Back in
the day, many moons ago, approximately the early fifties, the USS Duncan was
tied up in a nest with the USS Stickel, Isabel, and the Brinkley Bass in Sasebo
Japan loading supplies. The crew as usual went on the beach rearing and anxious
to squeeze out as much of their short liberty as possible since they weren’t allowed
overnight liberty in occupied Japan. The next morning as all four destroyers
were to leave port for Korea, they were all blown away by a stunt that some
crew members had pulled.
It appeared
someone, probably with a snoot full of Nippon beer, got a water taxi to tie up stern
of the Brinkley Bass. With a can of haze grey paint and some handy old brushes,
they proceeded to paint over the letter "B" on both the first and last
names of the ship. Thus when she put to sea the next morning she steamed out
proudly as the USS Rinkley Ass.
The crew
of the Bass was blamed for this and received liberty restrictions on their next
visit. I don't know who did it but my suspicions tell me it wasn’t any of the
crew onboard the Bass. From there forth, her Skipper would assign an armed
sentry to guard her stern to prevent nautical naughtiness from happening
again.
And that
my friends is a no–shitter!!!