Cleveland (LPD 7 CL 55) - Naval Cruise Book

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umuUl. COMMANDING OFFICER CAPTAIN WILLIAM BECK, JR. Will any of us ever forget the feeling of standing on the Bridge late at night off Hon La, when suddenly a chill runs up your spine — and you know that Captain Beck is on the Bridge. Thoughts run through your mind, Do I have the dot? Anything less than perfect was not good enough. He could always cast enough doubt to keep you learning and thinking. His leadership molded the crew and the ship into one fighting unit with spirit, professionalism and drive that no other LPD and few other ships could begin to match. From August, 1971, until December, 1972, Captain Beck commanded our ship, his ship, always looking for the dis- crepancies that everybody else had missed, always seeking ways to make us realize that we were capable of more than we knew. Captain Beck knew we could do the things he demanded, and so he made us do those things — long un- reps, interminable flight ops, dragging line periods — and when he left, a part of us left too.

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4 — ? ! The Cruise Begins at Hon La— MARHUKIN ' .. Subic Bay in July — remember the rain? — and the Steamin ' CLEVE picks up the seven Cobras of HMA-369 and heads for Hon La. The next four months saw helo flights, unreps, helo flights, ver- treps, and more helo flights. CLEVELAND and the Cobras proved that the LPD is even more versatile and the Cobras more deadly, than anyone had known before. i gi J