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Executive Officer USS Saratoga CV-60 October, 1983 through February 1985 Last Updated May 3rd, 2024 |
Training Prior to Assignment
as Executive Officer USS Saratoga CV-60
SWOSCOLCOM (Surface Warfare Officer School Command), Newport, Rhode Island (Basic Course)
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Cathy, Jessica and I moved from NAS Jacksonville and bought a house on Tilefish Court in Pablo Point off of San Pablo Road. The house was located close to Saratoga at Mayport. I knew that the working hours as XO would be long and it would enable me to have more time at home if we were living close by. |
Reported for Duty as Executive Officer on October 29th, 1983
 "Super Sara-Circa 1984"
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IN 1984, during our successful
deployment to the Mediterranean Sea,
Captain Jack Ready proclaimed that USS Saratoga would be
known as "Super Sara". That was not the nickname
previously used to describe the Saratoga. During
several years previously, Saratoga had the derisive
nickname "Sorry Sara". She had be known to have an
unusually poor reliability of her engineering plant and an
even worse reputation for her Supply Department. In the
late 70s she had to be tied up to the pier in Mayport
during a planned type training at sea. The CAG was forced
to deploy his squadrons to NAS Mayport and conduct type
training as if he was at sea! Many thought Sara was a
disgrace!
Service Life Extension Program (SLEP)
SLEP
was intended to provide significant upgrades to our
remaining fossil fueled aircraft carriers while
establishing an improved capability at the Philadelphia
Naval Shipyard. Saratoga was the first aircraft carrier to
go through SLEP. There were significant problems in the
initial portion of SLEP. There was not a sufficient labor
pool of experienced workers or the required shops to
support the needs of SLEP. They had to hire many workers
who were untrained and many proved to be unreliable. It
took awhile to establish small business shops to support
SLEP at the Philadelphia Shipyard. SLEP was a great
strategic idea to establish an improved capability in
Philadelphia but Sara paid the price of being the first
SLEP carrier. Unreliable workers stole valuable hardware
such as brass valves. Significant work proved to be
either unsound from a design or engineering aspect or was
poorly accomplished. Some of the work
that was reported to have been done had not actually been
accomplished. When Sara made her initial attempt at sea
trials following SLEP, she had to be returned to the pier
because the rudders wouldn't work. LIve wires were arcing
on her sides.
Change Of Command
My Initial
Challenges Upon Arrival as Executive Officer
I
checked in as XO when Sara arrived at Mayport following
SLEP. During her time at sea transiting from
Philadelphia to Mayport, it was discovered that there was
a serious problem with all the high pressure steam lines
in her boilers. The "astro arc" welding process that was
used to repair the steam lines during SLEP was intended
for the repair of new material not for used material. All
these steam lines had to be redone along side in Mayport.
Welders from all over the world came to be interviewed to
do the very exacting work. Inspectors from every
conceivable level arrived to determine who was responsible
for this situation. Fortunately, Saratoga's Chief
Engineer, Mike Landon, was an experienced, dedicated, and
talented post sea commanding officer who handled all the
engineering aspects of the welding operation. During that
evolution, he discovered that the eight Ships Service
Turbo Generators (SSTGs) that had supposedly been reworked
In Philly, hadn't been. We had them removed, properly
reworked, and reinstalled during the high profile steam
line repairs. During the period we were alongside for the
post SLEP repairs, I was busy with resolving other issues.
Service Life Extension Program (SLEP)
Change Of Command
Captain
Ready relieved
Captain Len
Perry on
November 11th,
 Captain
Ready relieved
Captain Perry
|
 Captain
Ready and I
changed the
shoulder
boards for
newly selected
Rear Admiral
Perry
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I only had the pleasure of working with Rear Admiral Perry for a short time. But, it was clear to me that the Navy selected the right officer to lead the Saratoga through through the SLEP process. SLEP required a man of intelligence and the ability to lead the ship through the process with great patience. |
Hurricane
Incident
We were alongside Charlie Pier, no
ability to get underway, and were in the path of of a
late season hurricane. The Chief Engineer, First
Lieutenant, an active reserve LCDR and I came up with
a plan to protect Sara and the pier if we experienced
high winds to the Captain; I
don't recall if he was the outgoing SLEP Captain S3
background Len Perry or the Incoming F-14 Test PiIot
Jack Ready.
The Plan
Sara
was alongside Charlie Pier port to. The plan was to
remove the port anchor and attach it to the
starboard rear quarter. Next we would run out the
starboard anchor using a barge and lower it to the
center of harbor and then run out the anchor from
the starboard rear quarter to the harbor. Once both
anchors were in place, we had them winched in to
pull the Saratoga away from the pier using
reinforced spring lines. The goal was the keep the
Sara stable during high winds. The Captain approved
the plan and it was successful. The Chief Engineer,
the First Lieutenant and I worked well together for
the rest of my tenure as XO.
Post SLEP Administrative MessAbout a week
after reporting for duty as XO, I decided
that I would review the folders of sailors
who had been recommended for Captains Mast
(XO Inquiry) in my spacious second deck
cabin on Monday nights with Monday Night
Football on the TV. My plan was that I would
handle the less serious cases at my level
and recommend the more serious cases for
Captain's Mast. Imagine my shock when there
were almost 500 hundred cases covering about
the last six weeks of SLEP. After working to
about midnight, it was obvious there was no
way that I could properly handle that number
of cases. The next morning, I called for my
first formal Department Head's Meeting at
1500 in the afternoon. At 1500, I convened
the meeting in the 2nd deck officers mess. I
think that most of the departments were
represented but not by the Department Heads.
I disbanded the meeting and told the
representatives that were not Department
Heads to report back that I would reconvene
the meeting the next day, Wednesday, and
that I expected Department Heads to attend
Department Head meetings. I expected to make
decisions at Department Head meetings and if
they didn't have a good excuse, they better
send someone in their stead who the had
confidence could represent them at the
decision making level. I knew I was on solid
ground with Captain Ready as he had told me
that he wanted me to "run the hotel" so he
could "think big thoughts" on the bridge :-)
The next day all of the Department Heads
showed up, even the Chief Engineer who was
very busy with the super heater tube issue
and the Navigator,who had no where to
navigate. The Navigator had pass when we
were underway. That set a precedence lasted
for the rest of my XO tour.
I told the Department Heads that I was returning all the discipline records to the individual departments and only wanted to review the cases that they thought appropriate for my review the next Monday night.
I told the Department Heads that I was returning all the discipline records to the individual departments and only wanted to review the cases that they thought appropriate for my review the next Monday night.
Chief Petty Officer
Review Board (CPORB)
The Chief Engineer,
Mike Landon, suggested that we might
want to consider establishing a Chief
Petty Officer Review Board (CPORB) to
handle some of the cases especially
those involving disrespect of a petty
offer. The review board would consist of
E8 and E9 Chief Petty Officers and be
chaired by the Master Chief Petty
officer of the Command and be held in
the Chief's Mess. The CPORB could refer
the cases to Captain's Mast or handle
them at their level with a "tongue
lashing" or reasonable punishments such
as extra duty. They could not award
reduction in rate or pay; only the
Captain could do that.! He reported that
this approach had been effective in
surface warfare commands that he had
observed. We decided to give it a try.
It turned out to be very effective and
reduced everyone's work load. Many of
the sailors would rather face the
Captain than the Senior and Master
Chiefs in the Chief's Mess.
Reserve
Temporary Active duty JAG
Officer/Naval Intelligence
Service (NIS) Cases
We
had a full time NIS
agent assigned to the
ship. We had anew NIS
agent onboard. The
previous NIS agent had
left behind two three
drawer file cases behind
when he departed.
Fortunately, we had a
LCDR Reserve temporary
active duty JAG Officer
assigned for six weeks.
He was a prosecutor from
from the Memphis
District Attorney's
Office. I asked him to
review all the cases and
recommend which cases to
handle and which to
destroy. After his
review, we destroyed
most of the cases due to
insufficient evidence or
other reasons. But, he
He said that we we had a
serious homosexual
situation that involved
a couple of officers,
chief petty officers and
numerous enlisted
personnel especially in
the Aviation Fuels
Division of the Air
Department. He also said
that we had a potential
serious security issue
involving the Cryptology
Officer the
Communications
Department. It was
complicated by the fact
that this officer was
the #1 LtJG in the most
recent ship's fitness
reports. His reports
resulted in numerous
Captain's Masts and
Summary Courts Martial
that removed many
personnel in the Fuels'
Division.
The
Cryptology OfficerI
reported the situation
to the Captain and we
removed this officer
from his position
pending further
investigation. I also
requested that the
Captain relieve me
from the normal
prosecution of the
case so that I could
get the facts in the
case and determine if
we had as serious
problem. He approved
my recommendation. I
asked the current NIS
agent how he would
proceed in the case.
He recommended that I
interview the officer
at length and repeat
my questions over and
over to get to the
truth. Initially, the
young officer denied
any involvement but
after an hour or so,
he demonstrated a
significant
personality change and
finally related that
he had been a
homosexual prior to
his commissioning and
had been involved in
homosexual behavior
onboard Sara but that
it had not affected
his work as the
Cryptology Officer. I
reported my findings
to Captain Ready and
the NIS Officer took
over the case The
officer was awarded a
Special Courts
Martial. The result of
the Special Courts
Martial was that he
was allowed to resign
his commission.
GTMO
at Guantanamo
Bay Cuba
By
the time the
engineering
issues had
been resolved,
most of the
Fuels
personnel and
the Cryptology
Officer had
been replaced,
and some
underway time
had been
conducted, we
were ready to
go to
Guantanamo Bay
Cuba to
conduct
challenging
damage control
training and
certification.
By then our
nightly
Department
Head meetings
were going
smoothly, my
Monday night
XO non
judicial
punishment
folders were
down to about
100 records,
the Chief
Petty Officer
Review Board
concept was
working and
the Captain
was down to
holding about
20 cases every
two weeks at
Captain's
Mast. After
some early
issues at at
Damage Control
training, our
scores were
improving and
successfully
we passed our
certification.
The Saratoga/CAG 17 Team
Captain Ready
The Saratoga Tennis Team
Captain Ready
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As Captain Perry was the right officer to the lead Sara through the challenges of SLEP, I thought that Captain Ready was a great choice to make the transition from SLEP to underway carrier operations. Under his leadership, Sara made the transition from "Sorry Sara" to Super Sara". Engineering passed the OPPE Operational Propulsion Plant Exam) on the first try and the Saratoga/CAG 17 team had an outstanding grade on the ORE(Operational Readiness Exercise). Captain Ready established a great working environment for me and the heads of the various departments in that we understood what kinds of issues could and should be addressed to the CO and what kinds of issues should be addressed directly with the XO. Captain Ready gave me the authority and a wide latitude to "run the hotel" so that he could concentrate on Operations and Operational Readiness. |
 Captain Ready and "lefty"
Weapons
Officer, Hank
Zambie,
probably
playing me and
a "ringer" I
brought with
me.
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Captain
Ready was
great for
morale of the
troops;
enlisted and
officers. He
created some
new approaches
to improve the
living
environment
onboard the
ship and
enjoyed
himself with
the officers
on liberty. I particularly appreciated his support and participation of the Saratoga tennis team. I enjoyed putting the team together and making sure we had places to play in every port. The Saratoga Tennis team was very competitive when we had the opportunity to play host teams particularly in Naples, Toulon, Palma and Barcelona.. |
The Saratoga Tennis Team
 We
enjoyed
playing on the
red clay
courts in
Europe.
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The
Master Chief
Petty Officer
of the Command
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MCPOC
James Courson
was an
essential
member of the
team. Not only
did he
represent all
the Chief
Petty officers
assigned the
Saratoga, but
he also worked
closely with
MCPOCs of the
Airwing. He met with the Senior and Master Chief Petty Officers in the Chief's Mess to hear their complaints and comments. He met regularly with Captain Ready on the Bridge to discuss the results of those meeting and advised him on what action was being taken at the XO/Department Head level. MCPOC Courson attended regularly scheduled Department Head meetings and worked closely with me on a regular basis. |