My best sea story from being in drydock is when I was Ship's Duty Officer on USS Topkea (SSN 754) in San Diego during the magnitude 7.3 Landers and 6.5 Big Bear earthquakes on 28 June 1992. This was the first night I had felt comfortable enough as SDO to actually sleep in my rack; prior to that, I had always slept on the Wardroom bench when I was Duty Officer. It was our first night in drydock, and I woke up immediately as the ship started shaking. My first reaction was "Earthquake?", then I thought, "No, the drydock's afloat". (I didn't remember, being mostly asleep, that pins connected the drydock to the pier when it was in its normal raised position.) I next wondered if the drydock did LP blows on their ballast tank, and had just about decided that it was a carrier sailing by at a high speed when the Duty Chief burst in and said "Earthquake!" I immediately headed up the Weapons Shipping Hatch ladder and found the topside watch still clutching his desk. I verified that we didn't have any real damage (other than that the CD overboard connection duct tape had come loose) and got ready for turnover.
The duty section had all turned over, except for me (the oncoming SDO was late) when the Big Bear quake hit. I was back aft, and one of the nukes had real fear in his eyes when he yelled out, "What's happening". Being an "old hand" at this, I calmly said, with arms akimbo, "Don't worry, this is only about half as bad as the last one."
Do you have any good drydock stories?
