by Bert Royster,
STG2 1964-1966
It was a dark and stormy night
(Oh yes Snoopy, it
really was) and foul winds were
blowing over the seas! It was late fall in1964
and the USS Ernest G. Small DDR-838 was steaming
up in the Gulf of Tonkin. I recall being on
watch, in the Sonar room, really bored, the only
thing to hear in the water were the sounds of
snapping shrimp (they sound like frying bacon or
Rice Crispies). I listened to the same thing
day after day, hour after hour,
Ka-Ping---snap/crackle
pop…Ka-Ping---snap/crackle/pop, while we cruised
around the Gulf at Yankee Station. Things
instantly changed though, when Combat advised
the Bridge they had a small surface bogie on
radar, traveling around 50 knots and it was
headed in our direction.
As some of us may recall, back in those days of
‘Nam we could tell how well air strikes on North
Vietnam’s PT boats did, as usually it wasn’t too
long afterwards (in the middle of the night) we
would track a few PT boats headed east from
Hainan Island to replace the ones that were
destroyed around Hai Phong in North Viet Nam.
Although the PT boats would take a route miles
away from our patrol location, our radar could
easily watch them and sometimes we in Sonar
could hear the sounds of their high-speed
propellers too. We would keep close track them
to be able to tell if they got any…errr…’funny
ideas’ about us, so we could take appropriate
counter measures.
The Bridge ordered
Combat to closely watch that new contact and for
us in Sonar to listen up for the sounds of those
high-speed propellers. Suddenly, I wasn’t bored
any more! In the Sonar Shack we did a complete
search and listened hard on the bearing of that
new surface contact, but don’t hear any thing
except ‘snap/crackle/pop’. We commenced
switching switches and dialing dials, basically
doing everything we could to get the max out of
our Sonar gear, but ‘snap/crackle/pop’ were the
only sounds heard. Sonar then reported to the
Bridge that we could hear nothing in the water,
except the sounds of ambient sea noise.
Next thing to happen
was the OOD ordered Sonar to check our gear to
ensure it was operating properly, as it seemed
something our way cometh…with evil intent!
Others in our Sonar Gang were quickly awakened
and we rapidly determined OUR gear was
functioning properly. This was reported to
both the Bridge and Combat. The contact kept
closing; still traveling around 50 knots, by
then it was coming almost directly at us and
only a mile or two away. Again came the order
to report what we could hear to the Bridge.
Sonar’s response was, ‘There is nothing is
traveling at high speeds in the water on that
bearing…or for that matter, anywhere around the
ship!’ The Bridges’ Sonar repeater speaker was
turned way up so the OOD could hear what we were
hearing in the water. Then the OOD demanded an
instant explanation for the loud
‘snap/crackle/pop’ sounds he was hearing, since
it surely must be high-speed---‘NO SIR, that’s
only the sound of shrimp, nothing else!’
Go
to Pg. 2
