Dispatch from Crutch.

" Screwed ,Blued, and Tattooed "...which normally in sailor tongue meant you had done it all in that Port of Call...and at this joint you certainly could make that statement a reality....in my day ladies mostly imports from Argentina ....a wild wooley place....

i was there twice 69 and 73 ...it was fun haha ....what i remember  that is;   .... the girls in 60s were all wearing hotpants and kneehigh boots like gogo girls....which brings to mind the old Flying Dutchman in Charleston S C ...with girls swinging in cages suspended from the ceiling....i was ther too on board my sub.... a young officer wanted to get laid never done it before got me to take him to the joint ,he was an ensign not suppose to fraternize with enlisted, very worried about getting caught...inside was wood floors ,old building, with rooms topside deck like old style western saloon....very dark  inside we were near the corner of long bar at a table and once our eyes adjusted looked over at bar and there was the "Sea Leopard" himself   capt of the sub sea leopard drinking alone in his big pilot coat  it was in winter and cold as heck..he never said a word we were off grenadier...same squadron.....john the ensign came down smiling ...said crutch you would have been proud of me..i said why, ensign said she wouldn`t take her shirt off... so neither would i ...true story...i died laughing...still smile when i think of it

Pigtals no more when tattoos was tattoos: by Bob Crutch Crutchfield

Happy New Year , here are some pics from former crew members off my favorite Diesel Sub , these fellas sailed on her late 50s early 60s ,me late 60s early 70s....You can see Tats here in actual service at sea aboard,before Tats were considered K@@L haha,...one crewman with Swallows on chest another young crewman with name of boat/sub on his arm....and check out the Mohawk haircuts, the V8 one unique haha...you can`t do this stuff in modern Navy haha....even when I was in the Diesel Sub Force "Pigboat Navy " as they called us,45 yrs ago now, uniforms were lax at sea , some wore short pants,sandals and many of us sported beards...we were known as "Sewer Pipe" Sailors because we could take no baths aboard ,and we always smelled abit and alot like diesel (on leave once dancing slow with a gal she ask me what is that smell=it was the diesel you could not wash it out of your skin,it had to wear off ,..might add =she dealt with it haha).   I did one 40+ day patrol N.Atlantic no bath...man did that hot water feel good in Boston Navy Yard base when we finally got into Port......  the pictures of boat diving taken thru periscope is mine taken on that N Atlantic patrol, swim call off Jamaica (my crewtimes) down in Caribbean, last pic myself and some of my shipmates on dock by the Boat  ,and the newsclipping around 73 , the Amberjack was last of diesel boats to go down and our squadron SUBRON 12 was decommed = shutdown forever....  crutch

Sailor, Collector, Writer.

Bob Crutch Crutchfield