50 Years Ago Today – Mullinnix Experiences Low Water Casualty in 2B Boiler
Excerpt from “The Last Gun Ship - History of USS Mullinnix DD-944” - A Historical Novel By Frank A. Wood
On a ship, problems are never fixed. Ships are like a marriage – you’re never done making it better. While on exercises on 18 February, Mullinnix experienced a low water casualty in 2B boiler. She had to reduce speed to 20 knots with the fires were secured under the boiler. The engineers quickly cross-connected the main engineering plant while the BTs relit the fires under 2B. Once the boiler was brought back on line, the ship returned her speed to 27 knots. That evening she supported the Forrestal while the carrier performed flight operations.
Chaos theory attempts to explain the fact that complex and unpredictable results can and will occur in systems that are sensitive to their initial conditions. A common example of this is known as the Butterfly Effect. It states that, in theory, the flutter of a butterfly's wings in China could, in fact, actually affect weather patterns in New York City, thousands of miles away. In other words, it is possible that a very small occurrence can produce unpredictable and sometimes drastic results by triggering a series of increasingly significant events. On Monday, 20 February, Mullinnix and Fox had just taken up their plane guard stations astern of Forrestal, when at 1713 one of Forrestal’s fighter aircraft crashed into the sea off the port bow and sank. Was a butterfly responsible? Or was it insane to imagine that a single flap of a single seagull's wings would be enough to change the course of all future weather systems on the earth, and therefore Naval in-flight technical problems? Inevitable. Fate. Terms used by the Navy when carrying out their mission. The pilot, thankfully, was recovered by helicopter six minutes later.
In the early dawn light of 21 February, Mullinnix took on 64,035 gallons NSFO (Navy Special Fuel Oil) from USS Severn AO-61. Several hours later, a second special sea detail with USS Severn delivered mail to the Mux crew. Later, as the sun dipped below the horizon, USS Forrestal commenced flight operations with Mullinnix standing plane guard detail.
Shortly after midnight the ship passed through the Straits of Bonifacio enroute to rendezvous with units of Task Force 60 in accordance with COMCARDIV 6 OP-ORDER 51-61, followed closely by USS M.C. Fox DDR-829 and USS Forrestal. At 0744 she anchored in Golfo degli Aranci, Sardinia with the following ships:
• USS Springfield CLG-7
• USS Forrestal CVA-59
• USS Shangri La CVA-38
• USS Little Rock CLG-4
• USS Mississenewa AO-144
• USS Neosho AO-143
• USS Severn AO-61
• USS Shasta AE-6
• USS Suribachi AE-21
• USS Bigelow DD-942
• USS Mitscher DL-2
• USS Sumner DD-692
• USS D. H. Fox DD-799
• USS Corporal SS-346
To be continued...
Cheers,
Woody
On a ship, problems are never fixed. Ships are like a marriage – you’re never done making it better. While on exercises on 18 February, Mullinnix experienced a low water casualty in 2B boiler. She had to reduce speed to 20 knots with the fires were secured under the boiler. The engineers quickly cross-connected the main engineering plant while the BTs relit the fires under 2B. Once the boiler was brought back on line, the ship returned her speed to 27 knots. That evening she supported the Forrestal while the carrier performed flight operations.
Chaos theory attempts to explain the fact that complex and unpredictable results can and will occur in systems that are sensitive to their initial conditions. A common example of this is known as the Butterfly Effect. It states that, in theory, the flutter of a butterfly's wings in China could, in fact, actually affect weather patterns in New York City, thousands of miles away. In other words, it is possible that a very small occurrence can produce unpredictable and sometimes drastic results by triggering a series of increasingly significant events. On Monday, 20 February, Mullinnix and Fox had just taken up their plane guard stations astern of Forrestal, when at 1713 one of Forrestal’s fighter aircraft crashed into the sea off the port bow and sank. Was a butterfly responsible? Or was it insane to imagine that a single flap of a single seagull's wings would be enough to change the course of all future weather systems on the earth, and therefore Naval in-flight technical problems? Inevitable. Fate. Terms used by the Navy when carrying out their mission. The pilot, thankfully, was recovered by helicopter six minutes later.
In the early dawn light of 21 February, Mullinnix took on 64,035 gallons NSFO (Navy Special Fuel Oil) from USS Severn AO-61. Several hours later, a second special sea detail with USS Severn delivered mail to the Mux crew. Later, as the sun dipped below the horizon, USS Forrestal commenced flight operations with Mullinnix standing plane guard detail.
Shortly after midnight the ship passed through the Straits of Bonifacio enroute to rendezvous with units of Task Force 60 in accordance with COMCARDIV 6 OP-ORDER 51-61, followed closely by USS M.C. Fox DDR-829 and USS Forrestal. At 0744 she anchored in Golfo degli Aranci, Sardinia with the following ships:
• USS Springfield CLG-7
• USS Forrestal CVA-59
• USS Shangri La CVA-38
• USS Little Rock CLG-4
• USS Mississenewa AO-144
• USS Neosho AO-143
• USS Severn AO-61
• USS Shasta AE-6
• USS Suribachi AE-21
• USS Bigelow DD-942
• USS Mitscher DL-2
• USS Sumner DD-692
• USS D. H. Fox DD-799
• USS Corporal SS-346
To be continued...
Cheers,
Woody
posted by Frank A. Wood at 13:56
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