SH-2 Seasprite
The SH-2 Seasprite, which made its first flight in July 1959 and was provided to fleet squadrons starting in 1962, gave the Navy an all-weather helicopter that could be used for a range of missions. The Seasprite was originally designed to serve as plane guards aboard aircraft carriers, but as the air war in Vietnam grew more intense, it was forced to do combat rescue and search missions.
As former US Navy SH-2 Seasprite pilot, Jim Thurber recalls on Quora, the Navy adopted a further variant of the Seasprite in 1970 to meet the interim requirement for the Light Airborne Multi-purpose System (LAMPS), which provided over-the-horizon search and strike capability for anti-submarine destroyers;
LAMPS pilot
‘As a LAMPS pilot, I deployed with four pilots and twelve or thirteen ground crew – aboard a destroyer class vessel capable of carrying a single helo. In this case, we used an SH-2F Seasprite, affectionately known as the Whistling Sh*t Can.
‘My crew was, in a word, excellent. The Chief Petty Officer in charge of maintenance and deck operations was top drawer. And did these guys get the job done? Absolutely and with complete professionalism.
‘The only thing that happened “outside” the realm of normal maintenance is that we had a Second Class Petty Officer, William Chestnut, who was an engine maintenance tech. It turns out he had worked in the maintenance rebuild facility for several years and knew the GE T-58 engine [the SH-2 had two T-58s] inside and out.
Unauthorized at-sea maintenance
‘We’d landed one day and Petty Officer Chestnut had us keep the number two engine running for a few extra minutes (the rotor blades were stationary – using the main rotor brake). After we shut down, he (Chestnut) said he thought we had a bad number two bearing. Normally this requires an engine change, but we were in the middle of the Mediterranean, and there were no engines in the European theater. “Mister Thurber,” said Petty Officer Chestnut. “I worked in depot-level maintenance, and I can probably tear down and replace that bearing aboard the ship. Take me about 32 hours total.”
‘Absolutely UNAUTHORIZED at-sea maintenance but Petty Officer Chestnut did a GREAT job and had that engine back and running in 22 hours – max. If we had been caught, we’d have been in a world of sh*t but having guys like that on my crew… I had no doubt that the work Petty Officer Chestnut did on that engine exceeded anything I’d have gotten from a normal depot-level rebuild.’
Thurber concludes;
‘Thanks for listening and THANK YOU to my LAMPS crew for a job very, very well done. This includes Chief Warford, Petty Officer Shrimpton, Petty Officer Chestnut, and a host of others whose names I simply cannot remember.’
Photo by PH2 Michael A. Harnar and OS2 John Bouvia, USN