About fifteen years ago I was working on a barge being dragged all over hell by a tugboat skippered by a Southern gentleman that was pretty close to retirement. When he came alongside he told me he got a call from his son, a Naval officer that was then the navigation officer of an aircraft carrier.
"My boy called me and wanted to know what kind of radar I have on the tug," he said.
"I wonder why?" I asked.
"He was in kind of a hurry. I guess it was some kind of Navy sattelite phone or something. He waned the model number of the radar. I kind of want to know myself. I'll let you know when I find out.," he replied.
Later I found out.
Seems his son, the Naval officer was talking to the skipper and said that while the carrier had multiple radar sets that could spot small aircraft and missiles thousands of miles away, they didn't have one that could do a decent job if spotting navigational buoys and small craft.
The captain asked him what kind of radar should they try and get that was designed for that.
"The kind they got on my daddy's tugboat," he replied. (He's a southern boy. Southern boys have daddies.)
"What kind might that be?" asked the captain. "If you don't know, call him and find out."
That's how the tug skipper got the call. He relayed the information to his son who relayed it to the skipper who ordered the supply people to get one MOST riki-tik.
When the carrier made their next port of call the radar distributor sent a couple of guys down and they installed the new radar.
A few days later the carrier got underway and navigated its way down the channel guided by the same kind of radar set that guided the navigation officer's daddy's tugboat.
True story.
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