On my first ship, a small destroyer escort (see photo) one of my supply Petty Officers f’d up by transcribing a part number and mistakenly ordered an F-4 replacement engine. Damn flatbed showed up on the Destroyer piers in San Diego. Most people thought it was funny. Except the XO. He chewed me out big time. At some point he screamed, “How could you have signed that supply chit." I said, "Because the Chief told me to." True but that answer did not help. At some point the C.O. called the XO off. Special.
Similar story, not sure if I put it here before or not but some time in the 80s a maintenance officer at Ft Carson (which is in Colorado) for those that don't know was trying to order a bulb for a jeep, blinker or some shit like that. Well in his haste he got a single digit wrong and ordered a freaking battleship anchor. The funniest thing is that no one in the chain of command from Pensacola to Colorado Springs thought to ask "Why in the hell are we shipping a battleship anchor to Colorado"? Well they didn't and they did. I'm not sure if it is still there but it used to be prominently displayed at the front gate of the base.
