(Continued from DOLPHINS,  page 5)

"Thanks… I owe you one."
"Oh, damn near forgot. Doc has the Below Decks Watch lined up to take your temperature when he racks out the mid watch… If you are running 102° or better he's supposed to bust Doc out of the rack."
"Thanks… I still feel lousy."
"You look lousy… Hey, I'm gonna swing up in that tip bunk under the return ventilation line. If you need anything, Horsefly, just poke me… Okay? That's no bullshit."
It all came with Dolphins. And sooner or later, you paid some serious dues.
"Hey Dex."
"Yo!"
"There are a couple of airdales giving some half-loaded First Class off the Argonaut a tough time."
"Whatcha mean, tough time?"
"I think they are just about to deck him."
"So?"
"So, he's a gahdam boatsailor, Horsefly… We're not gonna let those bird farm idiots work him over, without making them pay."
"Did you take a good look at'em?"
"Yeah… Big guys, huh?"
"Big, are you kidding? The last time I saw anything as big as that Aviation Machinist Mate, it was wearing horseshoes and pulling the Budweiser wagon."
Dolphins required you to sacrifice a set of whites and up to a pint of blood to extract a fellow idiot from a perilous situation… Usually of his own making. That old Three Musketeer, "One for all and all for one" thing. It was an insurance policy that insured that one of your Dolphin-wearing buddies would drag your bloody carcass out of the bullring after the main event… And verify and endorse, in his role as incident witness, the accuracy and veracity of the explanatory horseshit you had custom fabricated for your duty officer.

(DOLPHINS Continued on page 4)

CHOPPER HISTORY - 1960s

This is the third and final article covering the history of USS Chopper.  The previous two articles covers the period of the 1940s and 1950s.

Early in 1961 CHOPPER had an extensive refit and overhaul at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. Following release from the yard, CHOPPER conducted shakedown exercises from New London, CT SubBase, providing services to the submarines there, with a shakedown cruise to Bermuda as well.

Departure from New London area was delayed when, while being used as a training target by another submarine, CHOPPER was accidentally struck in the screws by a training torpedo, causing severe propeller damage. The Submarine Tender USS FULTON replaced the propellers and CHOPPER departed for Key West, where daily operations were conducted for the remainder of 1961.

The new year  found the USS CHOPPER preparing for a forthcoming deployment. On 8 January 1962 USS CHOPPER departed for the North Atlantic to participate in spring exercises .During this period she visited Portsmouth, England, remaining there from 23 January to 3 February 1962.  Upon return to Key West in early April, Chopper entered a refit period to repair damage caused by severe conditions in the North Atlantic, then provided services to local ASW and UDT commands. 

Chopper operated locally until October when she and the rest of Submarine Squadron 12 urgently deployed in response to the Cuban Blockade. While the rest of the Submarine Squadron went north to Charleston and Norfolk, USS CHOPPER was assigned a special operation that kept her in the Florida Straits.  Following the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis, President John F. Kennedy came to Key West to review the forces that would have been on the front lines had hostilities broken out.

"Amid the excitement and chill of late Monday afternoon, the President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, disrupted his motorcade review of the U.S. Naval Station to come aboard CHOPPER.

(Continued CHOPPER 60's HISTORY on page 2)