ET2 Kevin York

ET2 York… Underway Replenishment Pucker Factor Extreme… We all know the
drill… They announce UNREP and you, if you are on the unfortunate list and
enlisted rank…. Report to your UNREP station. My station for almost 2
years was on the port bridge-wing with my piece of Plexi-glass, marker, and
rag for eraser. Here, I marked down the course and speed every time the
conning officer made a change so that he could, with a glance from his
stance on the bridge-wing, know exactly what the course and speed were as to
make changes as necessary during the unrep. I was known as RPM man. No
biggy, felt like I had done this 100 times already. This particular unrep, I
think, was during the Unitas / West African training cruise of 1985 with
CMDR Lundquist as our CO. We were slab dab in the middle of taking on fuel
during the unrep and no course speed change had been made by the Junior
Officer currently at the CON, when all of sudden, the Joey Boat drifted
close inwards towards the replenishment ship. I remember thinking, damn???,
not sure Im supposed to be able to read the replenishment sailors stenciled
name on his dungaree shirt, and if these 2 ships are gonna collide, the port
bridge-wing is not where I want to be. Can you say PUCKER factor of the
Sphincter muscle to the extreme? These 2 ships were literally about 10 feet
apart with replenishment hoses and lines dipping the water. Thank god for a
very competent CO in CMDR Lundquist who was present on the bridge-wing. In
about 2 seconds he said “WHATS GOING ON!!!?!? This is CMDR Lundquist, I have
the CON!….ANNOUNCE EMERGENCY BREAK-AWAY, ….Course change XXXX…….
Speed Change XXX RPM…10 seconds later. Course Change XXXX……..Speed
Change XXX RPM…..10 seconds later …….Course Change XXXX….. Speed
Change XXX RPM……. He gently drifted the Joey Boat back out, back out
again, back out again without whipping the tail into the replenishment ship.
At that particularly moment, back out of harms ways, I thought “this CO
rocks and whatever the Navy pays him sure wasn’t enough today”. The final
report as I recall, was that our GYRO went brain-dead for a few seconds and
caused the ships course to drift.


During his tenure as CO, the crew really got to see a man that genuinely
cared about the sailors that served under him and about the home they
shared, the Joey Boat. All of the CO’s I served under: CAPT Hardt, CMDR
Lundquist, and CMDR Nelson were great CO’s so I don’t want to single out one
without giving a shout-out to all of them. Capt Hardt was only my CO for a
short time before he went on to be the XO of the battleship USS New Jersey
(as I recall being told). CMDR Nelson commanded like his predecessor, CMDR
Lundquist. Whether that was from advice or of CMDR Nelson’s nature as a
person… it was at the benefit of the crew. Like all sailors who are
fortunate to have such, you have one CO that makes a great impression on
you as a leader and a person. Thanks for showing your crew and the Navy sir,
that you can be a leader and personable and get just as much out of them and
their service without “putting the screws” to them all the time. Mr.
Lundquist, it was a pleasure to serve under your command sir.