.
The NOAA website included
the following statements:
The earthquake occurred
at 5:36 pm on March 27, 1964, Alaska Standard Time (03:36 Universal
Time code on March 28, 1964). The great Alaskan earthquake of 1964
was the largest earthquake in North America and the second largest
ever recorded. "The strong ground motion reported in the Anchorage
area lasted about 4-5 minutes which triggered many avalanches and
landslides - some being tsunamigenic. The earthquake shaking caused
at least 5 local slide generated tsunamis within minutes after the
shaking began.
Joe Kozerski wrote:
The USS Collett was
directed to pull into Kaohsiung, Taiwan because of the Tsunami
alert. I had the watch with Mr. Brockett on the bow, we lost just
over 1 foot of water out of the harbor. I wonder how many other
shipmates remember this, and if any can correct me on my memories or
add to it.
Frank Olderr added:
It was interesting to
read that Joe Kozerski had a bow watch. I had forgotten that one was
posted that night. Still, I recall parts of that
occasion reasonably well. The deck force doubled up on chains
between 2 buoys in the afternoon. I was petty officer of the watch
on the quarterdeck sometime in the middle of the night. (It may have
been the midwatch.) There was no wind and not a ripple on the water.
From the mouth of the harbor a single swell came in, not all
that high, kissed the shore and returned to the sea. Too bad
Bill Brockett (LTJG - Weapons) can't help us remember. He died in
1996. Who else was on watch (or stayed up to see it) that night?
Mike Kipper added:
I have an update for the
roster. I am absolutely 100% sure that Brockett made full Lieutenant
while I was aboard. That is the first time I ever had a cigar - he
bought 'Crooks' for the entire crew. Also, I am sure his
father was an Admiral.
Lin Morgan added:
Not related to the
earthquake (I don't remember it at all) but to follow-up on Mike
Kipper's memories about Bill Brockett: He was Weapons Officer
when I came aboard. He pulled me out of the Deck Force and made me
Weapons Yeoman. He left the COLLETT not long before I did. I recall
he was going to be CO of a gunboat. His father was an admiral:
William A. Brockett, Chief Bureau of Ships. As BUSHIPS he got
a lot of the blame for the USS THRESHER disaster. In
Admiral
Brockett's biography on Wikipedia I noted he gave the
commissioning address for the USS GALLUP (PGM-84). That was probably
the gunboat his son was to command. A little research turned
up that Bill Brockett left the Navy and became an attorney in San
Francisco before passing away in 1996.