READERS' STORIES

Comments  from Ed Ellegood

The boat is entering the inner breakwater		The pier from the opposite (or shore end). To the right of the pier is the part of the harbor where the sail boats moor during the summer. The synchrolift to take the boats out of the water would be directly opposite the nested boats on the far shore of the boat basin.
		The pier is the main one for the boat house, Building 13. The large building at the top left is the US Naval Hospital.
Building 13, the boat house, which was the official location of CRD 21. The piping that you see on the piers and on the hills is part of the steam heat system employed on the base at Great Lakes.		You see the large tree just to the left of the 40mm, that's where the synchrolift went in.

( 12-16-02   ) I graduated from ET school in December of 1972 and then was sent to C school at Mare Island in January of 1973. I was at Mare Island for 6 months and visited Treasure Island a couple of times. After experiencing winter on Lake Michigan, winter in California was like being on vacation. After C school I was on the USS Saratoga for two and a half years and then went into the Submarine Service on USS Spadefish for the rest of my six-year enlistment. The coldest weather that I ever experienced in the Navy was at Great Lakes.

The boats were docked at the base for the open house.

My perception was that the boats were clean and well taken care of. I can remember walking below decks and seeing the fuel tanks and being amazed at how big they seemed to be.

I’m glad that I had my camera with me. Unfortunately I didn’t have a flash and was not able to take any interior pictures.

Ed Ellegood

(12-13-02) Here are the pictures that I took in 1972 at Great Lakes. When I was scanning these I suddenly realized that these pictures were taken over 30 years ago! I was nineteen at the time and a student at the Electronics Technician Class A School.

All that I can remember is that one Sunday afternoon the boats were there and the guys on duty let us come onboard and look around. I remember reading an article in the base newspaper about the boats and that they had been brought back from Vietnam as part of the President Nixon’s Vietnamization of the war (turning over the war to the Vietnamese).

We thought that the PTFs were really nice and at a time when many folks were protesting against anything that had to do with the military, me and the guys that you see in the picture would have been proud to serve on the PTFs.

Ed Ellegood

(12/12/03)  I recently found your PTF site. In 1971 - 1972 I was stationed at the Naval Training Center at Great Lakes, IL. In the late spring or early summer two PTFs arrived at there.  I believe that one of these was PTF-17.  I took some photos of these PTFs.  If you are interested, I can scan the photos and send the images to you.  Just let me know.

Ed Ellegood