AROUND THE WORLD IN 1.8 SECONDS

I was working in Radio one with a guy named Schmitt. He was a second class p.o. and was in ''charge'' of the guys in Teletype section of radio one.
Things were kinda slow because it was a weekend and not much going on. It was a mid watch as I recall and we had a RATT (rapid automatic teletype) circuit with Londondary. I was gabbing with the other operator on the ratt ckt. and I asked if he could patch me thru to Morocco or Italy so I could talk to a guy in the Med. He said sure and flipped a couple switches and I was talking to a guy in the med on the Forestall as I recall. When I got thru I asked the guy in Morocco If he could patch me thru going east somewhere. He said yes and soon I was talking to a guy in Saudi Arabia. HUMMMMMMMMMMMMMmm...... This is the short version....
I will not pretend to remember all the relay stations they kept forwarding me to in this expierment. Schmitt seen what I was doing and said ''Go for it''......'' See how far you can get''...... In about thirty minutes we had a signal going AROUND THE WORLD....... Yep , Around the World in 1.8 seconds.. We would run a special test tape on a ''tape distributor'' and in less than two second it came back to us on a different freaquency that we broadcast ed it on.......... Schmitt set it up so we could broad cast both ways at once. .......... The circuit hung togehter for amybe thirty minutes and then we lost a link somewhere and it all fell apart and we shut it down and sorta forgot about it.
The next morning about ten I was rousted out of the rack and informed that I was to report to the Chief in Charge in radio one on the double.
When I got there Schmitt was already there. The Chief in Charge had the rough copy of what we had done on his desk. He was not a real happy camper......
He went thru a ''list of things'' we had violated and listed the ''trouble'' we were in by using Navy communications gear in an un authorized manner. (it was common knowledge that about everyone ''called home'' on the hi com circuit and no one said anything)........
The chief said we had two options....
Option one. To his knowledge this was the first time a radio signal had been relayed around the world by any Navy ship in the history of the Navy.......We could take the credit for this great accomplishment and be written up for misuse of Navy equipment and probably be busted ........HUMMMMMM.....
Option two. We could share our momentous accomplishment with the entire radio gang and each and every one would get a ''Letter of Accomplishment'' in our jackets and he , as Chief in Charge would get a button his vest and the ''glory''.......
We went for option two. He got the credit and we got a ''letter'' and everyone was very happy.
They finally wrote it up in All Hands and didnt even mention Schmitt and me...
Sometime later we took a bunch of ''suits'' off the Vacapes and they tried to repeat the feat. No dice. they got about half way and it fell apart. The chief would not even let me and Schmitt work with the suits for fear we might ''spill the beans''..... We stood back and watch ''The Chief '' strut around shouting orders and accomplishing mostly nothing. The press took some pix of Chief Clendenion and the suits and it kinda dropped after that ....
I cant remember for sure but I believe we did this in 60 or early 61.
Seajay the sailor man......
On the Norton making history in the North Atlantic....
God bless our troops and bring them home soon and safe
God bless our vets for their service to this great nation .