One of the high points of the 1974 cruise was our two-day full-power chase of the Russian heilcopter cruiser "Leningrad" across the Indian Ocean.
Then-RAdm James Watkins, the Task Group Commander, apparently wanted a close-up look at this new and menacing Soviet ship. When we finally caught the "Leningrad", Captain Buck brought us up abreast at about 1,000 yards.
Now the Russians, in fine style, turned out at the rails in their Donald Duck outfits, either in salute or out of mere curiosity. Just as curious, myself and a few of the reprobates from the Power Shop wandered up to the Aft Shore Power Station at the base of the after mack.
We took it as our bound duty to return the salute in snipe fashion, dropping our dungarees and assuming a most unflattering posture (being careful not to be observed from the then-crowded bridge wing).
Assuming the Russians took their usual intel photos, I have every reason to believe that the posterior portraits of several Chicago electricians are enshrined in some dossier deep in the Kremlin basement.
ex-EM2 Richard L. Hanson (E-Div., 1973-76) (rlhanson@worldnet.att.net)