I was aboard the Molala from early 64′ to Sept. 67′ Two WesPac tours, both trips pretty much identical in port calls. Guam, Subic, Vietnam, Japan and back. One trip we towed at least one APL and a couple barges to Danang, the other trip we took two floating dry docks with YT (?) yard tugs in each. Recently, while googling Danang looking for an APL, I stumbled across a floating dry dock with a ship on it. Could very well be one of the ones we took over. On return in July 67′ between Guam and Pearl, the motor room got flooded when someone made a mistake while pumping bilges. We went dead in the water, and we electricians spent at least 48 hours trying to clean out and dry the main motor, even pulling a field winding from its storage in shaft alley and replacing a damaged one with it. No luck, the motor was grounded. The Lipan came out from Pearl and towed us back in. Prior to the Lipan reaching us, a Victory ship came along and threw us a line and towed us for a couple of days. It seems like we sailed faster under tow than we had ever gone before. Shortly thereafter I flew back to SanDiego for separation. chuck Park, EM3
I was aboard the Molala from early 64′ to Sept. 67′ Two WesPac tours, both trips pretty much identical in port calls. Guam, Subic, Vietnam, Japan and back. One trip we towed at least one APL and a couple barges to Danang, the other trip we took two floating dry docks with YT (?) yard tugs in each. Recently, while googling Danang looking for an APL, I stumbled across a floating dry dock with a ship on it. Could very well be one of the ones we took over. On return in July 67′ between Guam and Pearl, the motor room got flooded when someone made a mistake while pumping bilges. We went dead in the water, and we electricians spent at least 48 hours trying to clean out and dry the main motor, even pulling a field winding from its storage in shaft alley and replacing a damaged one with it. No luck, the motor was grounded. The Lipan came out from Pearl and towed us back in. Prior to the Lipan reaching us, a Victory ship came along and threw us a line and towed us for a couple of days. It seems like we sailed faster under tow than we had ever gone before. Shortly thereafter I flew back to SanDiego for separation. chuck Park, EM3