Rear Admiral Ronald Tucker: Final Commanding Officer of Battleship NJ

Summary

WETSU: A BattleshipNJ Podcast
Episode: Rear Admiral Ronald Tucker: Final Commanding Officer of Battleship NJ
Release Date: January 15, 2025

Hosted by Michael Spiebeck, CEO and Executive Director of the Battleship New Jersey Museum of Memorial, "WETSU" delves into the rich history and legacy of the Battleship New Jersey. In this episode, Michael engages in an in-depth conversation with Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker, USN retired, the final commanding officer of the USS New Jersey. The discussion spans Admiral Tucker's naval career, his leadership philosophy, memorable experiences aboard the ship, and his enduring connection to the battleship's legacy.

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Introduction

Michael Spiebeck opens the episode by warmly welcoming Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker aboard the Battleship New Jersey. He expresses honor in having the Admiral share his invaluable experiences and insights, setting the stage for a comprehensive exploration of Admiral Tucker’s tenure as the ship’s commanding officer.

The Origin and Meaning of WETSU

One of the first topics discussed is the significance of "WETSU," the battle flag motto adopted by the Battleship New Jersey. Admiral Tucker shares its origins and personal meaning:

Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker [01:28]: "It stands for 'We Eat This Stuff Up.' It's something I thought was really cool. It's a major pride for people on a ship or in any organization if you're pulling together, no matter how tough it is, 'We love it. We eat it up. Throw some more at me. I love this stuff.'"

He elaborates on how the motto serves as a unifying and motivational tool, resonating deeply with sailors and embedding a sense of camaraderie and resilience within the crew.

Rear Admiral Tucker’s Naval Career

Early Inspirations and Joining the Navy

Admiral Tucker recounts his early inspirations rooted in family history. His uncle served on the USS Houston during World War II and tragically lost his life building the Burma Railroad, an experience that profoundly affected his family.

Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker [03:36]: "Each prisoner had to move 1 square meter of soil per day... he died of it. There was just... they were deprived of all care. So my family never got over that."

These stories fostered his passion for the Navy, leading him to join after initially attempting to enter the Marine Corps, which was full at the time. His selection into the Rock program allowed him to pursue his goal of becoming a Naval officer.

Service on Refrigerator Ship and Transition to Destroyers

Admiral Tucker humorously describes his initial assignment preferences, explaining how he secured a position on a refrigerator ship due to its appealing conditions:

Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker [06:25]: "I put on my preference card, my first one that I wanted a refrigerator ship out of San Francisco, and by golly, I got one. That's because nobody ever asked for a refrigerator ship."

His transition to destroyers marked a pivotal shift in his career, where he served three tours on the same Charles F. Adams class destroyer, eventually rising from ensign to skipper—a rarity among officers.

Leadership Ways and Achieving Command

Admiral Tucker reflects on his time as assistant captain detailer, emphasizing the importance of understanding what drives successful officers. This experience was instrumental in paving his path to commanding the USS New Jersey.

Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker [09:52]: "What it takes to get ahead... you learn what they have in common, you learn where they served, you learn what bases that they've touched."

His strategic career management and dedication culminated in his assignment to the USS New Jersey, a moment he describes as a thrill and a significant milestone.

Commanding the USS New Jersey

Taking Command

On May 19, 1989, Admiral Tucker officially took command of the USS New Jersey amidst significant fanfare, with over 5,000 attendees at the change of command ceremony in Long Beach.

Leadership Philosophy and Crew Engagement

Admiral Tucker outlines his leadership philosophy centered on three core goals: readiness, safety, and quality of life. He meticulously communicated these objectives to his crew, ensuring each sailor understood their role and the importance of maintaining high standards.

Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker [23:51]: "Readiness, safety, quality of life. What does readiness mean? It means know your job... know what to do during an emergency."

He fostered a culture of recognition and inclusion by personally acknowledging new crew members during monthly Captain's Calls, enhancing morale and camaraderie.

Relationship with Admiral Paul Reason

In January 1990, the USS New Jersey became the flagship of Admiral Paul Reason's Battle Group Romeo. Admiral Tucker describes the professional relationship with Admiral Reason as positive, appreciating the Admiral's respect for his command.

Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker [28:41]: "Their focus was external. Paul Reason stayed out of my knickers, and I appreciated that. This is my ship."

Memorable Moments and Stories

Admiral Tucker shares vivid anecdotes from his command, highlighting pivotal moments that underscored his leadership and the ship's legacy.

• Navigating the Columbia River to the Portland Rose Festival:
  Faced with challenging river currents and anti-nuclear demonstrators, Admiral Tucker demonstrates his calm under pressure and tactical decision-making skills.

  Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker [30:29]: "I just called him back and said, there's nowhere to turn around. There's a battleship in your future."

• Personal Family Moment Under the Golden Gate Bridge:
  A heartfelt story where his parents witnessed the USS New Jersey passing under the bridge, creating a poignant family memory.

  Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker [33:54]: "He asked me about the ship, and they told him. When he put it in the paper, they said, my name was Roland."

Refurbishing the Jeep and Planning the Luau at Pearl Harbor

During his tenure at Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Admiral Tucker sought to invigorate the base’s spirit reminiscent of the post-December 11th enthusiasm. Opting for authenticity over luxury, he refurbished an old World War II Jeep to embody the battleship’s rugged heritage.

Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker [16:05]: "I put white seat covers on it and a seat belt and a new canvas and I drove that for two and a half."

Additionally, he orchestrated plans for the world's largest luau during Brimpac, aiming to foster unity among thousands of sailors. Although the event was ultimately canceled, the process involved securing sponsorships and engaging the community, showcasing his initiative and resourcefulness.

Donation of the Firing Key

A significant gesture of Admiral Tucker’s enduring connection to the USS New Jersey is his donation of the ship’s firing key—a pivotal artifact symbolizing the battleship’s operational prowess.

Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker [29:24]: "I've had it in my office for over 30 years. And now I think it belongs back on the battleship."

This donation underscores his commitment to preserving the ship’s legacy for future generations.

Return to the Battleship Museum

Reflecting on his visit back to the Battleship New Jersey after its decommissioning, Admiral Tucker expresses profound pride and emotion:

Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker [34:33]: "Oh, it's a thrill and I commend you and your team. See a lot of pride here. It's like coming home."

His return signifies a full-circle moment, honoring his service and the ship's storied history.

Thoughts on the Next USS New Jersey (SSN-796)

Looking forward, Admiral Tucker shares his enthusiasm for the commissioning of the new USS New Jersey (SSN-796), a submarine continuing the ship’s formidable legacy within the active fleet.

Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker [36:18]: "I'll just say to you, part of what I'm going to say to them is to hear the call to provide firepower for freedom."

His participation in the commissioning ceremony reflects his dedication to ensuring the name and legacy of the Battleship New Jersey endure.

Conclusion

Michael Spiebeck concludes the episode by expressing gratitude to Admiral Tucker for his remarkable contributions and for sharing his invaluable experiences aboard the USS New Jersey. The Admiral’s final words resonate with enduring pride:

Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker [37:07]: "Battleships forever."

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Key Takeaways:

• WETSU Motto: Represents unity and resilience, fostering a strong sense of pride among the crew.
• Leadership: Admiral Tucker's focus on readiness, safety, and quality of life significantly enhanced crew morale and operational efficiency.
• Legacy Preservation: Through personal gestures like donating the firing key and participating in museum activities, Admiral Tucker ensures the USS New Jersey’s legacy remains vibrant.
• Community and Family: The Admiral’s stories highlight the deep connection between the ship, its crew, and their families, emphasizing the battleship’s role beyond military operations.
• Continued Commitment: His support for the new USS New Jersey underscores a commitment to upholding the esteemed name and heritage within the Navy.

Notable Quotes:

• WETSU Meaning: "We Eat This Stuff Up." [01:28]
• Leadership Focus: "Readiness, safety, quality of life." [23:51]
• Legacy Preservation: "Battleships forever." [37:07]

This episode offers a heartfelt and comprehensive glimpse into the life and legacy of Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker, celebrating the storied history of the USS New Jersey and its enduring impact on those who served aboard her.

Transcript

[Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker]

Foreign man your battle stations.

[Michael Spiebeck]

Welcome to wetsu, a Battleship New Jersey podcast. My name is Michael Spiebeck and I'm privileged to serve as CEO and Executive Director of the Battleship New Jersey Museum of Memorial. Today we're joined by a very special guest, Rear Admiral R.D. tucker, USN retired. The eighth commanding officer of the USS New Jersey. Sir, it's a true honor to be speaking to you today back in your import cabin here aboard Battleship New Jersey. Admiral, first and foremost, welcome home. We're honored to have you on board. As you have seen, it's a genuine thrill for our crew here to have you. The place to start I think is after all what the name of the podcast is, and that's wetsu. It was your model you brought to the ship. It's emboldened on the battle flag of the ship from your time as captain. We flew the flag to much fanfare when we got underway to head to dry dock. And our museum crew here has really taken to the motto, just as you said your crew has. And so can you tell us about WETSU and its origin and how the ship, how your crew embraced it on the battleship?

[Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker]

Happy to do that. Happy to be back. Term wetsu. I saw when I was a very young officer, it was being advertised on a very hot running destroyer that I saw during an underweight replenishment. And I asked what it meant and it's I have to clean this up a little. It stands for we eat this stuff up. But it's something I thought was really cool. It's a major pride for people on a ship or in any organization if you're pulling together, no matter, no matter how tough it is, we love it. We eat it up. Throw some more at me. I love this stuff. Talk to your crew about that. It's just, it's what a cheerleader does. And so I use it everywhere, every command I ever had and it is a super tool and sailors grab it and they like it. So it lives.

[Michael Spiebeck]

We love that. And one of the things that we're going to do is, and I've given, given one to you, is recreate the web. Two flags for others to take home and enjoy as well. So we're looking forward to seeing, seeing more of them out in the world as we launch this podcast and, and make sure we get, continue to get the flag out there. I'd love to go into a little bit of your career. I know that your uncle served on the USS Houston during World War II, was taken prisoner of war and ordered to build a Burma Railroad Medino. The similar story Bridge over the River Cry. Was that an inspiration for you to join the Navy or.

[Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker]

Yeah, I think as a kid growing up, my father and my grandparents never, never got over the loss of. My dad called his kid brother. When Houston was sunk, he swam ashore, was captured. He ended up working on the Rangoon to Bangkok railroad, which was made famous by that movie. And he. Each prisoner had to move 1 square meter of soil per day. And if you were working in sand, it was easy, but if you were cutting through rocks, it was brutal. And he got. They were chipping through rocks and he got nicked in the leg and there was no antiseptics, there was nothing. And so he got basically gangrene and infection and he died of it. There was just. They were deprived of all care. So my family never got over that. But I remember as a kid they always talked about Navy. And my grandparents during football season would always watch the Army Navy football game. So I became a Navy fan. And when I decided to join the service, I actually tried to join the Marine Corps first, but they were full that day. So I went next door and joined the Navy. And I was going to do my two years and my dad talked to people who give you the tests to give me an officer test for an officer program. And so I got selected for a program called Rock, where you stayed in college and you spent summers at Newport, Rhode island, ocs. And when I got back there, I learned how to study. And I had for the first time a goal, which was to become a Naval officer. So I did.

[Michael Spiebeck]

Well, we were lucky. The Marines filled up their spots that day. When you came out of ocs, you requested to be on a supply ship, is that correct? And then you ended up on the USS Picture, which was where a friend of yours who you joined the Navy with was. Was on. Is that correct?

[Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker]

Well, you know, the way our system works is you ask officers to submit a preference card to tell the Navy where you'd like to go and how you'd like to serve. And then the Navy decides whether that meets their needs. I only knew one guy in the Navy, and he was on a refrigerator ship. And he said, wow, the food on here is really good. It's pretty good duty, good deployments. So I put on my preference card, my first one that I wanted a refrigerator ship out of San Francisco, and by golly, I got one. And that's because nobody ever asked for a refrigeratorship. So, I mean, those guys in bupers are probably still laughing. But when I got There I had a great job. Fortunately the captain liked me and made me the navigator, which was a terrific job after I was in engineering and I loved seeing the destroyers come alongside. So I asked for a new destroyer out of Pearl harbor and I got one. The rest is history.

[Michael Spiebeck]

You serve three different times when us has happened three times. Charles F. Adams class destroyer. From young ensign in your third tour to the co I have to think that's unusual for an officer. Serve three different times on the same ship and then ultimately you're certainly your path. It's certainly an unusual one. I mean what, what was that like to go from the young ensign to, to the skipper?

[Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker]

It was. I was a JG the first time and I was first lieutenant, which was great because I got taught by absolutely super competent boats and mates on how to take care of a ship. Deck seamanship, all that kind of stuff. I could tie knots and I could tie every knot you can imagine. I could throw bolos, I could throw heaving lines, I could do all this stuff that you learn on the deck plates. And when it was. I went to another destroyer after that and when it was time for me to be an exec, I happened to be in bupers and I was able to see what was coming available. And we love Hawaii and that happened to be Cochrane. And the same thing kind of happened when it was my turn to get a command. I took a lot of heat from guys teasing me and saying we hope you get it right the third time. But we did get it right the third time.

[Michael Spiebeck]

When you just mentioned the, the assignment, you were. Correct me if I'm wrong. You were a part of a team that was in charge of assigning captains to ships, is that right?

[Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker]

I was assistant captain detailer.

[Michael Spiebeck]

Anything you, anything you learned from there that helped you later on or ultimately get the command of the battleship or.

[Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker]

Well, I think what you learn when you are in the detailing business is really what it takes to get ahead. You see, guys get promoted to the grade of captain. Guys get selected for major command. You learn what they have in common, you learn where they served, you learn what bases that they've touched. And so as you get more senior, if you do well, you can start to manage your own career. So getting command of this ship. When I made captain, I was assigned to command the naval station at Pearl Harbor. To be honest, I thought I was going to get a new cruiser, but our naval stations were in trouble. And so they took three or four guides that were major command selected and sent us. And I volunteered for Pearl because my wife hates Hawaii and that's facetious. We actually met there. And so off we went. And I had just a wonderful time at Naval Station Pearl Harbor. The commander in Chief of the U.S. pacific Fleet for the second half of my tour was a guy named Dave Jeremiah, and he was a friend. I had worked for him in the Pentagon. And so I did my best in my position to make sure that all things of interest to Dave, over which I could have influence, were done right. And he's the guy who got this ship for me. Dave is from Astoria, Oregon. During the deployment on here, he was being relieved by Admiral Larson, and he had our deployment come through Hawaii on the way home so that we could host the change of command between he and Admiral Larson. And during that change of command, Dave asked me, would I bring the ship up the Columbia river to the Portland Rose Festival? Because as native of Oregon, he was going to be the grand marshal of the Rose Festival. And I said, oh, I don't know, this is a big ship. No ship of this size ever been up that river before. So anyway, after we got home, I went up there with two of my guys, my OD and my navigator, and we rode a big container ship all the way up the river. And we figured we could do this. So in June of that year, we went, we went up to Oregon and we were supposed to cross the bar like 9 or 9:30 in the morning. And we were just getting right across the bar into the Columbia, and I got a message from the shore authority telling us to stop because there were demonstrators hanging down from the Astoria Bridge. So we stopped out there and we just did circles. They called finally and said, okay, you can come in. So we crossed the bar and right after that they called us back and said, stop, they're back. And these were guys from Greenpeace hanging down on bungee cords, trying to block us from going up river. And their problem was, it was an anti nuclear demonstration. This is a World War II battleship, whatever. So I just called him back and said, there's nowhere to turn around. There's a battleship in your future. And we approached the bridge. These guys were, I think there were six or eight of them. They were about 30ft apart. So I slowed the ship down to bear steerage way, and I brought the crew in. We were manning the rail. The entire city of Astoria was out on the waterfront. And we just very carefully crept between two of these guys. I was afraid they were going to throw stuff on the ship. They didn't. I did have a countermeasure in mind. If they had attacked my ship, I was going to simply blow the ship's whistle, which would have destroyed their eardrums. But we didn't do that. We just carefully went between two of them and went on up the river. It was a fabulous week.

[Michael Spiebeck]

If we can go back just for a second to your time as coed Pearl Harbor Naval Base, there are two things I wanted to ask you about. The first is an old Jeep that you refurbished and that you drove around the base. And during your time as CEO of the base, you didn't have a driver, you didn't have a vehicle, you drove this old Jeep around. Can you tell us about that?

[Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker]

Well, when we first went there, I wanted to kind of restore the attitude and the enthusiasm of post December 11th. And when people were pumped up, energetic and doing stuff, war effort, and I wanted to light a fire. So when I got there, I inherited this big white sedan with the driver. And so I went to the public works guys at control vehicles and I said, you can have the sedan back. I want a cheap, just like I want a World War II jeep. And this guy says, you can't have a jeep. You don't rate a Jeep. And I said, well, how can I rate this great big nice sedan and not rate an old beat up jeep? He said, well, you just don't rate a jeep. Well, I had some CBs that worked for me at the station and I said, well, here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna send my Seabees up to salvage and we're gonna dig out of old Jeep and we're going to fix it up and I'm going to use it. And there's nothing they could do about that. So we finally haggled and I got my Jeep and we painted it and I put white seat covers on it and a seat belt and a new canvas and I drove that for two and a half.

[Michael Spiebeck]

You even drove the CNO around in the jeep, is that right?

[Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker]

Admiral Carlisle Prost, for whom I had worked in the Pentagon, visited my station. He showed up in a great big black limo, parked that car, got out and got my Jeep and we did a base tour of my Jeep and the big black limo followed us around. It was so cool. It was cool. He loved it. He loved, everybody loved my Jeep.

[Michael Spiebeck]

That's great.

[Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker]

When Denny Blair relieved me, loved the Jeep Sept, he painted it battleship gray, which I thought was a great, great idea. But he kept the jeep.

[Michael Spiebeck]

That's great. The other thing I wanted to ask you about from your time at Pearl was something that you, I think, in the past has described as the biggest, the world's biggest luau that you were planning during Brimpac. You were planning an event. You made $65,000 ultimately to cancel it. Can you tell us that story?

[Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker]

No, I don't think it was quite that much money. But we. We had at one point, 65 ships that were going to be in port all at the same time with 25 or 30,000 sailors. So I thought, you know, we have these huge ball fields. I thought we could put on a luau for two or three nights so that every duty section on every ship could experience a luau. I got the Polynesian Cultural center donated their show. I got sponsorships from a certain beer company, from Coke or Pepsi, from Meadow Gold Milk. The Navy League helped us. And we found this guy who was an experienced luau guy who was going to dig holes in the ground and cook pigs. We had this thing wired. And one day I got a phone call from a guy named Lee Riley, who was the general manager of the Hale Koa Hotel, which is the military hotel in Waikiki. And I had met Lee when he was running the Hilton Hotel in Idaho and Pocatello, Idaho. And he called me up and he said, hey, Ron, I hear you're throwing a luau. And I said, yeah, this is going to be the coolest luau, the biggest ever. He said, well, why don't you come down and have lunch with me at the hotel? I'd like to talk to you about your luau. So I went down there and he says, what would it take for you to cancel your luau and send all those sailors down to my hotel? I'll put a luau. He said, I'll put a luau on every night for six nights. And I said, he said, what would it take? I said, it'd take about $50,000. And he said, that sounds reasonable. So we ended up getting paid to cancel the luau. All I had to do was provide buses down to the hotel. We had a program of free rides for kids that overindulge. And we had bus transportation and we ended up with a very nice paycheck. Canceling an event. And the kids all went down and had a great time at a wonderful commercial. It was cool.

[Michael Spiebeck]

That's great.

[Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker]

Now we took that money and we built a gym. Another. It wasn't air conditioned, but it was four basketball courts or a couple of volleyball courts. Wow. Seabees built it.

[Michael Spiebeck]

CBs.

[Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker]

CBs free labor.

[Michael Spiebeck]

You mentioned earlier you thought you might get a command of a destroyer or a cruiser. You ended up as COI at Pearl. Following Pearl, as you mentioned, you finally got your command at sea. Ended up as Captain of the USS New Jersey and Iowa class battleship. 1500 plus sailors now under your command. How did you get the news that you were assigned to New Jersey? And what was your, your reaction to that?

[Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker]

I got a phone call from Admiral Jeremiah who said, congratulations, Ron, you're going to New Jersey. That was extra, extra special to me because Lou Glynn, who's a good friend, we went to the same church in Vienna, Virginia when we were in the Pentagon together. And I remember one day at church, Lou told my wife and I that he had orders to New Jersey. And we were so happy for them. We thought that he was perfect, perfect guy. And so then four years later or five years later, I get the same set of orders I'm following and lose wake. I just. It was a thrill. It was an absolute thrill.

[Michael Spiebeck]

19 May, 1989, you took command of the battleship. 5,000 people were at your change of command ceremony in Long beach that first day. The pop and circumstance of it all. Tell us about the second day. And you really sort of came, came here, moved in and sort of made it your own.

[Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker]

Well, I don't remember if it was the second day. That might have been a weekend. But the first working day I got, I'm pretty sure I got all the officers together and spend an hour telling them who I am and what I hope to do. Here. I have developed over a period of years a set of goals and objectives for my commands. The high level, the 20,000ft. Readiness, safety, quality of life. But then I broke each one of those down so that like on this ship, anytime we had new people come aboard, I met with every single new person, usually as a group, like monthly. And I would go through those. Readiness, safety, quality of life. What does readiness mean? It means know your job. If you don't know your job, talk to your chief and figure out what it is. Know what to do during an emergency and so on. Safety. I try to preach safety. Precautions are written in blood. There's a reason we have them. And so there were some specifics there. Quality of life, no dope. I was really hard on this. You dope. On my ship, the message you're sending is you don't care about your shipmates. That's not acceptable, stuff like that. So probably the first working day, I sat down with my officers and gave Them that message. And then I met with the crew at Captain's Call about once a month, and we talk about this stuff. And I have to tell you, I loved Captain's Call because after I went through telling the crew what was coming and stuff, I would always have a list of names of all the kids that reported aboard since the last Captain's Call. And at the end of Captain's Call, I would call the names of every one of those kids one at a time. This is on the fan tail. The entire crew is there. Okay, Siemens, Schwartz, Joseph Schwartz. Where are you? And this kid would stand up, and they'd probably never been recognized like that in his whole life. And now he's standing up in front of his entire ship. Where are you from? He's from New Jersey or Kansas or something. So I would say, okay, he's from Kansas. How many other guys here from Kansas? Whole bunch of people would raise their hands and you could say, you're not alone. You've got shipmates that know where you're from, and right away they feel part of something that they didn't even know they were part of. And then I would always ask them if they want to make a speech, which is so much fun. Now these kids react because, you know, they never want to make a speech, but they've never been recognized in a positive way. So I had tremendous fun with stuff like that.

[Michael Spiebeck]

That's great.

[Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker]

Sorry, don't mean to.

[Michael Spiebeck]

No, no, no. I think it just goes to show the care you took in getting to know the crew, and I think probably better off for that, so. No, that's great. In January 1990, the battleship became flagship of Admiral Paul Reason and Battle Group Romeo. I mentioned to you earlier, we drove down and talked to Admiral Reason. You know, I think a lot of the questions we get here on the. At the museum about when they come into where we're sitting right now in the import cabin and they go right next to the admiral's cabin is what's the relationship between an admiral on board who's taken the battleship as their flagship, and then the actual captain? And from your perspective, you, you know, you. You commanded the ship. The admiral commanded the battle group. Can you tell us a little bit about that and your time with Romeo?

[Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker]

I thought we had a great relationship with the staff, you know, from time to time on issues you might bump heads with. But their focus was way different than mine. My focus is internal. Their focus is external. Paul Reason stayed out of my knickers, and I appreciated that. This is my ship.

[Michael Spiebeck]

Yeah, the 18th of April 1990. We just talked about it. You just donate something very special to the ship you fired for the final time. A 16 inch round from the 16 inch guns. Tell us about that. And can you tell us about what you just donated to the battleship Museum?

[Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker]

When we shot the last 16 inch rounds, I don't know how they do this, but the weapons people got the firing key up on the bridge and it was actually on the 05 level, which is where I would go if we were shooting those guns unless it was an actual combat. And so I pulled the trigger. That firing key was cut off and mounted on a big plaque and given to me when the ship was decommissioned by the weapons department. And so I've had it in my office for over 30 years. And now I think it belongs back on the battleship. So.

[Michael Spiebeck]

And we appreciate that very much. Any particular moment that sort of sticks out to you from as a favorite moment from your time as skipper here?

[Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker]

There are many, many, many favorite moments. I think one that meant a lot to me personally when we went to the Rose Festival. I'll tell you two quick sea stories that are meaningful. When you go up that river, you're steaming at 18 to 20 knots against about a 6 to 8 knot current. The ship is drawing, I don't know, 35ft maybe. The river is only 42ft deep. So as you go through the river, you're sucking up all the water in the river. It releases and makes huge wake and you're steaming, turning for a lot of speed, but you're not making that much good. Well, coming downstream, you've got six to eight knots pushing you. Completely different situation. So when we came with a whole bunch of VIPs on board to Lumbee, Washington, coming down the stream and the currents pushing me, I had to turn the ship around 180 so that I could power into the landing port side too. And when we got normal and I turned and we got normal to the flow of the river, the bow would not come up into the stream. The current was too strong. So I'm going ahead full on the port engines, back full on the starboard engines. My rudder's right full. I have a tugboat on the port bow and a tugboat on the stern going like this. And the ship would still not come up into the stream. Current's too strong. And look to my left and the Longview Bridge is going like this. And I'm thinking, this is going to look great in the newspapers. Battleship takes out Longview Bridge. But I had One more tool, and that was my anchor. So I dropped the starboard anchor. As soon as that anchor hit the bottom, the stern just fell away. And we picked up the anchor and powered into the landing. That was cool. But the very personal thing that happened after that, we went to San Francisco and as we passed under the Golden Gate Bridge, my mother and father were standing on this little jetty just under the Golden Gate. And my dad had a highway flare and he was waving it. And there was a photographer there from the San Francisco Chronicle. And he asked my parents, what are you doing? And my dad said, well, my son is the captain of that ship. This guy took a picture of my parents waving that flare with the battleship and the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. Is that cool?

[Michael Spiebeck]

That's fantastic. I can, I can only imagine the, the pride in your parents at that moment.

[Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker]

And then the guy said, well, what's your son's name? And they told him. And when he put it in the paper, they said, my name was Roland. But anyways, that was a great moment.

[Michael Spiebeck]

That's great. This is your second time back at the battleship since the ship was decommissioned. We've walked around, we've been to some places on board. Just wanted to know your thoughts about what it's like to be back on board again.

[Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker]

Oh, it's a thrill and I commend you and your team. See a lot of pride here. I think that's really cool. It's, you know, it's like coming home. I look at my desk, I look at my rack. I kind of like to take a nap, except it's not moving. It's just a thrill.

[Michael Spiebeck]

Did you follow the ship's progress at the dry dock at all earlier this year?

[Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker]

I did and I, I love the picture of you guys flying battle flag. I'm so glad somebody found that. I had totally forgotten it, but it's great and I appreciate the replica. Very cool.

[Michael Spiebeck]

We're here recording this discussion. On September 12, 2024, two days from now, on Saturday 14th September, the next USS New Jersey will be commissioned. It'll be the first time there's a USS New Jersey and the active fleet since decom in 91. We've taken a lot of pride in having such a great relationship with the boat. And we've done everything we can to sort of pass on the name and the legacy of New Jersey from BB62 to SSN796. And curious if there's. I know you're going to be part of commissioning day ceremony, which there's a lot of excitement around. Curious of your thoughts on the next USS New Jersey and the legacy of continuing the the great name.

[Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker]

Well, I'll just say to you, part of what I'm going to say to them, to that submarine, to that Austin submarine and that awesome crew now hear the call now sounded to provide firepower for freedom.

[Michael Spiebeck]

I think, Admiral, that's just the perfect place to end this conversation. Really grateful for you to for sitting down with us, for taking time out of your your schedule here on your visit to New Jersey to come back come back home to the battleship. You this ship is your ship. We hope to to see you again and we appreciate your time. Thank you so much.

[Rear Admiral R.D. Tucker]

My pleasure. Battleships forever.

[Michael Spiebeck]

Battleships forever.