![]() So, at the age of 21, that’s what I set off to do. I was greatly disappointed, but still, I was determined to make the most of it to have a good experience. A landing ship dock, the Donner could submerge its stern section enough to let various amphibious landing craft float in and out of its “well deck.” She could carry two landing craft utility units (LCUs), which are very large, or a larger number of smaller landing craft. ![]() I was headed to the USS Donner (LSD 20) of Amphibious Squadron 8 (PhibRon 8) in the Mediterranean Fleet. When the list of assignments was posted, I realized my worst nightmare – I was to spend First Class Cruise on a lumbering amphibious ship not a dashing destroyer. My class standing wasn’t the best, shall we say, and so I was worried about how I might get assigned for first class cruise. I had already spent youngster cruise on a destroyer based in Mayport, Florida, the USS Turner (DDR 834). ![]() While many of my classmates hoped to someday serve in submarines or fly jet aircraft or pound the ground in the Marine Corps, my desire was to go down to the sea in surface warships, preferably in the destroyer force. Both were good training and good experience situations. We had spent a like period after our first year, called youngster cruise, in which we served aboard ships in enlisted men’s billets. The Night I Mooned the Entire North Vietnamese Armyįirst class cruise was about a six-week period in the summer following the third Naval Academy academic year in which we new first classmen (seniors) could serve aboard Navy ships in the capacity of junior officers.
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