Farragut (DLG 6) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 45 text:

On l6 May FARRAGUT was underway from MayporT heading souTh Toward The Caribbean for one of The mosT evenTful cruises in her hisTory. The obiecTive of The cruise was To conducT a series of missile firings aT The RoosevelT Roads, PuerTo Rico, Missile range. In .befween Tirings FARRAGUT spenT liberTy Time in: San Juan, PuerTo Rico's beauTiful seaporT capiTol, and ST. Thomas in The Virgin lsland. The visiTing in San Juan included an Armed Forces Day week-end open house on lf? To 20 May. l-lowever, all of The Firing and visiTing of The cruise was To be over- shadowed by The evenTs on The following page.

Page 44 text:

l ' , aside fm! We pau l 0 JFK looks Us over ilhlg On T11 April l962, FARRAGUT was one to two Dl.G's participating in a Weapons Demonstration off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, for a party of Government officials numbering about 160. ln- cluded were President KENNEDY, Vice l3T95ld9l'TT V Johnson, Foreign Ambassadors, Members of Con- gress and Press representatives. The entire Weapons Demonstration Force was composed of more than 48 ships and was commanded by Co- mmander-in-Chief, U.S. Atlantic Fleet. The morning began with all the ships steaming in column in two lines. The President was in the Northampton CCL lj, passing in review between lines, and receiving full honors. The President was then transferred to the ENTERPRISE, where he and his party witnessed an ASW demonstration, a special missile firing by DEWEY, and G NGvGl air firepower demonstration. The President then transferred to Onslow Beach, N.C., to witness an amphibious landing by l5,000 Marines. All in all, the Weapons Demonstration Force represented an assemblage of Naval firepower almost unprecendented in History. It presented a striking portrayal of the significance of seapower to the defense of the United States change nf comma d -H Y That is Herron as in the bird On Ql April T962 Commander Adam A Herron relieved Commander Roger E Spreen as EARRAGUT s Commanding Officer For CDR Spreen this meant the end of a tour of duty which began in the Boston Naval Shipyard on lO December 1960 EARRAGUT s commissioning date However he went on to continue his long chain of destroyer commands by assumzng the reins of Destroyer Division 262 For CDR l-lerron no strnanger to destroyer commands himself this day put him in charge of a still new ship fresh from her Shakedown cruise with the oblective of taking FARRAGUT to sea and making a name for her through actual fleet operations S' x CDR R E SPREEN CDR A A HERRON ll I I U . ' V o u s yy 'l I . . y , , . . . 1 . . . . . I ' V ' 1 I ' I I , . Q A . Q s 's . . . .

Page 46 text:

dllflffll 7 While The world held iT's breath, FARRAGUT held her course. FARRAGUT streaks To splash area Perhaps no single incidenT in LOOKING AFT more dramaTically emphasizes The Can Do spiriT of FARRAGUT Than our role in The ScoTT CarpenTer space orbiT recovery in May, l962. Underway ThaT hisTor- ical morning from San Juan, l3uerTo Rico, To conducT a shore bombardmem' exercise and Then To proceed home To MayporT, iT was in The role of inTeresTed Navy men and proud ciTizens ThaT we lisrened To The news gcgounr of CARPENTERJS apparenTly Tlawless Mercury space shoT. l3uT in The space age The line separaTing success from failure is measured in micro-seconds. Suddenly we received The word: Aurora 7 overshoT The recovery force' exacT whereabouTs unknownl As apprehension mounTed ThroughouT The world Tor The asTronauT s saTeTy orders reached FARRAGUT To break OTT from our assigned mission and Take parT in The search and recovery. DespiTe The TacT ThaT FARRAGUT was noT a member OT The designaTed recovery group her crew knew exacTly whaT To do. The repair gang improvisea a spanning bar Tor The boaT daviTs which could liTT Aurora 7 aboard should iT be necessary. The Engineering DeparTmenT broughT The sTeam planr up To Tull power while Topside The crew ioined in clearing The TanTail Tor helicopTer operaTions. AT maximum speed The ship Turned Towards The probable splash area hours away and all hands sTrained To be The TirsT To spoT The missing capsule-so eager ThaT The hours were ThoughT of as minuTes The miles expressed as yards. r Too laTe-by 20 minuTes! NoT even one of The Navy s TasTesT ships can ouTrun a ieT helicopTer -which liTTed LCDR CarpenTer inTo The air and Took him To saTeTy aboard a carrier. FARRAGUT was The TirsT ship on The scene recovering all The paramedic gear and The asTronauT s per- sonal equipmenT and checking The TloTaTion aTTachmenTs of The capsule unTil a specially rigged recovery ship arrived in The area. Men OT The FARRAGUT can always look aTT wiTh pride when This performance is called To mind. ln True desTroyer fashion we were ready.