Guard duty was not one of my strong points.
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There was only a skeleton crew on board while work was being done to remove the keel. I was the leading yeoman which was no big deal since I was the only yeoman on board. A yeoman, by the way, is an office worker which is how we got the nickname, titless WAVES. We also serve as the Captain’s talker on the bridge while at sea and are court reporters at rare court martials.
Generally speaking yeomen do not get called upon for guard duty but due to the small crew on board it was determined that I would take a four hour stint on the quarterdeck making sure anyone who came aboard had business on the ship. The boatswains mate I relieved went through the proper procedure with the transferring of the side arm. He slid back the barrel of the Navy Colt .45 semi-automatic, locked it in place and handed it to me so that I could see there was no cartridge in the chamber during the transfer lest we shoot one another. I was a farm kid familiar with rifles, shotguns and revolvers but had never seen a semi-automatic before let alone handle one. He left the area and I couldn’t figure out how to slide the barrel back in place and the piece wouldn’t fit back into the holster. I simply laid it on the dais and went about the business of watching for spies.
It wasn’t long until I heard the Captain being piped aboard. I snapped to my best sloppy salute and granted him permission to come aboard. He, being the inquisitive type, immediately quizzed me as to why my pistol was lying about instead of being secured in its holster. I told him I had not been to boot camp and had never been on the firing range and did not know diddley about how to manipulate the thing. The order came down about two hours later from the Executive Officer: Yeoman will no longer serve on guard duty aboard the USS Glacier.
Today, I can make a bullet come out the end but I’m still not real handy with a semi-automatic handgun. I didn’t learn much in the Navy but it kept me out of the Army.
This was a really interesting read! I’m not sure why you told the captain about not knowing how to use a gun though 
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