In the fall of 1952,

I was standing the evening watch as OOD; we were steaming independently, two weeks at sea, out of GITMO. The day we were to rendezvous with the group designated TG-22 for refueling and 5" gunnery shooting exercises. At 15 minutes to midnight, the one and only jg on board, showed up to relieve me. There was one slight problem, he was so drunk, you could smell him from 10 feet away, so I told him, there was no way I was going to turn over the ship to him in his current condition, period. I told him to leave the bridge and sleep it off. I will stand your watch instead. Instead, he got very belligerent. No screwed up Ensign was going to tell me what to do, was his loud reply. Our conversation turned into a shouting match. There was nothing I could do. It got louder, and louder, until the Captain came around the coming in his nightgown. Lt. jg. coming, I will call him that, was lead away by two armed Marines, to be stripped of his uniform, and to be stowed away in an empty Commanders room, forward of the wardroom in pajamas. The Captain told me to continue the watch, and he would get me a relief in one and half-hours. Then he went back to the MC and had the word passed for all officers to report to the wardroom in 15 minutes.

Soon the XO showed up and said, Skip, I guess you wonder what is going on. The meeting of all off duty officers is over, and there will be a room by room inspection of all officers quarters in 30 minuets, for booze. He sat in the Captains chair, until the allotted time, during which, you could hear crashes, and splashes coming up from officer's country. At the allotted time, the inspection was held, and completed, and reported All Secure to the Captain. The XO came up to me and said I will relieve you Skip, so you can still get some rest. Oh, by the way, The Skipper, and I both like the way you handled a very serious situation tonight. You're still in 0502, aren't you? Yes, Sir, I replied. That is one of two staterooms above the bridge, so I didn't have far to go, and he relieved me. During the next two weeks, nothing was seen of Lt. jg. Blankenpuss. He stayed in the stateroom, and had all his meals delivered. The ongoing investigation was very thorough; A portion of the splinter deck had been fitted out as a little clubhouse, complete with fans, bedding, cut down chairs, a record player and a small icebox. Apparently there was a nest where like minded ship's company could meet discretely out of sight. It obviously had been going on for quite some time.

When we reached NORVA, there was a small group of people that were transferred to the base. About a month after the group was transferred off the Wisconsin, I had an occasion to go to the Main Officer's Club, While I was waiting for my party to arrive, I was seated at the bar when in came Lt. jg. Blankenpuss, in full uniform. He saw me and came up behind me and took the stool next me Hi, Skip, How's it going? In surprise, I turned to him and asked, What are you doing here? He replied, awaiting a General Courts-Martial. What are you doing in the meantime? To my utter surprise, he replied, I'm sitting as a member of a General Courts-Martial board. The irony of the situation really gave me pause, but then, innocent until proven guilty, right?. I quickly finished my drink, and left, never to see or hear the final outcome of that very weird watch.