USS MULLINNIX DD-944

16 April 1972
Panana Canal (Enroute to Vietnam Gunline)

Ships are raised and lowered via a set of locks on the Atlantic side (Gatun Locks) and the Pacific side (Pedro Miguel and Miraflores Locks) in the canal. Each lock is either flooded or drained of water (after a ship is inside and the gates are closed) to raise or lower a ship. Then the gates are opened, and the electric trains pulled the ship into the next lock and the process is repeated. Approximately 17 million gallons of fresh water from Lake Gatun is used daily to transfer ships back and forth from both oceans.


FTGSN Frank Wood @ Duty Station on Fantail (Panama Canal 16 April 1972)






Lock is Flooded, Doors Open, Mullinnix Being Pulled Foward


Water Equalized, Doors are Opening...


Water Equalized, Doors are Opening. Note Electric Train


Headed to Next Lock


Electric Train Pulling Mullinnix Through Lock


Mullinnix inside a Lock With Doors Shut, Waiting For Water to Equalize


L to R: FTG3 Scott Ferguson, FTG2 Tom Demko, GMG2 Robert Tyng (standing), FTGSN John Brock

As Mullinnix were going through the locks, I remember a bunch of guys from the Army yelling/cursing/etc. from the bank. Of course, we cursed back.

Once a ship arrives in Lake Gatun (in the 'middle' of the Canal) all of the fire systems are charged with fresh water. Hence, it’s free bath time for the ship. We spent an hour or so hosing down the ship from top to bottom, stem to stern with fresh water to remove salt, salt damage, etc. Free showers as well...


Mullinnix Being Pulled into the Next Open Lock

These are electric trains the pulls a ship through the locks. They told us something like 17 million gallons of fresh water (from Lake Gatun, which is about 85 feet above sea level) is used each day moving ships through the Canal.

A pilot comes on board to help a ship through the entire canal system, which consists of a set of locks on the Atlantic side, a river, Lake Gatun (in the mountains) and a set of locks on the Pacific side. The Atlantic and Pacific are several feet different in elevation. The water level is not different between the Atlantic and the Pacific - both oceans exist at mean sea level. It is the tides in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean at the location of the Panama Canal that are not the same, so there is a "height" difference.


Mullinnix Being Pulled into the Next Lock Full of Water


Lock is Full and Doors are Opening so Mullinnix Can Move Forward


Mullinnix is Pulled by Trains to the Next Lock


Mullinnix in Chagres River Between Atlantic & Pacific Sets of Locks

Between the set of Atlantic Locks and the set of Pacific Locks there are miles of the Chagres River that a ship must steam through. Electric trains pull a ship through the locks with no assistance from the ship’s power systems. However, steaming through the river and Lake Gatun require the ship to be under its own power.

The Chagres River and Gatun Lake that make up part of the Panama Canal are surrounded by mountainous forest with no civilization. In the lake, we saw an occasional speedboat.




Mullinnix Under Her Own Power Heading Towards the Pacific Locks Through Chagres River

The other ship in the picture may have been dredging the river. There was at least one sunken ship in the river that they had simply pulled next the bank of the river (out of the way) and left to rot. That may be FTG3 Jerry Baker on the headset.




Electric Train Pulling Mullinnix Through Atlantic Locks




Port Balboa (Pacific Side of Panama Canal)

The Mullinnix stopped in Balboa (Pacific Side) after an ‘all-day’ trip through the canal. We refueled and had about 5 hours liberty but couldn't leave the base. I believe a couple of the crew snuck off the base and went into Panama City. They got caught of course but had a great time. The rest of us got in a fight with the crew of another ship (I assume one of the ships we left the East coast with) on the bus headed back from whereever we had been drinking (club on base probably). I remember my glassed being knocked off and me yelling, "How do you expect me to fight the communist without my glasses? I can't see!"

It was obvious that tension was building within the crews of all the ships headed west.


Mullinnix Inside Lock with Little Water – Looking up at Electric Train


From Mullinnix Fantail by Frank Wood (16 April 1972)

Mullinnix leaves Panama Canal Zone on 16 April, steaming towards Pearl Harbor in the company of USS Biddle DLG-34, USS Glennon DD-840, and USS Sarsfield DD-837


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