USS Houston SSN-713 Miscellaneous Pictures

These pictures were taken in April of 1996 when I was perstransing from the Houston to a small boat in Alaska after doing some acoustical testing. I was on my way to U.S. Navy dive school in Hawaii. My goal was to get my dolphins before I left, but it didn't happen. My board was scheduled for 0500. At 0530 no one was awake, so I went into the goat locker and started waking people up. My board still never happened. It was a huge disappointment after working so hard, but I was going to Hawaii. When I was topside, Capt. Nees asked how my board went. When I told him it didn't happen, he gave me a very puzzled look from the top of the sail. Immediately after I transferred to the small boat, I snapped several pics of the Houston. Attached are the ones that came out. As we pulled away, the small boat driver said that Capt. Nees was on the radio FOR ME. I thought he was going to bust me for taking the pictures or, worse, someone on the Houston had decided not to send me to dive school. However, Capt. Nees congratulated me on my hard work and told me that I had almost set a Houston record for sub quals and .... due to this tremendous effort, that I could wear my dolphins with pride at dive school and when I returned I would take my board examination. I graduated from dive school on 6/8/96, Class 90650. I was now MM2/SS/DV Morris!

On 8/1/96, the day before we were to leave for WestPac, I had a boating accident in which I almost lost my right leg. At the time, the docs at Balboa said I would never walk again. After 4 months of learning to walk and a whole lot of trouble, I left the Navy. So these pictures represent the best and most exciting time of my Navy experience. Enjoy!

Photo of Control, USS Houston (SSN-713) Spec. Op. 1987 Bigs (Helm) Taco (Stern Planes) MM9 at the Dive.