From Martin Stewart:
There were 7 of us who arrived on board Dixon in San Diego in May of 1973 after
boot camp, Basic Electronics and Electricity School at Great Lakes, and
Torpedoman's School in Orlando. The Dixon was the first West Coast tender to get
the 48 and perhaps the first anywhere. When we arrived however, that was nearly
a year away. The ship had been to Bremerton, Washington for alterations
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| This picture was taken in May of 1975 in the Mark 48 torpedo shop on board the USS Dixon, AS37. The people pictured are all in The Weapons Department - W4 Division. Please note that some have their hats over their hearts. That is because this was the last warshot Mark 48 which Dixon produced while I was on board. From that point on, we handled only exercise weapons while the Hill Land Facility on Point Loma handled the warshot weapons. The people are from left to right - behind the weapon: TMCS Reynolds, TMC Parrott, TM3 Bowler, TM2 Tayman, TMSN Vollmer, TMI O'Kelley (kneeling), TM3 Ullenhake, TM I Smalley, TM I Scarbarry, TM2 Stapleton, TM3 Pylant. Front row (in front of weapon): TM3 Rasmus, TM3 Bishop, TM3 Stewart. Photo courtesy Martin Stewart |
including the installation of the 48 shop on deck 4. When we arrived, there
were still welding rods laying in the shop and construction dust but nothing
else. We were all assigned to W1 Division and worked on the old Mark 14 and Mark
37 torpedos. We also did our 3 month tour of duty on the mess decks (I was in
charge of garbage.) I remember being on the mess decks when President Nixon put
the fleet on alert in late 1973. Finally, in the spring of 1974, our test
equipment began to arrive and we were flooded with civilian contractors (Sand
Crabs) who installed and troubleshot the computers. They were our constant
companions for the next 3 years. In all, I was on board Dixon for about 39
months. We never went out to sea much - usually twice a year -- just to test the
engines. Because of this, every time we went out about 30% of the crew were
first timers. This made for an interesting week because every one was learning
their jobs. I started out as aft lookout (on the helodeck) and the last couple
of times I was helmsman. One time we had a young Warrant Officer who was a first
time Officer of the Deck and he was attempting to impress Captain Kauderer in a
man overboard drill. They threw the dummy overboard and he ordered right full
rudder. When we came completely about, he ordered "meter" which means to stop
the swing of the ship. My mind went blank, I did nothing, and all 22,000 tons of
Dixon ran right over the dummy, Needless to say, I avoided that Warrent for
quite some time. I remember a trip to San Francisco and another to Monterey Bay.
In Monterey, we anchored and attempted to run the torpedo test equipment in the
bay. Couldn't get a single gyro test to pass with the motion of the water
however. All our other "voyages" were out for 3 or 4 days and then back. The
only other tender in San Diego was the Sperry AS-12 which was a World War II
ship. Some of her decks were wooden. I ate on her once or twice and Dixon was a
palace compared to her. I remember that Dixon carried a 5 inch gun turrent
forward of the bridge and they fired it the first time I went to sea in 1973.
Apparently, it did some damage to the calibration lab because they took it off
soon after, You could always see the big round steel plate on the deck where the
gun was- After that, the largest guns on board were the M30 light machine guns
the Gunners Mates kept. To qualify for Security Detail, you had to handle and
fire a 45, a shotgun, and the M30. We did this at sea and if you hit the ocean,
you were in! While we were docked in San Diego, most of the watches were fire
and security. Petty Officers in Weapons Dept stood the weapons Security watches.
Looking back, it was excellent exercise as the 2nd deck was the lowest deck
where you had free access to move fore and aft, Any decks below those, only went
from one bulkhead to the next. On the weapons watch you reported to the Officer
of the Deck each hour. During that hour you visited all of the weapons spaces
which meant down to deck 7 in the aft weapons spaces, back up to deck 2, back
down to deck 7 forward, then back up to deck 2. In the summer of 1976, the
Executive Officer inspected the berthing quarters and was less than pleased.
Since I was so short, I volunteered to take over as Berthing Petty Officer. We
chipped paint, repainted, cleaned, etc. I even had each sailor carry their
mattresses up to deck I and lash them to the rail to air them out (like they did
in the Old Navy.) Made quite a difference as I recall and favorably impressed
the XO. I thought I could skate out the rest of my time but once we got an
"outstanding" on the next inspection, they put me back on the weapons line until
I got out in August of 76. That was the last I saw of Dixon until I went back to
San Diego in 1980 to visit my nephew. From the Cabrillo Monument, I could see
that they had moved the Dixon to another pier but she was still there.