My First Ship in the Navy

This is my first ship, the U.S.S. Carpenter DD-825. During the late 60's the Carpenter was used in the Apollo and Gemini Recovery Missions. During this time it was homeported in Pearl Harbor. When I got to the Carpenter, she was stationed in Alameda, CA. We spent about a third of our time in San Diego, consequently, I saw more of the coast of California than I wanted to. But I learn a lot on that ship. Like, you can take a 30 to 40 degree roll and survive. You tend to have footprints 3 or 4 feet high on the bulkhead though.