The Ghost Ship Mutiny

This is a true account of events aboard a US Navy ship at a difficult time in history—the height of the Vietnam War in 1969. American social unrest was widespread in big cities and college campuses. While President Nixon claimed to have a plan to end the war, he was secretly expanding it into Cambodia causing death and carnage. The US Navy aircraft carrier, USS Constellation, is finishing an eleven month war deployment and will return home for a shipyard overhaul and training period before redeploying.

As the carrier’s communications officer, the author is responsible for the communication traffic of a small city, as well as holding the codes to be used together with the captain’s for any nuclear operations. This young Navy pilot will experience some very unique events during the ensuing eighteen month turn-around period. Racial problems, drugs, crew morale, long periods away from home, and the deteriorating public attitudes toward the war are worsening onboard. The new commanding officer has some novel ideas about handling the worsening problems, and the communications officer tries to help.

The carrier crew unhappily finds it is not immune to what is happening in US society. Anti-war activities against the ship and crew develop quickly upon their return to homeport. To make matters worse, the captain becomes unduly suspicious about certain conditions on the ship. After many twists and turns, the situation finally appears to have settled down, only to abruptly change.