Foxtrtot Alpha found a gem from a 2008 issue of the Jerseyman, the journal of the USS New Jersey (BB-62) association.
New Jersey, a member of the four-ship Iowa class fast battleships– arguably the most advanced all-gun warships in history, had a couple of unique claims to fame. One, she was the only ship of the class that was reactivated for Vietnam, the other three ships taking an extended 25+ year mothball nap between the end of the Korean conflict and their 1980s Cold War reactivation.
Second, she had not one, but two swimming pools.
Yup, converted from the battlewagon’s forward quad 40mm Bofors tubs, the ship had a pair of rather decent swimming pools to help with some underway MW&R while in Southeast Asia.
From the Jerseyman:
“Some of the gun tubs —left empty when the 40mm antiaircraft guns were removed during reactivation still remained in place. Snyder directed that two of them in the superstructure be painted light blue inside, and he dubbed them swimming pools. Once he had a pool filled and then playfully donned his swimming trunks and rode an air mattress atop the water.”
Now that’s a swimcall.
