"Mr. Lloyd, Mr. Lloyd are you awake?" The voice of the Messenger of the Watch brings me to consciousness. It’s close to 2330 (11:30PM) and the messenger of 8 –12 watch has just awakened me and reminded me that I have the Mid Watch (midnight to 4AM).

In seconds I am out of my bunk and pulling on the uniform I have laid out before going to sleep. Although I don’t have a roommate I do not turn on the light since I don’t want to restrict my night vision. The messenger has left the door to my stateroom open and the red light from the Officers Country passageway.

Officer’s Country is a section of the ship where the ship’s officer’s staterooms are located. On a destroyer that is all of the officers (16-20) except the Captain (CO) who has a Sea Cabin adjacent to the bridge of the ship and an In-port Cabin or Stateroom where he conducts his daily business. The Staterooms serve from two to four officers with the exception of the Executive Officer (XO) who has a stateroom to himself. The other rooms are generally assigned by seniority and by department. The Head of a Department (Weapons, Operations, Engineering, and Supply) will generally have two man rooms which they share with the senior Division officer from their department. The four man staterooms are generally referred to as JO Jungles (Junior Officer Jungles). Each officer has his own bunk, a desk/work area, and a hanging cabinet in addition to a storage area that is part of and under the bunk that is used for personal storage. Somewhat compact and crowded, but quit spacious in comparison to the enlisted men’s berthing compartments which house from 18 – 45 men in a room.

I was extremely fortunate in that my ship had been equipped to carry a Squadron Commander and his staff. The Squadron Commander (Commodore) had his own cabin near the CO’s in port cabin, and the Officer’s Country included room for his staff included a single man stateroom with a bunk that converted into a lounge and quite a bit of extra storage. Since the Squadron Commander was not generally embarked I was assigned to this single man stateroom with the provision that if the Commodore and his staff were to embark I would move to a different stateroom on short notice. The one time the Commodore embarked he did not bring his staff and I did not have to move (this occasion will be covered in another Sea Story).

These staterooms were on either side of the passageway (corridor) which lead to a ladder (stairway) to the Officers Mess (Wardroom or dining room). There was also a Head (bathroom) with a couple of stalls and showers and urinals.

At nightfall all of the lights above the main deck are changed to red as are those in areas where people sleep. This serves two purposes, it provides enough light to see by and it does not affect your ability to see into the darkness. Hopefully, I will not run into a white light between now and the time I am relieved from my watch. If I do it will take about 30 minutes for my eyes to re-adjust to night vision.

As I finish pulling on my uniform I head for the Wardroom with a brief stop in the head to maximize my chances for an uninterrupted four hours on watch.

The Wardroom is a combination room for the ship’s officers. It is a true multipurpose room. We meet with each other both casually and officially. There is a seating area with a small table for the occasional card game or board game (usually in port). It is the room in which we meet our wives, friends and visitors in port. It is our dining room. It is used for a nightly movie at sea and during General Quarters (GQ) it is an operating theater.

The Officer’s mess is, in the 1960’s and 70’s, completely separate from the enlisted mess. Officers are given a monthly allotment for meals. Out of this allotment a fee is paid to the Mess. This money is used to purchase food for the officers and any decoration or modernization of the wardroom. Our food is kept in its own storage area and prepared for us by Stewards. Steward is a specialized rate or skill for an enlisted man. In my day Filipino men almost exclusively filled it. In exchange for their service in the Navy they won US citizenship. They prepared our food, cleaned our common areas, and took our laundry to and from the ship’s laundry. In prior times they would make the beds and shine the shoes of the officers.

In the Wardroom, where the lights are all turned to red, I meet with my Junior officer of the Deck, the CIC (Combat Information Officer), and the Engineer Officer of the watch. The duty steward passes our Mid-Rats (midnight rations) through little sliding doors to the darkened officers galley (kitchen). Generally we have soup or sandwiches and, of course, coffee. Just a quick stop and we are off to out watch stations.

As I enter the bridge area I request and am granted permission to come on the bridge. I proceed to the Quartermasters desk at the rear of the bridge. There I check the charted position of the ship, the weather report, the log of the watches since I was last on duty, and read the captain’s night orders. Night orders consist of: Standing Orders, which state the uniform guidelines the Captain has established, and Nightly Orders which tells me what the Captain expects will happen during the night and any events or circumstances he wants to be awakened for.

I then check the horizon for any visible lights on or off the ship. When I feel confident that I understand the obvious condition of the ship and her circumstance I approach the Officer of the Deck whom I am to relieve. He briefs me on the condition of the ship, what has happened on his watch and what I should expect on my watch. When I feel confident that I have all the information I need I salute him and say, "I relieve you Sir".

I then announce to the watch, " I am Lieutenant Lloyd, I have the Deck". The Quartermaster notes the time and logs that I have assumed the watch as Officer of the Deck. As Officer of the Deck I am the representative of the Captain and assume temporary responsibility for the ship and its movements. The Captain is ultimately responsible for this, however, in practice, I am his surrogate until or unless he or someone else assumes this responsibility. By tradition this should occur by 5 minutes before the hour the watch commences. A short 25 minutes after being awakened.

While I was proceeding to relieve the OOD the Junior Officer of the Deck (JOOD) has been going through a similar procedure. He is generally a less experienced officer who is learning what he must know to be in charge of the ship. Generally he will assume the Con, literally controlling the movement of the ship by giving the verbal orders to the rudder and engines. This makes him comfortable with giving orders, learning how various changes make the ship move. He gets a feel for how many RPM (revolutions per minute) make the ship move at various speeds, how much effect the rudder movement has at different speeds.

Another duty that the JOOD generally has is the maneuvering table. This is simply a piece of paper that looks like a radar screen and is used for vector analysis to determine how close our ship will pass to another ship and what course and speed the other ship is making. He (and the OOD) periodically looks at the surface radar screen to see if any other ships are in the area. When a new contact (a blip on the screen) shows up a grease pencil is used to mark its position. He also marks its range and bearing (distance and direction) on the maneuvering table. He also notes the time. A few minutes later another mark is made on the scope face and the maneuvering table. By simply drawing a line through the two points on the scope screen you can see how close the two ships will pass if each maintains its current course and speed. Using the known course and speed of your ship and the time and relative location of the two points marking the other ship its course and speed can be calculated.

When orders are given to the rudder they are called out by the officer who has the Con to the Helmsman.

The Helmsman stands behind the ship's wheel and looks at a gyrocompass and a magnetic compass. For example the order may be "Rudders Left three degrees, come to course 090". The Helmsman repeats the order "Rudders Left three degrees, coming to course 090" and turns the wheel to move the rudder. As he is doing this the Quartermaster of the Watch is recording the order in the Ship's Log. When the rudders are positioned at three degrees left the Helmsman reports "My rudders are left three degrees, coming to course 090"and the conning officer acknowledges it. When he comes to a heading of 090 he reports, " My rudders are amidships steady on course 090" and the quartermaster log it and the Conning officer acknowledges the report.

When the conning officer changes speed he shouts the order to the Lea-helmsman. The Lea-helmsman is standing at the Engine Order Telegraph (EOT). The Engine Order Telegraph has a lever for each engine which is marked Ahead 1/3, Ahead 2/3, Ahead Full, and Ahead Flank. It is also marked for engine Astern.

The EOT also has a set of dials that allow him to indicate a desired number of RPM for the Propeller shafts. The Lea-helmsman also wears a sound powered telephone, which is connected, to each engine room where the throttle-man controls the speed of the propeller shaft.

The sound powered telephone is exactly what it sounds like the speaker’s voice into the microphone creates an electric signal that is transmitted by wire to earphones where it is converted back into sound.

The Boson of the watch is the enlisted man in charge of the enlisted watch. He makes routine announcements. He sounds alarms when ordered to. He insures that the Messenger of the watch knows who to wake and when to wake them.

The Quartermaster of the watch plots the ship’s position on a chart on the chart desk, maintains the ship’s log, and takes weather measurements.

Lookouts are generally stationed on the left and right bridge wings. The bridge wings are external to the normally enclosed bridge and provide unobstructed visibility to the sides, forward and aft. A third lookout is stationed overlooking the stern of the ship to insure nothing is coming up behind and is there to see if anyone falls overboard.

The lookouts are connected by sound powered telephones to the bridge talker.

As midnight approaches, the boson reports to me, "The Watch has been Set". I acknowledge his report and the watch proceeds as normal.