On Saturday the 12th of
February, I was selected, along with a few other members of the Squadron to be given a
tour of the USS Blue Ridge.
The others, who went with me were PTEs Neal, Heighway, Costa, Cuthbert, and Wheeler. The Blue Ridge was an American Amphibious Command Ship that was visiting in Dili Harbour. We left Dili Port at about 1300h aboard one of the LCM8s of 36 Tp. It took us around 10 minutes to get out to the ship and we all got a bit damp on the way over. PTE Heighway was in the middle of the boat and got hit by a wave that missed everyone else around her.
We boarded the Blue Ridge right down at the waterline. We had to then climb a staircase that ran right up the side of the ship. We handed our weapons to the Coxswains (US Navy MPs) and were hurried into a tiny passageway in groups of six. It was here that we met our tour guide. We were then led into a big conference room to fill out a boarding card.
Next we were taken up to the mess deck. By this
time, PTE Neal and myself were well and truly lost; the ship was huge. We stopped at the
mess deck for a quick drink and the opportunity to change our money over into US dollars.
They had just about every drink you can imagine in post mix form (including some really
uncool tasting pink lemonade made from grapefruit)
.
We were then taken to the onboard PX (Post Exchange) store. The shop was only about 15 x 10 metres but it was stacked to the rafters with all sorts of merchandise, from clothing to toiletries and confectionery. The store was restocked three times during the day to keep up with the demand.
We were then taken up and given a tour of the flight deck. This involved more stairs, hatches and confusion because we had no idea where we were or where we were going. We made our way up to the bridge. I thought that it was surprisingly small for a ship that big. We had a look at UNTAET HQ through the binos on the bridge. We could see a crowd of about 400 locals milling around. The binos were so good that we could almost see the civvies changing their minds.
We were then led down to the mess deck again for another drink. It was here that we discovered the 24 hour movie channel they had on board. We got to take a quick look at the gymnasium and found out that it was even bigger than the one in Richmond.
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By this stage it was time for us to be led topside for the BBQ and drinks they put on for us. They had a basketball court set up on the main deck and there was always a game going on. We managed to find am American who had a rugby ball so we passed that around for a while before PTE Neal managed to throw it overboard. The alarm was raised and a boat was sent to recover the ball from the ocean.
We were then fed to our hearts content with hot dogs and hamburgers and all the free goffas we could handle. This went on for about two hours during which time there was a basketball game between the Americans and the Australians. I am very pleased to say that we flogged them 15-5. It wasn't too long after this that the rain started to come in sideways. We hurried back down to the mess deck for more to eat and drink before one last run to the shop so we could spend the last of our American money before the LCM8 arrived to pick us up.
The trip back was fairly interesting because at this time there was a good four-foot swell and we had to be physically lifted into the boat. All in all, it was an excellent day and an experience that none of us will forget in a hurry.