You are correct. In 1961 Pres. Kennedy was to visit the ship. I was on a working party that had to paint the aft escalator. We worked till 2 am to complete it, and he never came. He had to attend Speaker of the house Sam Rayburns funeral. There were 2 escalators 1 forward 1 aft.
Hello Jim: I was a radioman and rode the escalator many times. Radio central or the "radio shack" was forward, starboard side. I was discharged shortly after we arrived in Norfolk in July 61 and before the pilots and air crew arrived. I believe you were right in that I recall someone told me the escalators were to be used by the officers and pilots when they came aboard and I could not use them any longer. I also think they had a reverse button as I seem to remember riding it down sometimes.
Completely true about the escalators. I left in '68 and they were still going and don't recall any rerstrictions on use during the time I was on board from 67 to 68.
I was an AQB2, in VA85 (Vietnam Deployments 65-66 and 66-67), our Ready Room (RR#3), was very near the forward escalator (starboard side) and I rode it hundreds of times from our Ready Room to the 03 deck just below the Flight Deck, to go between the RR and the Flight Deck.
I can't say about earlier than 67 but they were there 67-71 and I was on board in 72 they were still working. Once when they were working on then with the cover at the bottom open I followed someone down his foot went into the workings and pealed most of the skin off his foot he was in a lot of pain. The guys working on it were in a lot of pain as well for not properly securing them.
I served aboard the Hawk as a CATCC Air Traffic Controller, and as such, was sent to assist the ATO Officer many times, as ATO was always attached to OC Division in those days. We used the escalators consistently on two WESTPACS and the World Cruise in which we took the Hawk through the Suez Canal and into the Med OPAREA. This was during the mid to late 1980's so they were indeed there then, and for the most part, they were operational the vast majority of the time.
Hey! Your info got lost, so sorry about the lag. You can e-mail me at my work address for now. Mom has an e-mail that I can send pictures and stuff. Dad's address is Delman Macpherson, 2592 Palmetto Hall Blvd., Mount Pleasant, SC 29466-8070. Phone (843)856-4855
Hey Jim & Carl,
Just saw your item here and wanted to assure you there were two escalaters for sure. I used to work on them as far back as 62 with Patric Harrigan, and a few others. They were always broke down. The pilots used them a lot. I was in 'A' division working out of the elevator crew. I spent most of my time in the after steering room. Lots of stories from that old ship. I am a plankowner and left the ship in 1964 from Okinawa just before the deployment to the coast of vietnam.
Hey Bob, I was in the power shop till 64 near end of cruise. My station for sea and anchor and GQ, collsion all that stuff was starboard after steering. Do you remember when we had to replace one of the bearings in the motor down there. It was big job and we were at sea.
I don't remember ur name. Do u remember Rio and the Brazil carrier incident. Met the OOD on the bridge who i talked to on SP phone that sunday. He says he hated after steering drills, fraid wed mess up. I told him, never fear we knew what we were doing.
Wanted to let you know that the escalators are still there, I just got off the Hawk in 2000 and the forward one worked at sea and I do not think the aft one did anymore. But that was the way I got to the mess decks from my shop.
CTR1(SW) Jackson Plant
I worked in the A&O electrical shop in the early 80's, and the esclators were some of the equipment we maintained. As I recall they worked well going up but not going down. Too many people running down the escalator with gear on would cause the limit switches to trip...
I remember the escalators well. I don't recall any problems with them except for one time.....we had a power outage and I was stuck on it for over two hours!
