Brewton (FF 1086) - Naval Cruise Book

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WESTPAC DEPLOYIVIENT GF ss BREWTDN QFF-1086 MAY - DECEMBER 1975

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THE STORY OF WESTPAC '75 EVERY DEPLOYMENT, LIKE EVERY SHIP, IS UNIQUE. JUST AS HISTORY NEVER REALLY REPEATS ITSELF, NO TWO VOYAGES, DESPITE THEIR SIMILARITIES, ARE EVER REALLY THE SAME. MANY OF THOSE WHO LEFT PEARL HARBOR WITH BREWTON ON THAT MID-MAY MORNING HAD MADE CRUISES LIKE THIS BEFORE. MANY WERE LONG-TIME VETERANS OF THE BREWTON, AND COULD REMEMBER BACK A YEAR EARLIER, WHEN THEIR SHIP COMPLETED HER MAIDEN VOYAGE TO THE WESTERN PACIFIC. BUT DESPITE WHAT ALL OF THEM REMEMBERED AND EXPECTED, MUCH THAT WAS NEW AND UNKNOWN WAS TO BE EXPERIENCED, FOR THIS VOYAGE, LIKE ALL VOYAGES, WAS TO BE ITS OWN STORY. THERE WERE, OF COURSE, THINGS TO DO AND SEE THAT HAD BEEN DONE AND SEEN MANY TIMES BEFORE. BREWTON WAS AN OLD FRIEND IN MIDWAY, HAVING ONCE ADOPTED IT AS A SECOND HOMEPORT. THE STREETS AND PEOPLE OF SUBIC BAY WERE AS FAMILIAR TO MOST BREWTON SAILORS AS THE STREETS AND PEOPLE OF THEIR OWN HOMETOWNS - OFTEN MORE FAMILIAR. HONG KONG, THAT MYSTERIOUS AND BARGAIN-LADEN CENTER OF THE EAST, OFFERED LESS MYSTERY AND MORE BARGAINS DURING BREWTON'S SECOND VISIT TO THIS ASIAN METROPOLIS. BANGKOK, ANOTHER SECOND-TIME STOP, WAS NOW A FAMILIAR TOWN. BUT THERE WERE THINGS TO DO AND SEE THAT HAD NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE. QUAM, AN ISLAND KNOWN TO EARLIER BREWTON SAILORS ONLY AS A MID-OCEAN FUELING STOP, WAS NOW VISITED FOR LONG ENOUGH PERIODS TO ALLOW THIS YEAR'S SAILORS TO GIVE IT A MORE CLOSE AND CAREFUL EXAMINATION. FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MANY YEARS, BREWTON VENTURED FAR ABOVE HER USUAL TROPICAL CLIME INTO THE COOLER OCTOBER WEATHER OF KOREA AND JAPAN. AND OF COURSE, THERE WAS THAT PAINFUL YET LONG-REMEMBERED EXCURSION INTO KING NEPTUNE'S JEALOUSLY GUARDED DOMAIN. OLD-TIME BREWTON SAILORS REMEMBERED THE FAIR WINDS AND FOLLOWING SEAS WHICH HAD BEFRIENDED THEM ON THEIR FIRST VISIT TO THE WESTERN PACIFIC. THEY WATCHED ANXIOUSLY TO SEE IF THAT GLASSY CALM WOULD BE THERE TO GREET THEM AGAIN. INSTEAD, THEY WERE MET BY FOUR ANGRY WOMEN NAMED NINA, ALICE, ELSIE, AND JUNE. TYPHOON EVASION BECAME AS ROUTINE AS RELIEVING THE WATCH. FROM JULY, WHEN NINA CRASHED THROUGH THE TAIWAN STRAITS, TO SEPTEMBER, WHEN ALICE SHORTENED A TWENTY-FIVE DAY SUBIC UPKEEP, TO OCTOBER, WHEN ELSIE DELAYED A U.S.-KOREAN JOINT EXERCISE, EVEN UP UNTIL NOVEMBER, WHEN JUNE INTERRUPTED THE LAST PORT-CALL OF THE CRUISE, BREWTON SAILORS LEARNED ALL TOO WELL THE MEANING OF A GRAY SKY AND A SWELLING SKY. LIKE MANY DEPLOYMENTS BEFORE AND LIKE MANY THAT WILL UNDOUBTEDLY FOLLOW, THERE WAS THE SAME COMBINATION OF ENDLESS, BORING DAYS FOLLOWED BY DAYS OF QUICK AND CONTINUOUS ACTION. DREARY ROUTINE MARKED THE COUNTLESS HOURS OF PLANE GUARDING AND TRANSIT. FRENZIED ACTIVITY DURING DAYS THAT WOULD MESH TOGETHER INTO WEEKS WAS TYPICAL OF EXERCISES LIKE BLUE SKY IN JULY AND READIEX IN AUGUST. AND THERE WERE ALWAYS THE CHALLENGES AND SOMETIMES HUMOROUS INTERCHANGES THAT ACCOMPANY ANY MAJOR ALLIED OPERATION, SUCH AS TAE KWON DO WITH THE KOREANS IN OCTOBER AND SEA SIAM IV WITH THE THAIS IN NOVEMBER. THE CRUISE OF '75 WAS LIKE ALL OTHERS AND UNLIKE ALL OTHERS. IT WAS A STORY OF ITS OWN.