SHIP TRIVIA

I noticed the Saufley's Fearless Fosdick insignia on your letter. That emblem was my proudest accomplishment while aboard Saufley. Arleigh Burke was COMDESLANT (enroute to CNO) and wanted his ships to show more espirit. (You will recall that his WWII Desron 23 was called "The Little Beavers" and sported a funnel painting of Red Ryder's little sidekick.) The Skipper (Ned Bent) assigned me the task of "creating" an insignia for Saufley. After a good bit of wheel-spinning, I got the idea of requesting Al Capp, creator of Lil Abner, to design one for Saufley. I wrote a letter explaining the ship's ASW mission and asked if he would be kind enough to create such a design depicting Fearless Fosdick shooting holes through an animated submarine..just as he did his many outlaw opponents. He did so...with his usual gusto. I left the ship before it was put on the stack...if it ever was...but am delighted to see that the artwork has survived. I would certainly love to have a copy of that insignia. I wonder where the original ended up.
Jim Allingham, LT

The logo of Fearless Fosdick (Lil Abner character) depicted the Saufley destroying a submarine (the shark). It was drawn by our Postal Clerk at the time and I don't remember his name either, although I can see his face. He also drew a very funny cartoon of the Saufley passing the Statue of Liberty while "she" held her nose. The evaps were down (again) and we'd been out of water for quite awhile, which meant there were a lot of smelly bodies running around the ship. Best regards, Dick Lear (Jim Allingham was the person who requested it from Al Capp.) (Jack King, sonarman was the STATUE of LIBERTY artist.)