| From: Gene Gardner
(LTJG 59-61)
Subject: What is a Snipe?
For some unknown reason members of the Engineering Department are called
Snipes just as shipyard workers are called Yard-Birds. The head of
the Department is the Chief Snipe and all Engineering Spaces are Snipe
Lockers. The Snipe
Department is the largest on the ship. They have 1/4 of the men
aboard, 1/3 of the space available, and spend 9/10 of the money. No
one seems to know where the money goes. The yard helps them, the
tender helps them, supply helps them, and the ship gives them cash. Snipes are a strange bunch. They are the most unmilitary
group aboard ship, always wearing dirty, oil covered dungarees. They have hair
5 inches long, carry a wrench in one hand and a rag in the other, and are
never without a flashlight in their back pocket. (Guess they don't trust
their own generators.) Still, we are not threatened by a bill from the
... Power & Light
Co. They have a habit of not getting the word,
and not doing much about it when they do.
They are a constant source
of irritation to the Exec. as they insist on coming up for air when someone
important passes by. During the summer of 1960 we were playing ASW games
with another tincan and a sub. To simulate depth charges we were
throwing hand grenades over she side. Someone dropped one after pulling the pin,
so it was kicked over the side. I recall it went clinking
along the side [hull] as the ship moved, and it finally went off when it was near
the engine room. There was no damage, but the noise got through
the hull very well. Snipes came up out of their hole faster than
Yard-Bird Shop 42 leaving the ship at quitting time!
If by chance you encounter a man going to, or from, the Mess Hall who
looks like the old man from the sea, be kind to him. He is not
shipwrecked, he is a Snipe.
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