234 and Counting

Today is the day the US Navy was created.

My youngest Son (SN2) once told me, on his way to Camp Pendleton as a member of the 5^th Marine Regiment, that the Navy was created to give the Marines a challenging place from which to ply their trade as snipers. It seems they let their "ride" get away from them.

Established originally on this day by the Continental Congress in 1775, the Continental Navy disrupted Royal Navy shipping for the duration of the American Revolution. Though the Navy fought in several important at sea engagements its overall contribution to the Revolutionary War effort is seen as a mixed bag of results. It was the advent of French Men-O-War that swung the war on land. The Continental Navy was disbanded (1783) and the famed Marine Corps were left to their own devices. But not for too long.

Re-established in 1794 by an act of congress the original six frigates were ordered to action in the Mediterranean Sea to fight the Barbary Coast Pirates, Muslims you see. My, how little things have changed over the years.

The Navy has gone on, the Marines kicking and screaming along the way to great glory and significant success. Today no other Navy on the Globe can challenge our the Navy in the Air, on the Sea itself or under it as well. And yes on land as well; at the behest of our friends and relatives that chose to wear the mean-green uniform of the USMC. When we let them out.

On this day in 1974 I ate my first Lobster. It was part of a surf and turf dinner traditionally dished out on this day within the USN. I was stationed at Naval Air Station Memphis undergoing intensive training at the Naval Aviation Technical Training Center as a member of the Avionics Technician Class A school. There was lots of technical stuff, much home work and study groups.

On this day in 1974 I would find out I was allergic to shellfish. It would hit me a few hours after eating the strange clawed creature which most people around claimed was good eating. Not me. I had class work to go over and laundry to do as well. I was at the Special Services building doing that laundry when it hit me. Lobsters revenge. The sweats and shakes would come on fast and the rumblings from the tummy were warning of catastrophe on the way. I was too far to get back to the barracks and being too young to go into the nearby Enlisted Club I had to find a repository and quick. So, being the resourceful type I used a nearby unused washing machine. My Lunch of Surf and Turf, my breakfast and I think even part of the previous night's dinner came up in a 10 to 15 minutes of the "staggers and jags" as they say. Some laundry detergent and a quarter into the now half filled machine and no harm no foul.

On this day in 1977 I would again take a Lobster for dinner. I was on the U.S.S Independence somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea and said sea insect was making me $50.00 bucks. After announcing in the Ready Room that I was not going to eat my allotted Lobster (I actually joked I was simply going to throw it away) I was able to auction that bad boy off to a starving Lieutenant. Seems the Wardroom was serving SOS or some other traditional cuisine.

A memorable day in my Journal.

Happy B-Day USN!

BT: Jimmy T sends.