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Help identifying a Duty Station on an LPH from the movie Apollo 13

Citation3

Citation3

Well-Known Member
Good morning all,

I'm hoping this knowledgeable group might be open to assisting me in identifying a crew person seen in the movie Apollo 13. I'm looking to write an article about the Rolex GMT that is seen in this screen shot from the recovery phase of the movie.

I'm not sure exactly were to begin trying to track this watch and it's owner down. If anyone here is open to helping me it would be greatly appreciated.

From researching the filming of the movie, this recovery scene was possibly filmed onboard the USS New Orleans (LPH-11) in November 1994.

Are there an any open sources I could go to help identify the person wearing the Rolex GMT with the red and blue (Pepsi) bezel? I do not want to identify anyone publicly here so a PM would be fantastic from anyone willing to help me. Also, I've reviewed the movie credits and these two gentleman do not appear to be credited in the movie.

For my own understanding, what is this Duty Station, and my apologies if "Duty Station" is not the proper terminology to use.

Screenshot 2023-11-25 at 8.26.15 AM.jpeg
(CREDIT - Paramount Pictures)

Thank you all in advance for any information you might be able to provide.
 
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Uncle Fester

Uncle Fester

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He’s the Assistant Air Officer, aka “Mini Boss.” The fellow to his right with the binoculars is the Air Boss. The Boss and Mini are the administrative department heads of the ship’s Air Department, ie, the officers and sailors who operate and maintain the flight deck and its equipment, on aircraft carriers and large-deck amphibious assault ships. During flight ops they run the flight deck and airborne aircraft in the ship’s immediate vicinity from Primary Flight Control, aka Pri-Fly, analogous to an airfield control tower. The Boss and Mini are career aviation officers, usually O-5 Commanders who’ve just completed a tour as squadron commanding officers.

If you really wanted to find out who this cat is/was, I suppose you could try finding a “cruise book” from New Orleans from around that time. Cruise books are sort of like college yearbooks for a ship’s deployment and feature pictures of all the ship’s crew. If filming of Apollo 13 was done during workups - training for deployment - as is usually the case when the Navy agrees to support film/TV production, there might even be some BTS pics.

Incidentally, though you might already have noticed this since you were combing through the credits, but the real Jim Lovell makes a cameo in the movie as the Captain of Iwo Jima. He’s seen saluting Tom Hanks during the closing montage.
 
Citation3

Citation3

Well-Known Member
Uncle Fester said:
He’s the Assistant Air Officer, aka “Mini Boss.” The fellow to his right with the binoculars is the Air Boss. The Boss and Mini are the administrative department heads of the ship’s Air Department, ie, the officers and sailors who operate and maintain the flight deck and its equipment, on aircraft carriers and large-deck amphibious assault ships. During flight ops they run the flight deck and airborne aircraft in the ship’s immediate vicinity from Primary Flight Control, aka Pri-Fly, analogous to an airfield control tower. The Boss and Mini are career aviation officers, usually O-5 Commanders who’ve just completed a tour as squadron commanding officers.

If you really wanted to find out who this cat is/was, I suppose you could try finding a “cruise book” from New Orleans from around that time. Cruise books are sort of like college yearbooks for a ship’s deployment and feature pictures of all the ship’s crew. If filming of Apollo 13 was done during workups - training for deployment - as is usually the case when the Navy agrees to support film/TV production, there might even be some BTS pics.

Incidentally, though you might already have noticed this since you were combing through the credits, but the real Jim Lovell makes a cameo in the movie as the Captain of Iwo Jima. He’s seen saluting Tom Hanks during the closing montage.
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Thank you for the great information. I was able to locate a 93-94 WESTPAC cruise book online but I think it may be a year or two too early. I'll continue the look for a later cruise book. Also, the gouge on the roles and responsibilities is fantastic. Thank you.

Yes, I'm familiar with Lovell's cameo appearance at the end of the movie. Lovell continues to wear his well worn Rolex GMT dating back to before his Apollo 13 mission in December 1968. Here is a picture that was sent to me when he signed a piece for my collection. His GMT dial includes a USNA crest. Both Alan Shepard and Wally Schirra also wore the Rolex GMTs with the USNA crest as well. These custom GMT dials are very rare and interesting. Frank Borman also wore the GMT and his dial included a West Point crest on the dial.

Image.jpeg

lovell.jpeg
 
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GroundPounder

GroundPounder

Well-Known Member
Citation3 said:
Thank you for the great information. I was able to locate a 93-94 WESTPAC cruise book online but I think it may be a year or two too early. I'll continue the look for a later cruise book. Also, the gouge on the roles and responsibilities is fantastic. Thank you.

Yes, I'm familiar with Lovell's cameo appearance at the end of the movie. Lovell continues to wear his well worn Rolex GMT dating back to before his Apollo 13 mission in December 1968. Here is a picture that was sent to me when he signed a piece for my collection. His GMT dial includes a USNA crest. Both Alan Shepard and Wally Schirra also wore the Rolex GMTs with the USNA crest as well. These custom GMT dials are very rare and interesting. Frank Borman also wears the GMT and his dial included a West Point crest on the dial.

View attachment 39327

View attachment 39328
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Col. Borman died on 7 Nov.
 
E

exNavyOffRec

Well-Known Member
The New Orleans was LPH-11 and they have a Facebook group, it is highly possible someone there would know who the mini boss was during that time. The filming occurred in Nov 1994 to help narrow it down, and the CO at that time was Steven Tomaszeski.

Sometimes people miss being in a cruise book for one reason or another, I would look for 94-95/96.
 
Citation3

Citation3

Well-Known Member
exNavyOffRec said:
The New Orleans was LPH-11 and they have a Facebook group, it is highly possible someone there would know who the mini boss was during that time. The filming occurred in Nov 1994 to help narrow it down, and the CO at that time was Steven Tomaszeski.

Sometimes people miss being in a cruise book for one reason or another, I would look for 94-95/96.
Click to expand...
Boy oh boy, I need to proofread better. Missed that too.:confused:

Griz882 said:
Try this guy…he was the Mini-Boss in that era. Robert Altemus.

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Thank you sir. After Uncle Fester suggested the cruise book I ended up at Mr. Altemus too as a possible next lead to contact. I guess I'm off to see if I can get into my LinkedIn account which has been unused for the past 10 years.

I found the 1993 WesPac cruise book online and found this page.

032.jpg
 
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