Uploaded May 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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37 Walkie Talkie
1
I was the XO on USS Conserver,
Underway in the tropical Sun,
We were towing a submarine to Panama,
And it was Nineteen Ninety-one.
2
We were now towing,
Decommissioned ships,
Ronald Reagan asked for six-hundred,
But now we couldn’t afford it.
3
The Pacific Ocean is gorgeous,
And over time we saw it all,
And then a hundred miles from Panama,
We received a radio call.
4
It was a fishing boat on our starboard bow,
And with the tow we couldn’t turn,
But the radio was speaking Spanish,
A subject we never learned.
5
“BM2 Mendez!” shouted the Boatswain Mate,
“Belay at once to the bridge.”
If we couldn’t find a Spanish speaker soon,
We’d be in the fishing boat’s rig.
6
BM2 Mendez made it to the bridge,
And it didn’t take very long,
“Ask the fishing boat’s intentions,”
But we didn’t tell Mendez what was going on.
7
BM2 Mendez keyed the mic timidly,
There was a lot we failed to mention,
In perfect English BM2 Mendez spoke up,
“Fishing boat on my starboard bow, what are your intentions?”