I wanted to share an email that I got the other day. I thought that some of you guys might remember this.
G'day John,
I was doing some research for an article I'm writing about my time in the Royal Australian Navy when I came across your site. I had my 'Cochrane' experience in 1980 when I was a Leading Seaman aboard HMAS Hobart, (DDG 39, a Perth Class, modified Charles F Adams Class DDG).
Because the USN seemed to be so much better resourced than our Navy was, every time any of our ships visited Pearl Harbour we always had guys heading off looking for some form of assistance. In 1980, however, when Hobart once again visited Pearl I was amazed to find crewmen from USS Cochrane coming to us for assistance. They were communications technicians and were seeking help with some problems they were having with the Link 11 system. As I was Hobart's Link 11 maintainer I was asked to help out.
I spent a number of days helping out aboard Cochrane, and really enjoyed meeting members of the crew. The guys also introduced me to some of the other facilities of Pearl Harbour, and looked after me really well. I fondly remember being driven all over the place, including up to Schofield Barracks, just because I said I wanted to get a Marine Corps fatigue cap. We eventually got one at an Army & Navy store and the guys seemed disappointed they couldn't get me a new one, though I was perfectly happy with a used one.
Sadly I am unable to recall the names of the two guys I spent the most time with, and for that I'm sorry. They showed me great professional, as well as personal courtesy. I can remember one of the guys getting into quite a discussion over my presence in the CIC, helping to fix a problem, because Cochrane and Hobart were scheduled to be on opposing sides in the forthcoming exercises. He won out, though, and we managed to solve the problem and get the system functioning properly. Indeed, when I eventually returned to Hobart my boss jokingly told me I'd been aiding and abetting the enemy.
As an old DDG 'salt' I was sad to see our three paid off, and sadder still to see them sunk as diving wrecks, but perhaps its good to know people will still derive some pleasure from them. I noticed there was possibly a movement to preserve at least one USN Charles F Adams vessel, and I hope you are successful.
Best wishes from an Aussie DDG man,
Regards,
Henry Moulds
ex- Petty Officer Electronic Technical Communications
RAN
1977-1984