Michael Bradley’s Photos of the Brule

1966-67

Here is the crew and ship picture for the USS Brule (AKL-28) in 1960. As you can see there were not a lot of us, therefore when at sea we stood 4 on and 4 off. All of the Filipino sailors were members of the U S Navy Insular Force and the balance of us were regular Navy. The crew had their own mess, just like an officer’s mess. We each received an additional $48.00 (?) per month and purchased our groceries at the Navy commissary at Subic and at Cavite or at local markets where ever we were. We would trade civilian food with other Navy ships for navy supplied staples. Normally, we ate like Kings. We even had 2 barbecue grills mounted on the railing of the fantail. It was real tough duty.

This first shot shows the USS Brule AKL-28 along side the USS Paracutin AE18. We were providing them ships power to maintain the temps in the ammunition holds while they made some major repairs which took about 4 days. This was in Subic Bay, P.I.

The next shot shows the general berthing area for the crew, a picture of the galley, Bridge and the ships generator room which was located on the main deck just forward of the the bridge housing.

1. My radio room
2. Ship’s office and my berth.
3. Entering Hong Kong with USAF officer’s wives as passengers. Boat on main deck was to be used by 7th fleet while visiting Hong Kong.
4. Engine room throttles. We had 2 GMC diesels. I am not sure what size.
5. Mast detail 1960.