Talk:USS Beale (DD-471)

Missile crisis involvement

"For examples, it became clear only in 2002 that during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the USS Beale had depth-charged an unidentified submarine which was in fact Soviet and armed with nuclear weapons, and whose commanders argued over whether to retaliate with a nuclear torpedo."[2]

--Gwern (contribs) 21:10 4 January 2009 (GMT)

I was on board the Beale during the Cuban Missile Crisis and I vividly remember the events that occurred during this time. My recollection of this one particular event begins when either us or someone else (possibly a plane) picked up a sub snorkeling. When the Beale and our other squadron members approached, it dove for the bottom and sat there, and for the next 18 hours we took turns pinging the hell out of it. I was on the mess deck watching a John Wayne movie around 10PM, when we went from Condition III (war time cruising) to GQ as sonar had picked the sub going shallow, and he was coming up very quickly. GQ for me was the Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) shack on the starboard side of the main deck, and just before I got there the conning tower broke the surface. Our arc light lit up and turned night into day, and all of our guns simultaneously locked onto the now surfaced sub. According to the Beale's log that I read several weeks ago, the distance between us was 500 yards, but in my minds eye it was more like 200 yards or less. Then everything began to happen in slow motion, at least that is how it plays out in my head. The detail that I'm about to say (confirmed in part by the Russian sub commander and XO's report) also means to me that we were a lot closer than 500 yards, or that my eyes can zoom to 10X at a moments notice. At the same time a sub-hunter from the carrier (Randolph) flew over the sub at about 500 feet, and also illuminated the sub and then continued circling about us and them.

The first person I saw, who I believed then and now to be the captain, came out on the conning tower gasping for air. He was followed by who I thought was the XO (Executive Officer) who was also gasping for air, and then shortly after he was in the fresh air the "XO" barfed over the side. This confirmed to me that they had been snorkeling to charge up the batteries and replenish their air when we caught them on the surface; however, as the Russian records show it was even more serious than that since their CO2 scrubbers had failed them . Note: All of the symptoms that I'm describing in this Email depict physical CO2 poisoning as well as the irrational behavior of the captain and the crew, such as arming their nuclear torpedo that would kill us as well as them. The next part of the story was to me at the time, and up until I read about the Russians arguing about arming their nuclear torpedoes ], the most bizarre and irrational act I saw during this intense episode.

The main deck hatch on the sub flew open, and another sailor came out again gasping for air and barely able to stand. Through the hatch next came what I guess is the Russian equivalent of a 50 caliper deck gun that the first sailor could barely pick up. By the time he was wobbly standing on his feet with the gun in his hand a second sailor made it through the hatch, also gasping for air, but this time carrying a belt of ammo wrapped around him (Poncho Via style). A third sailor followed carrying a tripod that the three of them had trouble mounting to the deck which was then subsequently mounted with the machine gun. The ammo guy then started to load the gun, but in doing so the muzzle was now pointed at us, which is when I realized that I was about to see the start of WWIII, ie if one round was fired by the Russians, I suspect that we would have blown that sub out of the water. At this point, the captain of the sub regained some of his senses and realized what was happening with the deck gun, and ordered them to point it towards their bow.

I was still standing on the main deck watching all this happen, when I realized that I hadn't opened the door to the ECM room and checked in on the sound powered phones. The EMO barely acknowledged me signing on since I believe he too was mesmerized by events that he was also watching from the bridge.

BealeET (talk) 22:41, 15 April 2013 (UTC)

References