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August 4, 2002
Hi Folks,
I believe it appropriate to let you know, another of the folks that helped build the USS Orleck back in 1944 & 1945, passed away last week in De Leon, Texas. It was important to me to be there with him during his last days because he was like an only brother to me, even though in actuality, a cousin. He was a certified welder at the time of Orleck's construction and recalled working in the double bottom while it was being assembled on the ways. He also observed her launching with me back in 1945. A great loss of an even greater person. His name was Archie Wynne Depwe and being the same age and living next door to one another in our younger days, we fought and played together during our entire youth. I won't apologize for not getting the report out last week, now that you understand the reason for my not doing so. When we go through a time of despair such as the loss of a loved one, it frequently begins to bring back old memories. As I went back and forth to the hospital in the small town of De Leon, Texas, I noticed the side of a building had many of the old signs of yesteryear, painted on the old brick wall. They called it "Wall of Recall". I immediately thought this catchy phrase might be applied to our web site. As soon as I got home and opened my e-mail, I found a very good example of what could very well be something that should be preserved for others to read and possibly generate their own thought processes into coming up with additional items of "recollection". I believe this short note is going to be a first item for our construction of a web site addition called "Wall of Recall". James Allison wrote the following and sent it out on the Orleck Forum: "As you know I was in ORLECK during the late 50's, but like the guys from WWII, we also had no AC. When I went aboard ORLECK, I was assigned the worst bunk in the ship, maybe the worst bunk in the whole US Navy. It was in the Operations Compartment, just below the mess decks, and was the bottom bunk, in a corner. You had to climb into that bunk on your hands and knees from the end, not the side. I wasn't looking forward to sleeping there, that's for sure. To get out was a really big deal, that was worst than getting into it. Problem was, that was the only empty bunk in the whole compartment when I arrived. Now the first time I climbed into that bunk, I had a surprise in store for me, it had a very nicely placed ventilator tube that opened up just above my head, and blew fresh, cool outside air. I quickly learned to appreciate that bunk. It turned out to be possibly the best bunk on the entire ship, maybe in the whole US Navy. I was in the Operations Compartment when I visited the ship earlier this year, and that bunk is still there." As I went through all my e-mails Wednesday morning and found only one answer related to the island location on carriers, but he did not know the "why". Here it tis, (as those dern Texans say) and so does Dr. Davis, in his book, "Traditions and Tales of the Navy" The island on all U.S. aircraft carriers is on the starboard side. Propeller-driven airplanes have a tendency to pull to the left due to torque effect when power is suddenly applied, as when a plane making a carrier landing takes a wave-off. The Navy's first carrier, USS Langley, had no island, but when the USS Lexington and the USS Saratoga were designed, it was only natural to put the islands on the right hand side, out of the way. Jet aircraft on other carriers, of course, are not bothered by the torque effect but traffic patterns continue on the left with the island on the right. I had thought I would get a response from our illustrious webmaster, Terrill Mark on this one but now I remember he was a Air Force Captain and did not even know a carrier had airplanes on them. Then too, James Allison should have responded but he has never had a wave-off either. (not from a male air-traffic controller anyway.) Chuck Lawrence and his wife Marilyn, Came in from Phoenix today and plan staying a few days to work on the ship. Chuck is from the USS Perkins DD 877, another Orange built destroyer and is working on a compartment the Perkins folks adopted. he wants to come back after the Perkins reunion in September, and work about a month on the Orleck. We are hoping the Perkins group will have their next reunion here and we are working on that one along with about six others. Thanks to our local Safety Clean folks for donating their services to help us dispose of our used oil. Some of you may recall there is a couple hundred gallons of oil in the compartment where the black water storage is located. ( directly below the first level between frames 157 and 170. As soon as I can get the digitized prints of the damage control drawings back from Kinko's, you will be able to easily reference those locations. Trivia: We have all heard the term "sail the seven seas", but there seems to be some controversy about identifying them. Can any of you tell us about the "Seven Seas" and the origination of the term. Also, which individual bodies of water currently hold the honor of being among the seven?
Tom Depwe |