Butte (AE 27) - Naval Cruise Book

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CAPT. GROVER K. GREGORY, JR., USN Captain Grover K. Gregory, Jr., drawsh'isexperience from 28 years in the Navy. His career includes 24 years as a naval aviator and four years as an enlisted man. A native of Lexing- ton, Kentucky, he started in the Navy in 1943 as an airman recruit at “boot camp at Great Lakes, Illinois. His rise to captain he attributes to “sheer guts, determination and luck.” Others who know him attri- bute it to his keen mind, penetration of thought and leadership. ★ Before coming to Butte, he served as Assistant for Aviation Resources Management at the Pentagon. His principal role was to analyze age and distribution of all the Navy’s aircraft as an aid in determining when to procure new ones. There, he produced studies on behalf of the Navy for acquisition of the F-14 aircraft and additional aircraft carriers. Captain Gregory’s desire for flying began back when he was an enlisted man - as an instructor at the Aviation Machinist Mate School in Chicago from 1943 to 1945. He eventually forged his way into the Navy flight pro- gram, was designated an Aviation Pilot First Class and commissioned an officer a month later in February 1947. ★ ★ ★ Captain Gregory has flown more than 6000 hours in over 30 types of aircraft during his aviation career. He has nearly 600 landings on a carrier. He was exe- cutive officer of VA-81, an attack squadron of 14 A-4 fighter jets, from July 1961 to October 1963, when he took over as the squadron’s commanding officer. He joined the pre-commissioning crew of USS America in November 1964 as the Carrier’s Air Traffic Control Officer, later fleeting up to operations officer. COMMANDING OFFICER “Flying an airplane to a landing on the deck of a carrier appeared to me to be one of the most difficult things to do in aviation. I said to myself, if someone else can, I can,” the captain says. “Flying through the clouds and looking at all the small houses and people and wondering what could be so gosh darned important down there - it’s thrilling. That’s why I like it.” Captain Gregory belives that the major lessons of his past experiences have been the importance of think- ing ahead and the value of leadership. “The only way to get the Navy’s job done is to have people do it and the best way to get them to do it is to motivate them.” His experience as a “white hat”, he says, gives him “empathy” with the enlisted man and has prompted him to make efforts to improve the life of the men under him. Captain Gregory attended Line School in Monteray, California, and graduated from the University of Okla- homa, where he obtained an Aeronautical Engineering Degree in 1960. He attended the Naval War College in Newport, R. I., graduating there in July 1961. From USS America he attended the Industrial College of Armed Forces in Washington, D. C., and obtained his Masters Degree at George Washington University in 1967. The father of three girls and a boy, Captain Gregory resides in Virginia Beach, Va., with his wife Arlene Deloris. He says his wife always told him, “If you want to make the Navy a career, go ahead. And so he has. 4

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HISTORY USS BUTTE, now having completed her first deployment to the Mediter- ranean, is one of the Navy’s newest ammunition ships. Her mission is to deliver to units of the -fleet at sea the bombs, missiles and other ordnance required by the Navy’s ships. To enable her to carry out this mis- sion the vessel is equipped with nine replenishments stations as well as a land- ing deck and hangar bay for two helicop- ters. Each replenishment station is fully modern, having what is called “Ram Ten- sioners”, devices which allow BUTTE to maintain the same amount of tension on a wire line between herself and a ship alongside despite rolls, swells and other influencey on the movement of the ship. The system permits BUTTE to shuttle palleted loads of ammunition across the open water to another ship in the mini- mum of time. BUTTE was christened and launch- ed 7 August 1967 in Quincy, Mass, and commissioned 14 December 1968 at the Boston Naval Shipyard. The second in the line ofKILAUEA Class Ammunition Ships, she is described by some as a “floating ammunition depot.” Upon completion of an extensive fitting out period in Boston, BUTTE moved to her homeport in Norfolk, Virginia for the first time on Nov. 17, 1969. Between December 1969 and February 1970, BUTTE made two cruises to the Carib- bean, both in connection with “shakedown training” at the U. S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The trips included several milestones: BUTTE’s first practice replenishment with a ship alongside, USS SPRINGFIELD, on 4 December 1969, her first underway refueling evolution; on 13 December 1969 with USS CALOOSAHATCHEE; and her first real under- way replenishment on 28 January 1970 with the aircraft carrier USS AMERICA. Besides her replenishment systems, which are her major feature, BUTTE has four twin 3” 50 gun mounts and associated fire control equipment. She is 564 feet long and 81 feet wide. She has a full load displacement of 18,000 tons and a full load draft of 28 feet. BUTTE also has a passive roll stabilization tank to provide a steady platform for handling ammunition under adverse sea conditions and a small fleet of fork lift trucks to facilitate safe, rapid and efficient handling of explosive cargo. Extensive fire fighting features arc in- cluded to minimize the hazards involved in handling and stowage of dangerous munitions. BUTTE is actually the second Navy vessel to bear that name. The first, APA 68, was a Gellian Class Transport which served extensively in the Pacific during World War II and was finally disposed of by sinking after surviving the atomic tests at Bikini and Kwajalein.

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EXECUTIVE OFFICER Lieutenant Commander Morse R. Jackson, U. S. Navy, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on August 19, 1934. He attended Edinburgh University, Scotland, and graduated from Maryville College in 1956. He entered the Navy by way of the Officers Candidate Program and was commissioned in 1957. His first assignment was as Signal Officer aboard the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVA-42). ■k it it In 1958, he was transferred to the staff of Com- mander, Naval Air Force, U. S. Atlantic Fleet and served in various communications billets until 1961. In August 1961, LTJG Jackson reported to the USS Truckcc (AO-147) as gunnery officer. In 1963, then a Lieutenant, lie returned to shore duly and at- LCDR MORSE R. JACKSON USN tended post graduste school in International Relations at The American University in Washington, D. C. Lieutenant Jackson in September 1964 was assigned to USS Long Beach (CGN-9) and served as Com- munications Officer until July 1967. Prior to receiving orders as Executive Officer USS BUTTE (AE-27), Lieu- tenant Commander Jackson served a two year tour of duty in the Office of the Assistant Chief of Naval Operations (Communications and Cryptology). ★ ★ ★ Lieutenant Commander Jackson is married to the former Mary Ann Marston of Montgomery, West Vir- ginia. They have two children: Lynn, age 10, and Glen, age 8. They reside in Norfolk, Virginia. 5