Our old ship was in for a overhaul and drydocking. New navigation and sonar equipment was being installed. The two decks below the navy staterooms saw most of the initial activity. Work spaces for navigation electronics, sonar and oceanographic chart creation in the former number three hold area were all rebuilt.
- Navigation Information Center (NIC) was moved from the 04 deck above the bridge to the former Hydroplot location on the third deck. The NAVDAC computer was moved, the old nonfunctional SINS Mark 1 inertial navigator likely went to a museum.
- Hydroplot moved down to the cavernous area on the fourth deck where the disused doppler sonar had been located.
- Space for the new Multibeam Sonar was also created on the fourth deck.
- The detachment office was changed to move the crypto closet door.
- Survey Control Center, on the 03 level behind the bridge, was mostly untouched except for the Loran C receivers, which were removed, stored and later reinstalled.
Somewhere into the overhaul work somebody discovered that the existing stateroom capacity would not be adequate to accomodate all the additional field engineers ("tech reps") that would be needed to care for the new electronics. Before this just two tech reps rode along with the ship, now Michelson would need a small platoon of them!
Thus, a change order was written, creating an additional project that was to keep us in Brooklyn a little longer. The hitherto untouched number two hold was to be converted to more berthing space. More staterooms had to be added to a new platform deck at the second deck level and watertight doors installed between number two and three hatch spaces. I can't remember what they did with the space below the second deck.
For most of the time Michelson had shoreside electric power and steam, but later when serious plumbing and electrical work started the ship's power was off and temporary lighting installed. Pipefitters were followed by insulation installers, wrapping pipes and installing layers of asbestos padding over exposed hull and the ship's steel frames (ribs). The asbestos was then covered with tape and fabric and slathered with stuff that looked like drywall compound.
I don't know who, if anyone, at that time was aware of the dangers of asbestos. Shipyard workers who installed it always looked to be covered with it and with white sealing compound. Of course anybody near it got their lungs full as well.
A bunch of noisy electricians came through pulling new cables and removing old ones. They communicated by yelling at their mates: "gimme ten more feet of cable", "pull harder, dammit". There was dust and junk stuff all over the decks. It was a mess. Sweepers came through to clean all this up but it was still a mess.
The Navy guys lived in the receiving station across from the shipyard. Those not on leave or liberty worked out of the detachment office as it was the only area more or less unscathed by shipyard workers. For a while I had an 5 PM to 8 AM watch every three or four nights to keep an eye on things, but otherwise the ship was deserted at night. In the real navy there is always somebody on watch, keeping a log, in uniform and saluting at a place called the quarterdeck. Not on our ship.
Tired of the Flushing Avenue bars, one evening some of us gathered in a stateroom to drink beer and tell sea stories. Somebody got a couple cases cases of Schlitz, popular at the time, put the cans in a waste basket, covered it with a blanket, then discharged a CO2 fire extinguisher into it. Instant cold beer and a cheap al fresco shipboard party!
