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A question about the USS Saratoga's nickname?

Navy Chief

Navy Chief

Senior Member
I have heard the nickname, "Sinking Sara", for the USS Saratoga (CV-60), forever. Even though my last deployment was on the Sara, I don't recall hearing the true story behind the nickname. Many years ago, a retired Master Chief told me that the ship earned that name, due to it almost sinking at a dock in Yokosuka, Japan because one of the ship's crewmembers had left some petcock valves open.

I did some Google searching. Plenty of information on the ship, and even a reference to that nickname; but no further explanation.

Am betting someone here knows!

NC
 
MrZippy said:
I have only heard the nickname "Sucking 60 from Dixie"! I was on the '69 Med cruise with VAH-10. I'd do some research and see what I find. :encouragement:

Hope you left your hurricane shutters up, Pete! Zeta on the way!

https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Talk:USS_Saratoga_(CV-60)/Archive_1
Click to expand...

I don't plan on putting the hurricane panels at this point. The storm is moving fast, but right now not a real threat to Pensacola. Of course that would change, but the last evolution of installing the panels really made my right elbow's tendonitis go off the charts. I am not in a hurry to make that pain worse!! NC

P.S. I DO still have 35 gallons of gas (6 five gal cans, plus my generator is full, and I put gas preservative in it all weeks ago); plus I have plenty of food and water.
 
Navy Chief said:
I have heard the nickname, "Sinking Sara", for the USS Saratoga (CV-60), forever. Even though my last deployment was on the Sara, I don't recall hearing the true story behind the nickname. Many years ago, a retired Master Chief told me that the ship earned that name, due to it almost sinking at a dock in Yokosuka, Japan because one of the ship's crewmembers had left some petcock valves open.

I did some Google searching. Plenty of information on the ship, and even a reference to that nickname; but no further explanation.

Am betting someone here knows!

NC
Click to expand...

[Deleted]

Edit: Right my original post, I found this link, which references the "sinking" that Master Chief might have been talking about. Sounds like it was in Greece. Click on "Sinking 1971" on the menu down the left side. I can't verify the accuracy, but it sounds plausible :indecisiveness:
 
Last edited:
nagpaw said:
[Deleted]

Edit: Right my original post, I found this link, which references the "sinking" that Master Chief might have been talking about. Sounds like it was in Greece. Click on "Sinking 1971" on the menu down the left side. I can't verify the accuracy, but it sounds plausible :indecisiveness:
Click to expand...

Yep, that was it, thanks! Master Chief did mention Greece. NC
 
nagpaw said:
[Deleted]

Edit: Right my original post, I found this link, which references the "sinking" that Master Chief might have been talking about. Sounds like it was in Greece. Click on "Sinking 1971" on the menu down the left side. I can't verify the accuracy, but it sounds plausible :indecisiveness:
Click to expand...

Same article I posted in first response!
 
My bad, Mr. Zippy! I'd left the window open to NC's question and didn't refresh when I sat down again, so I totally didn't see your post. My apologies for stealing your thunder :very_drunk:
 
Some lingering reputations SARA had was due to a poor SLEP at Philadelphia Navy shipyard. Boiler tubes to replace older ones were poor quality and had to be redone. This caused cost overruns and some things had to be sacrificed which cropped up later. Lingering effects of this "revitalizaton" dogged her at various times, some quite serious, causing delays in meeting schedules, etc. at some points. Nontheless, she served pretty well.

I was a LCDR in VA-75 in the mid-70s, flying the great A-6E; made a cruise and a half. SARA was not too bad overall.

We lost an RA-5C to a night ramp strike - pilot and RAN killed. A sorry event for everyone aboard, but not the ship's fault.
 
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