PHOTO GALLERY
BIG WAVES OVER THE CVA-20 BOW
1958
( Big waves breaking over the bow of CVA 20 )
We received this picture from Bob Kuester ( bobpat1963@excite.com )
Bob sent this picture of waves breaking over the bow of CVA 20 .................
something, when you really think about it.
( Of course we had bigger waves break over the bow of CVS 20, didn't we ? )
Hi,
Did you notice that when Frank Allen inquired about the date of the picture I sent that I discovered that it was in 1958 and not in 1960. When I sent the picture I had assumed that it was taken during the second Westpac cruise I was on. I remembered some very rough seas on that one. Actually, I must confess that I missed typhoon Ida, I was on a MATS flight trying to get to Subic Bay and join the crew onboard the Bennington when it was riding the waves shown in the picture. Quite a trip, got forced down on Wake Island for a couple of days when 2 of the 4 engines on the aging super constellation I was on gave out while heading for Guam from Hickam AFB. Great memories of those adventurous days.
Bob Kuester ( BobPat1963@excite.com ) Bob is the one who sent the picture.
We know CVA had big waves breaking over the bow, and we know that CVS had big waves breaking over the bow, but ................ I guess, without a doubt, the CV 20 guys hold the bragging rights to the biggest storm, during WW 2 when the flight deck actulally buckled under.
Here is an eyewitness account from Don Fitzgerald, in Chico, Ca.
Hi,
You guys bragging about water over the bow, look what the typhoon did to CV-20 in 45, can you top that?? Hope no one ever has to. That was some experience when it tossed the ship around like a match box. I was on the Main throttle of #1 main engine that morning it struck, a lot of people don't realize we were running our starboard engines full astern and our port engines full ahead just to keep the island into the wind to keep from capsizing. The stress and strain in the engine and the vibrations was like standing on a vibrating machine.
and from George Mattimoe, in Honolulu:
Aloha 'auwinala
Picture was great as were your comments, but the BIG WAVE was the one that took off 40 feet of our flight deck, back when the lady was CV-20.
Matt
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