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PRECOMTRA AT NAVAL AMPHIBIOUS BASE LITTLE CREEK, VA

For most of us, the initial training phase began in Dec., 1965, at Shelton Barracks in Little Creek, VA., where the newly created ship's company trained in firefighting, damage control, operations, gunnery and NBC (Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical) warfare. We spent weeks in the classroom before taking the field to fight real oil fires, and to plug holes in mock-ups as tons of water rushed in. From boot camp to retirement, these drills are part of the Navy's continuous education and preparedness, a daily routine in fhe fleet.

While shore-based mock-ups were used to simulate shipboard conditions, there was no simulating tear gas or raging fire. The smoke and flames were real--and hot. The gas was blinding and painful.

For live fire gunnery practice, we boarded an LSD. Small arms practice was conducted at a field range, all rather leisurely.

Sleep came easy after a day of training, although the old Shelton Barracks were quite cold in winter, heated by a virtual pot-bellied stove. We now know who wet them down at night, but we keep that a secret.

We drilled, too...in the snow. "Your left, your left, your other left..."

The 601 was up north, in the yards at New York Shipyard in Camden, NJ, where the "NUCLEUS CREW" assisted the yardbirds, played an advisory role.

--Steve Murdoch photo

On The Job Training Following all that classroom training, the "balance crew," as the Little Creek group was called, transferred from Shelton Barracks to the USS Cheboygan County (homeport Norfolk) for on the job training. We doubled the crew, slept in the troops quarters, and worked side-by-side with ship's company. Berthing in troops quarters was tight living and a not too pleasant experience for Clarke's crew. It's this man's Navy...still a crowd is a crowd. PHILADELPHIA NAVAL BASE I got lucky in March, 1966, when Clarke XO Ron Roy ordered boat coxswain Deschenes, engineman Medley, and me (then a BM3) to report to the Philadelphia Naval Base to make ready the ship's LCVP boats. We reported TAD to ComPhilaGruLantResFlt, berthing aboard a tender. The balance crew remained on board Cheboygan until late spring when they disembarked Cheboygan to join us in Philadelphia. Then came July and the recommissioning ceremony. Now imagine that, my new ship recomissioned in my home town. Aw, shucks...or aw, shit? I didn't know the answer at the time. But I did know that since childhood we had been groomed for military service. We were a generation brought up on WWII movies, Six-gun Theatre, and breakfast cereals that were "shot from guns." Going off to war was our destiny.

CLARKE COUNTY COMMAND LtCMDR HAROLD GOLDSBERRY, C.O. Ship's Emblem LT RON ROY, X.O.

The USS Clarke County was recommissioned in July '66, with Lt. Harold Goldsberry in command. After the ceremony, LST 601 went south to the Norfolk Virginia Naval Station and continued training. Thankfully, that was in summer. Imagine what AOTU training is like in snow.