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On my fourth patrol the Blue crew brought the boat back to Charleston, SC for crew change. We, the Gold crew were going to head down to the Caribbean to Eleuthera Island to the AUTEC range to qualify on the then new MK-48 torpedo. I had recently made Second Class Sonar Tech. It was just after Christmas and my oldest son received a pair of cap pistol six shooters. I was packing my sea bag and Mrs. Anygun was helping. My son wanted to give me a present so he stuck one of his pistols in my sea bag. Neither Mrs. Anygun or I knew. When it was time to leave I threw my sea bag in the truck and She drove me to the boat. The boat was tied up next to the tender at the Naval Weapons station where the spare nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles were stored. Back then if you broke down you did not exit your vehicle. You would likely be shot. Serious stuff.

I kissed my wife and sons goodbye and went down the dock to the tender. At the quarterdeck my bag was searched but they did not find the pistol.I discovered the pistol when I dumped my sea bag to store my stuff in my locker. I put the pistol away. After a few days of being underway I got bored fast and decided to play a joke. I fetched the pistol and put it under my pillow. I was in a top bunk outboard port side berthing. Real dark. The off planesman woke up the ongoing watch. Our watches were six hours underway. The off-planesman was typically a non-qual and usually fresh out of sub school.

This is the way it went:

Off planesman slides my curtain open - "Petty Officer Anygun, time to wake up. First call"
Me - "OK" and slide my curtain closed.
He does it again, second call.
I am awake and hear him coming for third call. I have cap pistol in my hand.
OP- "Petty officer Anygun, third call"
Me - I stick the cap pistol in his face and say "You wake me up again and I will shoot you" I slide my curtain back. He runs out of berthing screaming. Very soon after the lights in berthing come on and the Chief of the Boat, an enormous Master Chief Fire Controlman storms into berthing, turns the lights on, throws back my curtain and drags me out of my rack by my chest. Literally. He is holding me off the floor by my chest flesh and hair. I weighed about 185 then. He is screaming at me to give him the weapon. I still had it in my hand. I screamed back at him "COB, its a cap pistol!" I held it in front of his face and pulled the trigger a few times. He let me go and said "Put it in your locker and don't bring it out again." He yelled for everyone to go back to sleep and turned the lights out. The non-qual asked him what he was going to do about it and he told the non-qual off planesman it was over.

When we returned to Charleston I still had to smuggle the pistol off the tender and Naval Weapons station. When I gave it back to my son at home Mrs. Anygun told me how cute it was the he gave me a present to take with me. Sweet.

I do't think the wake up rule would have applied in my case. The rule was known when I was in but there was nothing in the UCMJ about it.

True story.