September 1st, 2018
Midrats - Spring 2019
Bits and Pieces
Introduction
My name’s Bill Lack and I’m the newly elected VP of the USS Saratoga Association. I served aboard from August 1977 – August 1980, serving in AIMD (IM-3, Shop 6). I have been a long-time member of the Association and a past board member (Newsletter Editor 2014-2015). I’m proud to be, once again, serving on the Board of the Saratoga Association.
President, Brad Senter and Secretary, Ed McCready recently asked me to take over writing “Mid-rats”, which I’m excited about doing.
My goal is to put out Mid-rats at least twice a year (between newsletters), so as to keep the Association’s membership up to date on all things Saratoga. If you have ideas, suggestions, thoughts, or corrections, please feel free to drop me a note at <SaratogaMidRats@gmail.com>.
This section of this e-newsletter will be to inform members of bits of info, instructions, etc. that they need/should/might want to know. Also, this is the first time I've tried using Mailchimp, so there may be some technical issues, which I'll work to correct. Thanks.
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Call to Arms
Shipmates, until we convince the Navy to name another ship Saratoga, those of us that served aboard the CV-3 and the CVA/CV-60 are the last in the long and proud line of Saratoga sailors.
Here are a couple of things that you can do to help strengthen the USS Saratoga Association.
- Help recruit new members. If you’re in contact with some of your old shipmates, encourage them to join the Association. If you’re on any of the social media platforms, talk about the Association and help recruit there. Send shipmates to the Association website, talk about the reunions (and if you haven’t been, why not?), do what you can to increase our membership. Reminder: Always inform people that being a member of the Association’s Facebook page does not make them members of the Association.
- Get involved. The Association is always looking for Saratoga sailors that want to help make the Association a bigger and better organization.
If you're interested in getting more involved with the Association, let me know and I'll have someone get in touch with you.
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When making donations to Scholarship Fund
Saratoga Association Treasurer, Joe Champi asks that if you are making a donation to the Scholarship fund at the same time as you are paying your Association dues, please send your two transactions in two separate checks. Sending it all in one check requires the Association to deposit and then transfer funds, as these are two separate accounts.
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Editor's Thoughts on the 2018 Reunion in San Antonio
I thought this year’s reunion was outstanding (but to be fair, I’ve felt that way about every one that I’ve attended). I thought the hotel was great and being right on San Antonio’s Riverwalk really made it convenient to go exploring. It was also nice that it was only a short walk to the Alamo.
For myself, other than being elected VP of the Association, the high point was the National Museum of the Pacific War & the Admiral Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg. It was easy to see why the Pacific War Museum cost covers two days of admission as you simply can’t take it all in effectively in one day.
And finally, I’ve always enjoyed traveling to Texas. I’ve only visited a handful of times, but I love the atmosphere, the people, the overall friendliness, and the love of our country that is evident when you visit. I’m a big fan of the Lone Star State.
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In Case You Missed It
The 69th USS Saratoga Association Reunion in 2020 will be held in San Diego, California. The reunion was last held in San Diego in 2011.
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USS Saratoga Association Scholarship Program
The Saratoga Association Scholarship committee is accepting applications for the 2019 Scholarship awards. The competition is open to all high school seniors who are the son/daughter, grandson/daughter, or great-grandson/daughter of a member of the USS Saratoga Association, who has served aboard and is been in good standing with the Association for a minimum of 12 months. In good standing infers either a life member or a member who is current with their due’s payments. (Consideration will be given to applicants related to Association Honorary members on a case by case basis.
The goal of the Scholarship committee is to award two $1000 scholarships, one to a 2 or 4-year accredited academic program and one to an accredited technical or trade school.
The deadline for applying is April 30, 2019 and the application can be found at http://www.uss-saratoga.com/scholarship/.
If you have any questions about the Scholarship committee or the process, please contact Ed McCready at <emc0853@yahoo.com> or 804-389-3874.
Reminder:
Saratoga Association Treasurer, Joe Champi asks that if you are making a donation to the Scholarship fund at the same time as you are paying your Association dues, please send your two transactions in two separate checks. Sending it all in one check requires the Association to deposit and then transfer funds, as these are two separate accounts.
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The Board has started a campaign to get the Navy to name another USS Saratoga, but we need your help!
During the October 2018 San Antonio Reunion, at the Association’s Business Meeting, Captain Steve Medina presented the Board’s decision on how our Association would pursue having a future Navy ship named USS Saratoga. The Board had decided that, due to the Navy’s current criterion for naming future ships, the chances for having a future aircraft carrier were very slim.
The board decided upon 3 platform elements that should be met in any future US Navy ship to be named, “SARATOGA”.
- The ship should have an “organic” Marine Corps element, as all the previous incarnations of the Saratoga carriers had a Marine element aboard.
- The ship should have a Navy/Marine Corps Aviation element, to continue the tradition of Saratoga aviation.
- And to continue the legacy of the famous Revolutionary War battle, it should be a combatant ship.
The Board identified three potential amphibious platform types as both meeting these standards and being plausible. It believed that the new America-Class LHA Replacement Platform < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America-class_amphibious_assault_ship> hit the mark in all three elements.
In December 2018, CAPT Medina identified the correct ship naming request routing and the appropriate Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) Point of Contact (POC), in turn, the USS Saratoga Association Board officially wrote to the SECNAV requesting that a future ship be named SARATOGA and making the recommendation of an LHA. In early January, we received a letter back from the office of the SecNav acknowledging our letter as an “official request”.
The Board is now urging all of our Members to a) using the Board’s official letter <https://gallery.mailchimp.com/17d53abf8504369e92347f4a7/files/8777a529-3759-4a1f-aba7-a5c26d4acb53/Letter_to_secnav05022019_copy.pdf> as a guide or even a template, that you write to the Secretary of the Navy (Office of the Secretary of the Navy 1000 Navy Pentagon Washington, DC 20350) and urge SECNAV to name an upcoming ship, SARATOGA. Also, state that an LHA ship would be an excellent platform to carry on this proud and historic name and b), the board would also urge Association Members to contact their local Congress person and ask for their support in keeping the SARATOGA name alive because in the report on naming conventions for the Navy, it states that “congressional offices wishing to express support of proposals to name a Navy ship for a specific, person, place, or thing contact the office of the Secretary of the Navy to make their support known.” We believe these steps will help amplify our message.
Please note, the Association would stress that it is important that we speak with a consistent theme on what exactly we are hoping to accomplish with this lobbying effort. As much as we’d like the next USS Saratoga to be an aircraft carrier, this is not going to happen, thus the decision to look at different platforms.
For this reason, it’s very important that any communication with the office of the Secretary of the Navy from Association members and from Congress persons be of the same message. A copy of the letter the Association’s letter to the SecNav can be found at: https://gallery.mailchimp.com/17d53abf8504369e92347f4a7/files/8777a529-3759-4a1f-aba7-a5c26d4acb53/Letter_to_secnav05022019_copy.pdf. We urge that you download a copy and use this letter as a guide or even a template and possibly include a copy of our letter with any communication that is sent.
If you have any questions, please contact Captain Steve Medina at E-MAIL: steven.medina@pacom.mil.
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Saving the USS Saratoga Nameplate
A HUGE tip of the Saratoga ballcap to John Lipscomb for his herculean effort to get the Association members access to Saratoga ship’s steel via the Association’s ship’s store, and to save the ship’s nameplate from going to the scrapheap.
But it wasn’t quick and it wasn’t easy….
In November 2014, John made contact with Esco Marine and worked out a deal that when the ship was scrapped, the Saratoga Association (via John) would have exclusive rights to Saratoga steel. But things started to unravel when Esco went bankrupt in March 2015. This put everything on hold, while the bankruptcy court worked through its process.
During the period, John kept trying to gather information and was going nowhere, until he looked through the bankruptcy records and found the name of the trustee, Richard Whitlock at AlixPartners, Inc., who eventually put him in touch with the CEO of SteelCoast, Chris Wood, who turned him over to VP, Mike Furgatch. John was able to work out the same agreement with SteelCoast that he had made with Esco, that they would donate the nameplate and 4,000 lbs. of steel (and more if we need it) and that the Saratoga Association (via John) would be the sold recipient of Saratoga steel.
In December 2017, John and TC Chastain drove to Brownsville to accept delivery of the nameplate and the steel.
John took the last remnants of the Saratoga back to Georgia, where he again worked his magic. He convinced Jeff Ferguson (Piedmont Metal Processing, Demorest, GA) and Dan Skinner (and his son, Ray) (Dan’s Painting, Cornelia, GA) to donate their time cutting, shaping, engraving the steel and refurbishing the Saratoga nameplate.
In January 2018, John delivered the Saratoga nameplate to NS Mayport. Representing the Association at the event, along with John, were TC Chastain and Skip Burnham.
The plan is for the nameplate to be permanently located at the new training center that will be called, the “USS Saratoga Training Center” where it’ll be displayed, along with other Saratoga memorabilia. There are plans for a dedication of the training center that will include the nameplate when the training center is opened.
Here’s some local coverage of the return of the Saratoga to Mayport:
https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/local/historic-uss-saratoga-nameplate-returns-home-to-mayport/77-16116d76-a479-4b91-827d-b69eae8e13d4?fbclid=IwAR0N-P4jlVECtP15seLRNPD4ZZN-pBq1vijbCsgRJ-rrcZjStf2puADHzg0
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Saratoga Classic Half Marathon & Super Sara 5K
On a cold, rainy, Super Bowl Sunday morning, the inaugural Saratoga Classic Half Marathon & Super Sara 5 K was held at NS Mayport (and the surrounding area). 615 runners and walkers participated in the race with all of the money raised going to Navy MWR (Mayport).
Attending the event were Rear Admiral Babelle “Bette” Bolivar (Commander, Navy Region Southeast), Captain David J. Yoder (CO, NS Mayport), Commander Patricia J. Tyler (XO, NS Mayport), and Command Master Chief, Teri Zehnacker.
Also, in attendance was the last CO of the Saratoga, Captain William H. Kennedy (USN, retired), who handed out medals to the finishers.
Captain Kennedy said that the organizers of the race did a “super job” and that it was a “Great day, despite the weather.” He said that he met many participants in the race that either served aboard the Sara or had friends/family that had served on board. He said of all the people he met, the one that he remembered most was a woman that told him that she HAD to run in the 5K to honor her dad, who had served aboard and had recently passed away.
Another Saratoga sailor, Howard Montello (served aboard 1976-1979), helped set up and answer questions at the history exhibit. Howard said the event was “great” and that the organizers made a great effort to honor and recognize both the ship and the crew. He said the medals handed out to the finishers were a great 3-D likeness of the Sara.
The event also served as the unofficial unveiling of the Saratoga nameplate, which was rescued from the scrapyard, by Association Steel Committee Chairman and Board Member, John Lipscomb.
This was the first year of what they plan to be an annual event. It’s not confirmed yet, but it’s possible that the 2020 race will take place in January, rather than February.
The race got some great local coverage in the media, including this story, about a shipmate and his daughter who ran the race:
https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20190203/retired-uss-saratoga-officer-daughter-run-half-marathon-to-honor-iconic-aircraft-carrier
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2019 Reunion in Charleston
It is never too early to start planning to attend the USS Saratoga Association’s 68th Annual Reunion. The reunion will be returning to Charleston, SC.
This will be the 3rd time the reunion has been held in Charleston. It was there in 1981 (the first time the reunion was held outside California) and returned in 2000.
The timeline for this year’s reunion will be a little different than in the past, with the event running from Thursday, October 10 through Monday, October 14. There will be a non-denominational service held on Sunday AM, before the Association Business Meeting. The Ladies Luncheon and the Association Banquet will also be held on Sunday.
Plans are in the making for a “Welcome Party” to be held on Thursday, details of which will be in the summer newsletter. There are some exciting Charleston tours being lined up, which will happen on Friday and Saturday. In the planning are some water-based events, like a harbor cruise, a trip to Patriot’s Point, and lunch on the USS Yorktown (CV-10).
The official hotel for the reunion is the Crowne Plaza Charleston (4831 Tanger Outlet Blvd, North Charleston, SC 29418). The rate is $130 per night, which includes a hot breakfast buffet. The $130 rate will also extend 3 days prior and after the event. To reserve your room and get the Saratoga Association rate (and added amenities), you must call the hotel directly at 843-744-4422 (M-F 9-4) and tell them you are attending the USS Saratoga Reunion (Group Code: SAR).
IF YOU DO NOT BOOK DIRECTLY WITH THE HOTEL, YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE THIS PRICING AND THE ADDED AMENTITIES.
We anticipate a sell out at the Crowne Plaza, so book early (you may cancel up to 48 hours prior to your reservation date without penalty.
There are a block of overflow rooms available at the same price next door at the Fairfield Inn & Suites (843-300-3100), with limited amenities.
There will be more detailed information on the entire reunion and all accompanying events in the mid-year newsletter.
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That’s all for this edition of Mid-Rats. Again, if you have any thoughts, ideas, comments, corrections, etc., please send them to me at SaratogaMidRats@gmail.com.
Bill Lack
USS Saratoga Association VP
Mid-Rats Editor
