Under Budget

The memo came for the ship’s Executive officer. I was working in communications, so I saw it first. The ship was nearing the end of its financial year and we were under budget by $60000. The memo from the XO asked each department head to check all supplies and equipment to see if anything was needed and could be purchased at that time. Other wise, next years budget would be cut.

The Chief of communications ask me to go with him to the supply depot to see if there was anything we could use.

We walked around the depot that would have dwarfed a Wal-Mart. We located the section that had communication equipment and came across an item that we could use. We had four Teletype machines on the ship. When we were “running ops” all four machines were spitting out messages a line at a time. This was during the height of the Vietnam War and we were undermanned, so the single seaman assigned to read the messages and tear of the ones addressed to us, could not keep up. The paper would start piling up between the machines. What we found at the depot could solve the problem. It was an auto-winder.

It was really a nice stainless steel devise. Mounted above each Teletype, it would gently roll up the paper as it was printed to a reel. When the seaman wanted to read the rolled up messages, the reel would slide apart and the paper could be removed.

We bought 4 at about $200. Each.

A few days later the Chief told me to install the machines. I removed one from its box and proceeded to do what I was told. It only took about 2 minutes to see that there was not enough room between the bulkhead and the printers to mount the machine. I call the Chief and he looked and said some French words. The he told me to put the thing back in the box and put it with the others in the Transmitter room. I asked him if I should return them to the depot and he responded with more French.

The four boxes sat there, in the way, until the next time we went out to sea for operational exercises. I got off of my shift one night at midnight and they were still there, in the way. The next morning I came back in and they were gone. I asked the chief what happened to the machines. He answered with more French and told me not to “make waves”

Later that day, the seaman who had relieved me the night before came in. I took him aside and asked him what happened to the machines. He said, “ Chief told me to take the machines and throw them overboard to see if they will float, and to make sure, no one would see me.” They didn’t float...

©2010