by Dan Stiffler, SOG3 1961-1963

It happened in the fall of 1961, during Fleet Week in San Francisco.  The Ernest G. Small had been invited to participate in a Fleet Review in the Bay.  We steamed in one grey morning along with fire boats spraying water in great arcs into the air.  A band was playing on Pier 18 at the Embarcadero; a huge throng crowded the pier.  It was to be a moment of glory.......

I was on Sea Detail on one of the aft spring lines.  The bow line was already across and the shore detail, a bunch of green horns from Treasure Island, was preparing to tie us up. The line handler with the bow line was preparing to make it fast to the pier.  Then something unusual happened.  The story was a fuse blew and the Engine Order Telegraph went to “All Ahead Flank” in the port engine room, of course the Machinist Mate on the throttle answered the bell.  The ship suddenly veered to starboard and began to pick up speed.. 

One of the old salts, maybe Torpedoman 1st Class Duke Snider yelled “The old man is going to park her on Market Street”.  The young seaman on the dock with the bow line was running along holding the line, looking like he was trying to pull us back to the dock.  When he finally let go, his arm was stretched out as far as he could reach over the water and he was close to falling in..  I grabbed hold of the aft gun mount and braced myself for the crash.  And what a crash it was.

There was a terrible roar of screeching hull and splintering dock as we came to a rest just short of a warehouse next to the dock.  It was very lucky that it was the port and not starboard engine that revved up because the band and our fans would have been directly in the path had we veered to the left. 

The next day there was a picture in the San Francisco Chronicle of the dented bow surrounded by floating timber from the dock.  The caption said something to the effect, "Yep, It's a Destroyer".  I kept that picture for decades but when I recently went to look for it, it was missing from my scrapbook.  It probably fell out in one of the many moves I have made over the last 40+ years.