....Oh, as soon as a bird farm shows up in a liberty port (one carrier equal 16 destroyers or 10 cruisers), the prices for everything went up. Not that it matters these days as I understand the liberty rules have changed since I was in....
That's a good memory, at NPTU we were filling out dream sheets in Nucleonics and an MM-ELT Chief did the typical "What are you looking for?"
Being still green to some ways of the USN I told him I wanted Pearl Harbor and a 688.
He asked why and I told him.
He thought the reason for PH was good enough but cautioned against the 688 (I wanted to be on that fastest, newest, bestest, blah, blah, blah brainwashed propaganda).
688's were the new kid on the block.
Every 688 CO wanted to show off his hot rod to every foreign dignitary, ranking so and so, and Officer above the rank of Captain they could show it off to,.....endless field day for the enlisteds.
688's could keep up with and escort carriers,....every port of call would involve your crew and a carrier battle group.
Older boats were slower, they got sent off to do "real" submarine work (contemporary with the times) not babysit carriers against Mongo's.
You were not as likely to hit a liberty port with a carrier battle group.
You would field day as necessary ( still a lot) but not just to impress folks who wouldn't know brightwork from verdigris.
The chief was right.
He also mentioned not to go for too old a boat.
My first preference was a 637 out of Pearl Harbor.
I got it.
Who says the Navy never gives you exactly what you asked for?!?!?!?
And I was never in a liberty port with more than a destroyer or cruiser at the same time, and much more often than not we were the only ship/boat in port. IIRC my first submarine CO actually made a point of leaving port early if a carrier battle group was coming in, or avoiding a port of call if a carrier was already there.
But then, we didn't spend much time in port at all, home port or otherwise,...
So much for that "real" submarine work,....
