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READERS' STORIES |
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Comments from Kearney Bennet01-15-02 Just stumbled on the site while killing time over the Holidays and got a kick out of it. Read the Reader's Story by Gene "Skip" Kohler which was the first I had seen on what actually happened to the 22 boat despite being in the community for 20 plus years. I was OIC of the 22 from 1972/3 to 1974. The 22 ("Deposit 22") was returned to San Diego from overhaul and Subic in late 1973. I took a boat crew to Long Beach where she had been deck-loaded on an amphib, arranged for a crane to put her in the water, then spent a couple of days getting her ready and making the transit to Coronado. Interestingly, we also had flooding during a gunshoot off San Clemente when the port salt water intake "broke". I had a very sharp EN 1 (Heinman??) as my lead engineman and he and I fished around in the bilges until we determined it was the salt water intake and that securing the engine was the best idea. The aluminum floorplates were just starting to float. We dewatered as best we could, dumped the ammunition over the side and came home on one engine. The troops moaned and bitched the whole way about missing a gunshoot, but I was happy to be alongside Pier 14. Amazing and very sad that possibly the same problem ruined the "Superboat". R/Kearney D. Bennett CAPT USNR Ret. Former skipper PTF 22, AOIC PTF 21, and BSU-1/CRS-1 Ops Officer Former Reserve Commodore Special Boat Squadron One, Kearney D. Bennett
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