KD SRI INDERAPURA @ USS SPARTANBURG

Dear Mr Jim Brock
Mr. Bruce Manley tried to but couldn't reach you. This is what he writes:

"I tried to reply to the American about your post but had to set up accounts and got harassed with google demanding a cell phone number, so screw it. I’m sending my reply to you as an email and you’ll see the truth of what happened. Basically, the crew didn’t give a damn and let it burn.

Hey Brock, I figured you for a lifer. x-GMGSN Bruce Manley here. Nothing personal, but I don't have too many nice things to say about the Navy. Yea, I hated the Navy and hated the Spartanburg County. The enlisted people were a bunch of stupid animals, half of whom were sociopaths avoiding prison terms. Just about all of them were drug addicts and our ship alone had more dealers than all of metro LA. Remember the Petty Officer Mitchell and Naval Intelligence incident? We were treated like shit, stripped of all human dignity and owned in every sense of the word by Uncle F&^%& Sam. Remember Joseph Knauer? The guy was borderline retarded and an asshole to boot. He is precisely why ships sink. But I do remember you and you were a pretty good guy - rare.

But it was sad even to see that pig go down, after cheering the fire photos at first. That thing was pure evil. I think the ship would not - and probably could not - have gone down with proper damage control.

If shore power was lost where were the SSDG's? Should've been fired up right away. What about watertight integrity? Apparently, nobody bothered to dog the thing down, so firefighting water just filled the compartments like a glass of water. That is called NO damage control.

Worst comes to worst, do proper dogging and flood the damn burning compartment with pumps. Some theorize it started in the galley but you can see in the pics it was really on Deck 3 starboard (near the fwd marines berthing?).

The lower decks were steel and you can see held up well. The aluminum superstructure is what failed the worst. Watertight integrity with some judicious flooding was all that was needed here.

Ironic that I hated the Navy so much because I love the sea. I live on it. Yep, 136 feet bow to stern my friend. But this thang ain't no haze gray. Knauer ended up in Sedona, AZ selling times or some shit. Remember Mark Fleishman? He worked for Siemens, maybe still does. He used to install MRIs for hospitals.

Laterz"