The Snipes lament

[Rumpshot]

For those sailors that remember the "hole."

[blackeagle603]

Thanks for those. Fwd'd to a couple old WWII blackshoes (dad and uncle) who both appreciate a bit Robert Service-ish rhyme.
Here's a couple of my uncle's photos he recently fwd'd. YMS, Subchaser and tin can sailor. Just celebrated his 90th. Sharp as a whip and a funny guy. Quite the adventurer, boatman, fisherman, diver, traveler. Retired from ATT, went on to direct construction of phone systems in some Saudi cities like Jeddah.

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[Steamforger]

Now each of us from time to time, has gazed upon the sea
And watched the warships pulling out, to keep this country free.
And most of us have read the book, or heard the lusty tale
About the men who sail these ships, through lightning, wind and hail.
But there's a place within each ship, that stories never reach.
And there's a special breed of men, that legends rearly teach.

It's down below the waterline, it takes a living roll...
A hot metallic hell, that Sailors call the "Hole".
It houses engines run by steam, that make the shafts go 'round,
A place of fire, noise and heat, that beat your spirit down.
Where boilers, like a hellish heart, with blood of angry steam
Are armored gods without remorse; are nightmares in a dream.

Whose threat that from the fires roar, is like a living doubt
That any minute would scorn, excape and crush you out.
Where turbines scream like tortured souls, alone and lost in hell
As ordered from above somewhere, they answer every bell.
The men who keep the fires lit, and make the engines run
Are strangers to the world of light, rarely see the sun.

They have no time for man or god, no tolerance for fear.
Their aspect pays no living thing, the tribute of a tear
For there's not much that men can do, that these men haven't done
Beneath the decks, deep in the hole, to make the engines run.
And every hour of every day, they keep the watch in hell,
For if the fires ever fail, their ship's a useless shell.

When ships converge to have a war, upon an angry sea,
The men below just grimly smile at what their fate might be.
They're locked below like men foredoomed, who hear no battle cry.
It's well assumed that if they're hit, the men below will die.
There's not much difference down below, that ever war may bring,
For threat of ugly violent death, down there's a common thing

For every day's a war down there, when the gauges all read red.
Twelve-hundred pounds of heated steam can kill you mighty dead.
So every man down in the hole has learned to hate so well,
That when you speak to them of fear, their laughter's heard in hell.
The men below are fools who watch their spirits slowly die;
Who often can't remember how a cloud looks in the sky.

So if you ever wrote their song, or tried to tell their tale
The very words would make you hear a desperate spirit's wail.
And people, as a general rule, don't hear a dying soul.
So little's heard about the place that Sailor's call the "Hole".
But I can sing about this place and try to make you see
The hopeless life of men down there, "cause one of them is me".

And I've been down there for so long now, that part of me has died.
The part that lives on without a fight, to be a lost hope's guide.
I've seen these sweat-soaked heros fight, in superheated air
To keep their ship alive and right, though no one knows they're there
So when you see a ship pull out to meet a war-like foe,
Remember faintly, if you can, the men who sail below!

[tfbncc]

I was never a snipe, but I've hauled more than my share of them out of the hole during my time with the ship's master at arms force on the Saratoga. We had to respond to every "man down" call on the ship. The majority of them were heat casualties down in the engine room. The only way to get them out was to remove a special patch in the deck and rig a double fall pulley, run a strap around the normally unconscious sailor and hoist him up to the first deck where we packed 'em in ice and then got the four biggest marines available as stretcher bearers to haul ass to medical. We never lost one on my watch. At least not to heat. A small point of pride with me.

[toad]

Now I'm wondering what it is like in the engine rooms of the gas turbine ships. I read somewhere that it gets pretty intense on the small boats that have gas turbines because of the high frequency noise?? I wonder if the larger war ships have a noise and heat problem?? At least they don't have to go steam leak hunting with broom sticks.

[Greg]

Am I the only one who reads the thread title and thinks "Wesley"? I was expecting something about taxes....

[First Shirt]

Am I the only one who reads the thread title and thinks "Wesley"? I was expecting something about taxes....

Probably

[Greg]

Am I the only one who reads the thread title and thinks "Wesley"? I was expecting something about taxes....

Probably

Sorry, no. There's going to be an age cutoff. At least one of my uncles was a tin can sailor, but steam power went away some time ago.

[tfbncc]

With the exception of the gas turbine ships, all navy ships are still steam powered. Just the way they heat up the water has changed from coal, to diesel, to nuke.

[Greg]

With the exception of the gas turbine ships, all navy ships are still steam powered. Just the way they heat up the water has changed from coal, to diesel, to nuke.

Odd to except the most common type of propulsion, well at least for warships. Isn't the logistics and sealift force all moving to either gas turbine or diesel-electric too?