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Monday Maritime Matters

August 6th, 2007 by xformed

Before I begin, I have to comment that my few commenters have proven themselves to be practical, thoughtful people, helping me see I might should just leave the titling of this regular post as is. On the other hand, I think the potential for humor might just have escaped them…

WTC John King, USN
This day’s subject: WTC John King, USN.
Chief Water Tender John King served our nation for 26 years and in two wars, the Spanish American War, and again in WWI. One thing that makes John King rather unique is that he was twice awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, making him one of 19 service members so decorated, and one of six Navy personnel. He saw action at the Battle of Manila Bay with Adm Dewey’s Fleet.
Two Medals of Honor
His first CMOH came as the result of his actions aboard USS VICKSBURG.. It was awarded by President Theodore Roosevelt:Onboard the USS Vicksburg, for heroism in the line of his profession, at the time of the accident to the boilers, 29 May 1901.The second, awarded by President Taft:

Onboard the USS Salem for extraordinary heroism in the line of his profession on the occasion of the accident to one of the boilers of that vessel 13 September 1909.

Not much is available on the net about John King, with the most extensive version at Wikipedia.

One ship has been named in honor of WTC John King, USN: USS JOHN KING (DD-953/DDG-3)

USS JOHN KING (DDG-3) at Kithera Anchorage 1978
Ordered as a ship of the FORREST SHERMAN Class Destroyers in 1956, she was later redesignated DDG-953 and in 1957 DDG-3, (before commissioning), the second ship of the ADAMS Class Guider Missile Destroyers. USS JOHN KING was a member of the USS SARATOGA Battle Group that deployed to the Mediterranean in late October, 1978, returning to her homeport of Norfolk, VA in May, 1979. I was in company with her and, on the transit to the Med, was sent over to be an exercise observer for a graded missile firing for her training requirements.

Flown over via one of our embarked H-46 cargo helos, the deck of the KING was too small for an H-46 to land, so I had to be hoisted to the deck. Once in the “horse collar” and out of the helo, dangling a mere few feet from the safety of the inside of the fuselage, but still at eye level with the crewman, it got a little exciting for me. Story to be the topic for this coming “Ropeyarn Sunday ‘Sea Stories’ and Open Trackbacks.”

This entry was posted on Monday, August 6th, 2007 at 12:01 am and is filed under History, Maritime Matters, Military, Military History. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

2 responses about “Monday Maritime Matters”

  1. Deborah Aylward said:
    August 6th, 2007 at 12:43 am

    Although your readers may be in the thousands rather than the millions, we did catch the humour.

    However, one does have to be careful as sometimes a blog owner may not appreciate the attempts at a witty comeback by others….or in tinkering with the perfectly good name of a successful Monday post.

    Veritas et Fidelis Semper

  2. Steeljaw Scribe said:
    August 6th, 2007 at 4:14 am

    ^ what she said 😉
    – SJS

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