| As I recall, the Nan was on her return trip home after some ops in the Caribbean, and still several days from Newport. A report came in to the XO that a rat had been discovered on the tank deck, and was laid to rest. As the Comm Officer, it was my job to send a message prior to arrival to NavSta Newport to arrange for berthing, shore power, tugs, etc. One of the provisions included was any report of possible communicable diseases on board. To this end, I was obliged to include as part of the report the sighting of "a rat". The message that came back stated that Nan had to anchor in quarantine on arrival, because, "if there is one rat, then there are two". On hearing this, the old man (RLB) put the word out that he was displeased with what lay ahead… Funny, within 24 hours, one of the deck force (I believe Murphy) reported to the XO that "the other rat" had been found and eliminated. The old man immediately told me to draft a message to NavSta Newport, report finding "the other rat", and request berthing at the pier. Shortly, approval was granted…however, Upon arrival, there was no alongside pier room, so the Nan had to tie up outboard of another vessel who's Captain was senior to our old man. The deck force starts laying lines over. Word comes back from the moored ship that their Captain wants "rat guards" installed on our lines between the ships because he heard we had "rats". As I recall, there was a little hesitation on the part of the deck force. However, being mindful of seniority issues, the guards were brought forth, and were in the process of being installed when the CO of the inboard ship looked over the rail towards the Nan and yelled, "turn those guards around, 'case you got more rats…"
Needless to say, that was the first time I ever saw rat-guards installed backwards!
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