ya we only had 4 inchers which werent too bad.. when the CIWS went off tho it would vibrate the tray off my table at chow 6 decks down.. those damn harriers were what got me.. I bunked with weapons platoon on 01 deck right under the after flight deck where those bastards warmed up..
I kept waiting for molten steel to pour onto my rack from the jet exhaust...
The blast from the Iowa I could feel from about 2 miles off.. can't imagine being up close and personal... you feel it in your chest when it unleashed...
I have to admit I am laughing my ass off. Thank you!
When I was Navy I was an FC, the last of the "real" Firecontrolmen trained before the rate was merged with DS and most FCs became glorified twidgets. I was one of 12 CIWS techs trained fleetwide on all CIWS NECs. While the Phalanx was my primary job, my collateral duties were shipboard search and siezure (which is part of how I ended up here....).
Anyway my hearing loss was the result of a new booter they sent to me on a junky old LSD I got stuck on for a while. This kid was smart. Really smart. Like myself, he had actually memorized all the schematics for the gun system. Little did I realize, unlike me he lacked any form of common sense, logic, or sense of responsibility.
I had scheduled a multiple run TDU shoot for the ship's M1 rating. Normally, I only allowed the most experienced gunners to actually operate the gun mounts in AAW manual for these shoots, but this kid had proven himself to be an exception. I however, am a genius, ;), and decided this was the day the booter would earn the right to stamp a dead missile on mount 21's shoulder.
I acted as Safety Observer, up on deck by the mount. The kid was understandably excited and chatting away with the TAO and my auxiliary operator in CIC via the bitch box. My job was to act as an additional lookout for aircraft and watercraft surveilance may have missed. (no lookouts during a TDU shoot in those days, far too dangerous!) CIC and the bridge gave "all clear", the Learjet and its one mile cable were screaming inbound with the towed drone. The weather was perfect and clear. The TAO and XO both agreed it was time to shoot. They contacted me via sound powered phone for the final all clear so they could give batteries release.
As per procedure, I removed my face shield, goggles and double hearing protection for the final search for small boats and aircraft. At that moment some asshole on the line had a hot mike and was discussing "batteries release". My booter heard this and mashed the fire button. I was ten feet from the aft of the mount. Instantly a 750 round burst let loose resulting in me dropping unconscious to bleed profusely from both ears.
I have suffered from permanent CHS (Cant Hear Shit) ever since. Good thing the little bastard clipped the drone in two, knocked it off the cable, and then started shooting at the pieces as the fell towards the ship or I would have skinned him alive.
I came to and stumbled down to CIC bleeding and cussing. To this day I wish I could have heard what I said as when I was done, no one would speak to me for weeks from the shoot team. :ROFLMAO:
