This is a pic of one of the many ashtrays that I handed out during my command tour... the machine shop would turn these from a 5 inch shell casing and then affix a small plaque on it that said one of two inscriptions:

"A good smoke is always on target."

or

"A powerful circle, bound by the pause of a good cigar."

and:

"Presented by the Commanding Officer, USS JH, on the occasion of your visit."

Wish I had kept a few more of them when I retired....

unique and that machine shop did some amazing things for its size.

Carry on.

Now that is too cool.

My Dad has a pair of lamps assembled from spent 5" shell from Viet-Nam era.

Thanks for your service!!!

I get it (part of it, anyway)--

ex-dd-c.o.

What is 'dd'?

And I am impressed. Thank you.

DD is the Naval abbreviation for Destroyer. BB was for battleship....CVN for Aircraft Carrier, Nuclear....CG for Guided Missile Cruiser...DDG for Guided Missile Destroyer.....SSN for Submarine, Nuclear.... SSBN for Submarine, Ballistic Missile, Nuclear.....LST for Amphibious Tank Landing Ship....AO for Fleet Oiler.... LMD for Large Mahogany Desk.... etc.

Then you added the hull number after the letter designation, which corresponds to the ship in that series or type...

Cool stuff.

You got to command a gaddam destroyer? I am jealous beyond heap!

(really, two things: 'Thank you'; and, 'that must have been very cool')

A few years ago, I toured our local Coast Guard cutter, 'Dorado', about 80'. I was grinning inside because everybody--officers included--was so dern young!

Geez, and I thought Harley Davidson had a lot of letter-based codes....

Really neat:

Thanks for your service:

Nick

#7 Is that because you ride a 1975 FSRJKSFDKDLJGLJDLKFDEIEIO?

Chief... it WAS fun. The cigars I smoked during that tour were legend...I was THE customs officer! I pulled into Cartagena, Colombia in 96 and bought heap boxes of cigars. Restocked up again in Spain in 97. They lasted many years. I had a crew of 330 and the average age onboard was 23.6. I was the old man at 39.

Now I command an LMD....

LMD?

Light 'Mitting Diode?

Large Mahogony Desk!

Thanks for your Service!

What a freakin great ashtray! Love the John Hancock underneath too.

Chief stupid!

I missed 'LMD' in earlier post...

That's a desktop humidor underneath. It was a gift from my wardorrom when I left. They had it etched with ship's signature and my name. The ship was the ONLY ship in the Navy authorized to have ship's name in the actual signature script rather than standard block letters. It was cool!

^

Very Cool!

Hog