The Rest of the Story

I was the blue crew missile technician comshaw artist. Rockwood MT1(SS) would tell me what he wanted and I made it happen. I arranged to get some things done for Captain Crispin (which the yard refused to do) when he found out that all he had to do was let Rockwood know what he wanted.

I got to know about every yard-bird in every shop which had something we could use. I also helped out the cooks by doing breakfast when they would come back after a night on the town. It gave me access to all the goodies. Coffee, pies, steaks, cookies, nuts and other goodies. I made it possible for some of the shops to have some extra barbecues.

I had a complete set of custom designed test-leads made for every piece of equipment in the missile compartment plus a supply of test-lead parts so we could make them ourselves on demand. I also arranged to have the handles of all of our metal tools rubber coated. I designed and had built a specialized tool to unfasten the nuts on the inner door of the inner missile tube, inboard upper level. I also designed a combination locker/seat for the missile trolley station, on the upper level, all paid for with food from the galley.

The man who made the plaque taught Richard Moskowits and I to use the engraving machine and let us work on some of his jobs. They made the plaque for us because we made the engraving shop an offer they couldn't refuse. Needless to say, they didn't have to buy any coffee for a very long time.

The plaque was removed by Richard Moskowitz the last remaining member of both the blue and gold crews. We had it made at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and installed in the missile compartment, upper level foward port side, with the unanimous agreement that the last missile technician member of the commissioning crew would take it with them.

I found out from Steve Coleman and Louis Drost that Richard was the last and had taken the plaque.

Richard Moskowitz was at the previous reunion in Florida and confermed to Louis Drost that he had the original plaque. I met with Louis and Don Shreck at the reunion in Groton and we started putting two and two together. We now know the rest of the story. The plaque that I purchased was in fact the first of two plaques made. The one that I have had mistakes made on some of the names and we had a corrected replacement plaque made which replaced the one I have. We all thought that the plaque was discarded and destroyed. How it survived from 1964 until now is beyond me. The lady that put it up for sale didn’t know of any connection to the Navy or the Portsmouth Navel Shipyard.

The plaque that I have did not go to sea or make any patrols. The plaque the Richard has is the original and official plaque that went to sea and made the first patrols until Richard took it with him when the left the USS Nathanael Greene. The names that were misspelled on the plaque have been corrected via Photo Shop.

by: Ren Willie MT3(SS) Blue Crew