Bordelon (DDR 881) - Naval Cruise Book

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-5- df -' '45 f'F?Q'?fJ2Q'4 pg F-I-if, sign ,fn 14, ., .- 30 APRIL - With BORDELON in plane guard station on a moonless and rainly mid-Watch, the KITTY HAWK's utility helicopter crashed into the sea five miles astern of the formation. The ship reversed course and was shortly on the scene, finding the helo gone but the four-man crew floating safely in a raft. Although three were injured, they were quickly and safely brought aboard, Where they spent the night and left by helo in the morning. ' 1:5-EW.7.?'5vF? 'f .M ., Sixteen lucky men saw Bob Hope and friends on the Coral Sea Fellow member of Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club. .QZXW A . ,, Q V: Cczff f f. za 'f f 4, r'7f' Jf 'V f .fm .,. X ,Life The morning after the night before. CORAL SEA QCVA -439 from plane guard station. . Y .- .....,,.... tm.. ,,,,,,,J RT

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2 s r A sm or JUAN or mu' V g - on-may 1 , Uss KITTY HAWK QCVA-631 CARRIER TASK GROUP OPERATIONS The roar of the F-4 Phantom over- head announced the commencement of the night's flight operations as the Officer of the Deck conned the sleek destroyer into plane guard station one thousand yards astern of the big carrier. This station be- came quite familiar during the forty- three days spent at various times during the deployment as part of attack carrier task groups in the Tonkin Gulf. Always Q Plane guard bridge watch. on the ready to come to the rescue of a pilot unlucky enough to crash near the task group, BORDELON and her fellow escorts also served as a screen for the carrier against air, surface, or sub- marine attack. The carriers CORAL SEA, KITTY HAWK, and BON HOMME RICHARD utilized BORDELON's serv- ices, and in turn provided some of the comforts that only a large ship can: daily mail and logistic support by heli- copter, emergency medical and dental facilities, and daily newspapers to men- tion a few. The daily display of the tre- mendous capability, offensive and de- fensive, of our Navy's attackpcarrier striking force was awe-inspiring. We who serve in destroyers are proud to be the small boys , but we have great admiration and respect for our fellow Navy men who man the bird farms .

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' ' f .num or: i'uc31'g'ipi ,wus 4 . J.'...., I l' OPERATION SEA DRAGON Operation Sea Dragon, one of the most 1 t successful continuing operations of the Viet- nam conflict, tasks Seventh Fleet cruisers and destroyers with the destruction of North Vietnamese logistics craft, trucks convoys, storage areas, highway choke points, and coastal defense sites. For twenty-three days the BORDELON participated in Sea Dragon, cruising along the North Vietnamese coast- line, always on the alert for elusive WIBLICS blasting shore targets once or twice a day, halt- ing the southward flow of material and supplies, carrying the way to the enemy, The ship oper- ated first with the Australian guided missile destroyer HMAS PERTH, whose commanding of- ficer served as task unit commander, then with the USS HOEL fDDG 133 with their Commodore, 1 COMDESDIV 152, as unit commander. V, G 1' 'nu--, , ,.,., ! J HMAS PERTH QD 385 41