Mark Conley
Active member
Back in the early 60s and 70s...The US Navy was under a lot of severe criticism from the Government and people of Japan concerning the presence of nuclear weapons aboard US Navy ships when they came to Japanese ports for fuel, food and liberty.
On one such event...a US Carrier docked at Yokohama Harbor to get supplies after a deployment to the northern pacific area. As always, a news crew was on hand to try and get any US Naval Personnel to admit, on camera that they had nuclear weapons on board.
It is official policy that as a representative of the US Military, you never confirm nor deny the existence of any nuclear weapon system on board any ship. The Navy was absolutely fanatics about security: even talking about such thing could get you a quick trip to the Captain’s mast…or worse. So most of the time, the men just would tell the Newsmen nothing, or gave them information that was so off-topic it could never be used on television.
So it was odd that they caught a Chief coming down the gangway that seemed eager to talk. Once on the dock, he was stopped, and asked point blank by the nationally recognized reporter what type of weapons the ship had on board. He looked at the camera and asked if the camera was on. The newsman affirmed that it was.
The Chief looked straight into the camera and said in the most dramatic voice he could muster: “The kind that go Boom” and walked away.
On one such event...a US Carrier docked at Yokohama Harbor to get supplies after a deployment to the northern pacific area. As always, a news crew was on hand to try and get any US Naval Personnel to admit, on camera that they had nuclear weapons on board.
It is official policy that as a representative of the US Military, you never confirm nor deny the existence of any nuclear weapon system on board any ship. The Navy was absolutely fanatics about security: even talking about such thing could get you a quick trip to the Captain’s mast…or worse. So most of the time, the men just would tell the Newsmen nothing, or gave them information that was so off-topic it could never be used on television.
So it was odd that they caught a Chief coming down the gangway that seemed eager to talk. Once on the dock, he was stopped, and asked point blank by the nationally recognized reporter what type of weapons the ship had on board. He looked at the camera and asked if the camera was on. The newsman affirmed that it was.
The Chief looked straight into the camera and said in the most dramatic voice he could muster: “The kind that go Boom” and walked away.
