long periods without sleep was pretty common in the Navy. The case I talked about was by no means the only time I was up for more than 48 hrs it was just my longest time awake. My next two longest times were just short of 4 days but with one of those I did managed to get one 30 minute nap which make a lot of difference in how you feel but not so much how you act and react.

Yep, 60+ hours at General Quarters seemed to be about the limit for the commanding officer on our can. Like he thought our performance would improve with time. Lord help the poor slob who nodded off in front of him or the xo. If they could've gotten away with flogging us they would've. You'd be surprised how close we came to mutiny; it was discussed seriously more than once.

Anyone see the movie "The Bedford Incident"? Many a time I felt like Wally Cox sitting at the NTDS chasing tracks. There are two movies I always recommend to prospective recruits wanting to go to sea, that one, and "Mr. Roberts". It'll either be one way or the other 90% of the time. Then there was the Saturday Night Live spoof on the Navy recruiting commercials: "Navy, it's not just a job, it's $79.62 a week". The best one though was Garrett Morris as a Marine recruiter out looking for "a few good men". That was classic

The last place I would ever want to be trying to work while going for any length of time without sleep is at sea. The office did not appreciate that I knew there were legal limits on how long I was allowed to be at the helm, and I did say "That's it. I'm going to bed."

Spending 12 hours or more at the helm was actually kind of normal, at times, and that was the legal limit. But when you got above 15 hours, your skills and thinking dropped. There were a few times I went a little too long and found myself heading into trouble. I can recall images of the bow of a container ship looming. Brain functioned kicked in for a while, and then, adrenaline got me through until I got to my bunk.

I know had I stayed awake the took the helm or conn after being for 48+ hours, my crew and myself would have been at risk. If I was in trouble and needed to do it to get out, well, I would, but that's the only excuse.

A very skilled and experienced harbor pilot once told me you needed two things to do that job: "Some common sense and a set of balls." Working on too little rest is not enough of the first and perhaps too much of the second. Keeping my crew awake and working for extended periods would have been a lack of common sense, in almost all circumstances.

One of the reasons I went into the Air Force (they were drafting into the Army, Navy, and Marines at that time, and I figured that four years in the AF beat two in any of the others)...