Halfway Night, Casino Night

FBM's had a patrol halfway celebration when the patrol was half over by schedule. Did the Fast Attacks also have one? Casino night was a gambling event, raising funds for the Rec Committee. Von Steuben Blue usually had two per run. Did the other boats follow this pattern in the seventies? How about the one armed bandit that lived on the barge in the yards? Just wondering how the Rec Committee's on other boats raised money? 

We had halfway nights on the 599 and 600. This was followed by a surf and turf meal. yes, lobster tails and steak. Sometimes each would get a can of beer. The rest of the halfway night was either a movie marathon or casino night, sometimes both. The 600 had a nickle slot machine between the tubes in MLMC. The proceeds were usually enough for a ship's party at the Groton Motor Inn during in port. It was a bitch to have a 6 hour watch during all this, usually reserved for the low man on the totem pole.

On PLUNGER (SSN-595) - did not know when halfway was so, no we did not have halfway nights like the boomers did.

We celebrated Halfway night on the Edison with a Vegas-style extravaganza.  The particular event depicted below transpired sometime in 1964, date and location classified.  A special meal of Surf & Turf (Langosta [or rock lobster] & filet mignon) was enjoyed by one and all.  Don't ask me where they got the filet mignon, but, needless to say, our cook, Red "Somebody whose name I can't recall", was a very popular individual.  I think some cumshaw might have been involved in its acquisition.  The moral:  Never underestimate the trading power of a can of cashews.

BTW, the sap sitting at the table about to lose his liberty money is me.  Never could gamble worth a damn.

Joe, I can hardly believe it myself.  I have to get out old pictures to prove it.

I'm old enough to remember watching Eisenhower's swearing in ceremony on TV in 1953.  The event that impressed me so much wasn't watching Eisenhower, but actually watching a real television.  Even though the screen was a 4" x 8" black and white rectangle it was a sight to behold . . . to me at least.  TV's were rare in that part of the world.