a tactical environment. Furthermore, the pot, now that the steel pot is no longer available, is an excellent source of boiling water for the entire squad (rather than have everyone boil their own canteen cup full.)

 

Military Language Conversion Chart

NAVY	USMC/ARMY	AIR FORCE
Head	Latrine	Powder Room
Mess Deck/Chow Hall	Mess Hall/Mess Tent	Dining Facility/The Cafe'
Coffee	Mud/Cup of Joe	Vanilla Skim Latte'
Seaman Jones	Private/Private Bobby	Jimmy
Chief	Gunny	Robert / James
Captain's Mast	Article 15	Time Out
Berthing	Barracks	Apartment
Thrown in the Brig	Put in Confinement	Grounded
Cruise	Afloat/Deploy	Hun?
MRE	MRE	Happy Meal to Go
Ge-Dunk	Snack Bar	Chuck E. Cheese
Midshipman	Cadet	Debutant
Contibuted by BTC Harry E. Andersen

Plank Owners of the USS Plymouth Rock

A "plank owner" is an individual who was a member of the crew of a ship when that ship was placed in commission. Originally, this term applied only to crewmembers present at the ship's first commissioning. Today, however, it is often applied to members of a recommissioning crew as well.  The term implies that a crew member was around when the ship was being built and commissioned and therefore has bragging rights to the ownership of one of the deck planks in the main deck.

Walter Pihl, ME3 wrote to me a while back and gave me the idea to do something on the Plank Owners of the USS Plymouth Rock.  The following pictures and material I obtained from the first birthday yearbook of the ship from 29 November 1954-29 November 1955.

Picture of "Rocky", the ships first mascot.	Picture of the ship leaving Pascagoula, MS for Norfolk in January 1955

USS Plymouth Rock, First Year of Operation, 1954-1955

Plank Owners of USS Plymouth Rock that we know of, who are on our Muster List

Thank You's

We would like to thank the following shipmates/friends for providing pictures, information and articles to the website, the Ships Association and newsletter.

USS Ashland LSD-48

Power Plant: Four Colt Industries, 16 cylinder diesels, two shafts, 33,000 shaft horsepower. Length: 609 feet Beam: 84 feet Displacement: 15,939 tons(full load) Speed: 20 plus knots (23.5 plus mph) Landing Craft: Four Air Cushion Landing Craft Crew: 413 (22 officers, 391 enlisted) Marine Detachment: 402 plus 102 surge Armament: Two 25mm MK-38 Machine Guns; Two 20mm Phalanx CIWS mounts; Six .50 cal. machine guns.

LCM entering the well deck, 1962, Cuban blockade	Alvin in the well deck
Photos contributed by Walt Hyatt, MM3

Contributed by Walt Hyatt, covers are from Tour Books published by PHIBRON 12 for naval personnel

Thomas K. Derry, QMC has made a DVD of the 6th reunion and is asking $15.00 each.  In anyone is interested, his address is Thomas K. Derry, 463 E. Ridge Rd., Shawboro, NC   27973.  or e-mail him at tderry27973@earthlink.net


 

Reunion Update

Reunion Liason Roger Lamay reports that Reunion Coordinators Richard Mathis, Dave Dortch  and he will be in ST. Louis from May 17-20  attending a CONFAM to organize and set the reunion in motion.  Roger has already spoken with Courtney Brown, a  reunion organizer so they will be working with her to see what is offered and let her know what we are looking for.   The next newsletter will have the info. that will inform everyone what is going on and when the date will be for the reunion in St. Louis.

AP

KEY LARGO, Fla. (March 17) - Authorities on Saturday recovered the bodies of two divers from a sunken U.S. military ship off the Florida Keys

The Spiegel Grove became the largest ship ever sunk to create an artificial reef in 2002. It's located about five miles off Key Largo, 60 miles south of Miami	A scuba diver explores the sunken USS Spiegel Grove in July. Three men died Friday during a penetration dive into the dark passages of the ship.

Information provided by Norm Jepsom, BMSN

A typical Navy Day's Sunset on the "Rock"
Contributed by Shorty Cyr, BM3

Paid Association Members for 2007-2008
As of April 24, 2007 we now have 134 paid members

PHOTOS  STORED IN AN OLD BROWNIE CAMERA  Thought you might find these  photos very interesting; what quality from 1941.
Pearl Harbor photos found in an old Brownie stored  in a foot locker.

THESE PHOTOS ARE FROM A  SAILOR WHO WAS ON THE USS QUAPAW ATF-11O. I THINK THEY'RE  SPECTACULAR!

 

Notice the clock in the above picture

PEARL HARBOR  

December 7th, 1941

Contributed by Dick Provencal, SKC, Retired

Navy Trivia

BOATSWAIN'S PIPE - No self-respecting boatswain's mate would dare admit he couldn't blow his pipe in a manner above reproach. This pipe, which is the emblem of the boatswain and his mates, has an ancient and interesting history. On the ancient row-galleys, the boatswain used his pipe to call the stroke. Later because its shrill tune could be heard above most of the activity on board, it was used to signal various happenings such as knock-off and the boarding of officials. So essential was this signaling device to the well-being of the ship, that it became a badge of office and honor in the British and American Navy of the sailing ships.

CLOTHES STOPS - A small diameter cord, approximately 12 inches, used to tie laundry to a clothes line -- the early Navy clothes pin. Issued in recruit training until 1973

SCUTTLEBUTT - Navy term for rumor. Comes from a combination of the word "scuttle" to make a hole in the ship's side, causing her to sink, and "butt", a cask used to hold drinking water. Scuttlebutt literally means a cask with a hole in it. Scuttle describes what most rumors accomplish if not to the ship, at least to morale. Butt describes the water cask where men naturally congregated, and that's where most rumors get started.

BITTER END - As any able-bodied seaman can tell you, a turn of a line around a bitt, those wooden or iron posts sticking through a ship's deck, is called a bitter. Thus the last of the line secured to the bitts is known as the bitter end. Nautical usage has somewhat expanded the original definition in that today the end of any line, secured to bitts or not, is called a bitter end. The landlubbing phrases "stick to the bitter end" and "faithful to the bitter end" are derivations of the nautical term and refer to anyone who insists on adhering to a course of action without regard to consequences.