[sergeantdave]

While doing guard duty at the brig on the USS Oriskany, I got bored and asked the admiral if I could take the carrier for a spin.

"Well, sarge, I don't know. What's your experience?"

I told the admiral that I did extensive fishing for muskie at Buffalo Lake while at the helm of a 15 ft. boat sporting a 20 hp Evinrude.

That's all he needed to know, and he gave me the wheel, warning me not to get to close to Haiphong Harbor 'cause the waters were mined and oysters were busy making pearls.

So I gave the carrier a little spin, doing a figure eight and cruising south and then up the Mekong River, doubling back under evasive maneuvers I learned while tracking walleyes, to Osaka to confuse any enemy frogmen shadowing us and then I parked the ship in a small Vietnamese fishing boat berth while the crew bobbed for sea bass.

"Good job, sarge," said the admiral. "One day you'll win an award at the Liar's Club convention, or enter life as a fiction writer or politician."

[Northern Yankee]

Sarge... great story.

Just one thing... did you have a line out while taking that carrier for a spin?

Too funny!