How the Moose Grew Its Antlers by Mike Robertson

After the Moose was commissioned in December, 1978, it moved to its new homeport at Charleston, SC, arriving before Christmas. As part of the post-commissioning phase, the Moose went south to the Caribbean for a shakedown cruise. This included a trip to Gitmo and the invasion of the FTC gurus to make sure that the crew could safely operate the ship. There was a brief passing at Vieques to check the guns, control a couple of aircraft out of Roosevelt Roads, lots of at-sea training and so forth. Part of the package was a stop at St. Thomas for a little R&R.

The Navy League turned out to welcome the ship and set up a few fun filled days for the crew. The president of the Navy League post was a retired downeaster by the name of Chick Crockett. He and his wife spent the Winter months in St. Thomas and the summer back home in Maine. When in Maine, they lived close to Moosehead Lake. He suggested that the ship needed a good rack of moose antlers as a totem. In the middle of one of those daily happy hours, the idea caught on and passed muster with Capt. Giuffreda. Chick volunteered to take care of everything when he got back to Maine.

In June, 1979, the Moose went back to Pascagula for a post-commissioning refitting. In August, word came from Chick up in Maine that he had found the perfect rack in a bone yard over by the lake. Ever the innovator, he made arrangements for a reserve P-3 squadron in Brunswick to fly the antlers down to Biloxi during one of their training missions. The Navy agreed - and the antlers showed up a couple of weeks later. Litton Industries worked up a special bracket design and mounted the preserved and treated antlers just below the pilot house windows - where they remained until temporarily lifted by the crew of the USS Radford in Rota, Spain. 

From Mike Belter:  By the way it wasn't the Radford that ripped off our antlers, it was the USS Connolly. Still can see them holding up the painted sheet that stated that the "Connolly goosed the Moose in 1980". As I remember it we were forced to send the XO via SH2 to retrieve them.

So, after an at-sea rendezvous, flour fight and negotiations, the antlers were ransomed and returned to their rightful place. The engineers worked up a better securing device to protect against future piracy.

Does anyone know where the antlers are now?

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