Hi,

I just found your web site and was pleased to see all the pictures and
read about the memories from serving on the Henry Clay. I was the Medical
Officer on the Blue crew for a patrol out of Guam in the winter / spring
in 1973. I was taught the ropes by my ID Corpsman Chief, Joe Carbonell,
who went on for his commission to become a Physicians Assistant. Cheers to
all my shipmates wherever you are.

Doc Sam Strauss

P.S. I've sent along the "Welcome Aboard" flier from 1973, a USN photo of
the Clay underway, a pic of Lt(JG) Mike O'Bryant and yours truly on the
deck transiting the Agana Harbor Feb. 1973, and a before and after.
 

I'm still in SD after discharge.

Home address is

224 -8th Street
Brooking SD   57006-1419

605-692-8059

Would love to hear from 'old' shipmates..but don't have a computer so the 
good old US Mail works best for me.  Or the telephone too.

See 'ya
BJ 
 

I was transferred to the Clay in September of 1974 and learned a lot of 
life's lessons there.  Think I started out on the Gold Crew - finished up on 
the Blue post overhaul.  Started out as the E Div officer, left as the 
Communicator.

A boomer in Pearl was my first choice coming out of prototype in West Milton 
NY.  Three senior officers tried to talk me out of it because the Nav was 
cutting budgets after Viet Nam and there would be no money to pay for that 
cross-country transfer.  Not only did I get orders to go from NY to HI, but 
the following week I also got the change of homeport letter to Portsmouth NH 
for overhaul. Went to training on something while the crew flew to Guam to 
make the last patrol before going into overhaul.  So not only did the Nav 
move me out to HI, they also moved me back to NH just after 6 months.  Proof 
that you always have to ask - they can always say No, but they might just 
say Yes - even when it doesn't make sense.

When I flew out to to Guam just before patrol, Dennie Strothers, Bill Rinz 
and Steve Logue thought it would be a good idea to let me sleep in the CO's 
stateroom (Capt Byron Cyr) because he slept in the BOQ.  Cyr gave me my 
first wake-up call the following morning.  During that patrol, Rinz, Dave
Arnold (Nav) and Stan Szemborski (MPA?) sent Strothers into a fit while he 
was trying to diet.  They trimmed ever so little off his belt every few 
days.  Strothers knew he was losing weight but for some reason his belt just 
kept getting tighter and tighter!

On arriving in Portsmouth I only remember working and sleeping for 6 weeks - 
went to New London for a week long school and when I came back I could tell 
Stan Szemborski my address, but had no idea how to get to where I lived - I 
knew only how to go from my house to the shipyard and back home after 6 
weeks!

Was EDO when Payton took the call in the Engine Room from Rickover during 
midwatch, got disqualified as EDO for doing 2 steps simultaneously in some 
test procedure while the Eng (Jim Harvey) was pressing us all very hard to 
get things done quickly.  Took a TAD tour on the Kamehameha to get OOD quals 
done while the boat was in the yards - something about cramming an 18 month 
overhaul into 30 months and needing to have qualified OODs on baord for 
seatrials.  Had a crew party at my house when I got back.  That was fun, but 
XO Jensen was concerned about people peeing in our shrubs and AWEPS Gerry 
Wilson's wife calling back to Honolulu from Portsmouth for about an hour to 
talk to friends she missed after being over-served!  Listened to SUPPO Scott 
Barnes, tell of bachelor life with Gerry Wilson and Chuck Duchesne. 
Apparently there was an interesting arrangement for dealing with dirty 
dishes in the bachelor pad.  Was OOD for a 24 hour stretch in seatrials, and 
was OOD on the surface in the sail, when XO Jensen conducted testing on the 
stern planes putting them in full dive - told me there was nothing to worry 
about!  Finally, XO Owen Poole taught me that I don't have to read all the 
mail - just the ones that come back for the third or fourth follow-up, and 
only if they threaten something really inconvenient if you ignore it again! 
Left the Clay in May 1978

Went to S8G Prototype after the Clay with Steve Logue and stayed in touch 
with him and his wife Peggy.  Steve passed away in 2004 from lung cancer :( 
I was the start up EOOW for the initail crit of the S8G reactor.

Got out in 1980, went to NYC to sell insurance to nuke utilities.  Still 
here.  We hire JO nukes every 3 to 4 years to do the same thing!

John Roach has contacted me regarding the reunion in August and plan to be 
there.
 

My name is Bill Bailey.  I was a member of the Henry Clay Blue, from
1970 to 1973.  My rate was an STS 2 (SS).  I made 8 patrols on the Clay
plus a missile run at Cape Canaveral and torpedo runs in the Virgin
Islands.  My e-mail address is canoo90@comcast.net.  I was very pleased
to find a great Web Page that shared a lot of information about people
we all shared a part of our lives with.   I was also saddened to hear of
the death of Pappy Lacoy, a great cook and shipmate, a month after I
left the Navy in 1973.

Thank you for sharing so much!

Respectfully,

Bill (Beetle) Bailey
 

What ever came of the NAVY investigation on the missing SCUBA gear? 
This happened while in NNSB&DD Co. before we ever went to sea.

Bill Maness manessbf@our-town.com