Des Moines (CA 134) - Naval Cruise Book

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She who was relieved ... the U.S.S. SALEM (CA-139) comes alongside for highline transfer, her crew crowding the rails. brine. And the transfer is enacted, across the wind tossed Like a metal dragonfly, the hole hovers in mid-air, swinging to- wards the flight deck. Two swaps from the Salem are helped aboard . . .

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The brilliant banner of an American warship fleet flies proudly in its French home port . . .

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VADM Charles Randell Brown COMSIXTHFLT The U. S. Sixth Fleet is his; it is his responsibility and his pride. The USS Des Moines serves as his flagshi{i, allowing him to keep an alert eye on his fleet. Affectionately nicknamed Cat , Admiral Brown has amassed an enviable re- cord since his graduation from the U. S. Naval Academy in 1921. Afterserving on his first ships, the USS Arkansas and the USS Columbia, he was assigned to the USS Langley. He then took flight training to become a Naval Aviator at Pensacola. Following duty with Aircraft Squadrons and Fighter Squadron 6, Aircraft Squadrons Battle Fleet based on the USS Saratoga, he returned to shore duty in the Bureau of Aeronautics of the Navy Department, and then in the Ad- ministration Section of the Bureau of Navigation. After returning to sea as Commanding Officer of the minesweeper USS Gannet, he served with squadrons attached to the USS Wright and the USS San Francisco. After a year of instruction at the Naval War College, he returned to the Naval Air Station at Pensacola. In 1939 he joined the USS Saratoga as Carrier Air Group Commander, then as Air Officer. After Pearl Harbor he returned to the United States for duty at the Headquart- ers of the Commander in Chief, U. S. Fleet, Navy Department. At the end of 1943 he took command of the newly outfitted escort carrier, USS Kalinin Bay, and received the Bronze Star with Combat V for his share on the assault on the southern Marianas Islands. Admiral Brown was then made Chief of Staff to the Commander Carrier Division One and participated in the sea-air battle of Leyte Gulf in October, 1944, for which he received the Legion of Merit with Com- bat V . He next assumed command of the giant USS Hornet. After World War II he had duty as the Head of Naval Division of the Air Uni- versity at Maxwell Field, Montgomery, Alabama. A year and a half later he was ordered to the Staff of the Naval War College t Newport, Rhode Island, where he was promoted to the Chief of Staff to the President of the College. After two years as Deputy Director of the Joint American Military Advisory Group, London, England, he assumed command of Carrier Division Six. Thereafter he was or- dered to duty in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Navy Department, where he became Deputy Director of the Joint Strategic Plans Group, the Joint Staff Office, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Washington, D.C. After serving as Deputy Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet and Chief of Staff, Admiral Brown assumed, his present duties as Commander Sixth Fleet and as NATO Commander Naval Striking and support Forces, Southern Europe. The excellenceof Vice Admiral Brown ' s record has been acknowledged by his forthcoming promotion to full Admiral.