Joseph Strauss (DDG 16) - Naval Cruise Book

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The ship returned to Yokosuka, the crew exhausted, ready to get better acquainted with their new homeport only to be faced with an Admin Inspection. Cheerful they weren't, but they bent to the task in typical JOE STRAUSS fashion, the results were impressive. Shortly after the Admin, JOE STRAUSS say goodbye to an important founder of JOE STRAUSS tradition when LCDR Jack Ward was relieved by LCDR John Hardesty, to report to Nuclear Power School. .The rigors of the Admin were soon forgotten during the remaining three weeks in port. Getting underway from Yokosuka on 21 January 1965 was a trying event for all hands after experiencing the pleasures of life in a country which we were beginning to think of as home. To all brown-baggers came the realization that due to the pace of operations in WestPac, it could well be several months be- fore we returned. It was a safe assumption, but the variety of activities kept us so involved that the time passed in a blur. V Our sea legs back once more, we were kept briskly on the move off the coast of Vietnam operating with four different carriers after which we dropped into Subic Bay for a much anticipated upkeep period for 9 days. JOSEPH STRAUSS next participated in Operation JUNGLE DRUM III, a combined training exercise conducted with the Royal Thai Navy in the Gulf of Thailand. On 20 March, upon completion of the exercise, Vice Admiral Paul B. Blackburn, Jr., USN, COMSEVENTHELT, transferred to JOE STRAUSS at sea and broke his flag, and JOSEPH STRAUSS was privileged to serve as his flagship for a four day oflicial visit to Bangkok, Thailand. All hands were awed by the banks lined with palm trees and white temple spires sparkling in the morning sunlight as we steamed up the river to Bangkok. And what a welcome was waiting for us! The friendly Thai people wasted no time in showing us their warm hospitality and the time was filled with breath-taking tours, parties, and various shipboard honors and ceremonies as JOE STRAUSS entertained many important guests coming to pay their respects to Admiral Blackburn. The four days flew by and before they knew it, the crew was brushing up on their Japanese while enroute back to Yokosuka. After a two week upkeep JOSEPH STRAUSS again made V ADM, PAUL P, BL ACKBURN, JR. the inevitable trip south to begin a period of operations which COMMANDER SEVENTH FLEET were to bring recognition and honor to both this ship and crew. Beginning 24 April JOSEPH STRAUSS, together with USS ERNEST G. SMALL, became the first advanced SARf AAW picket team in the Gulf of Tonkin in support of U.S. air strike operations in North Vietnam. From 16 through 21 May upon completion of this SAR assignment JOSEPH STRAUSS took part in special surveillance of a Russian task unit composed of two destroyers, whose crew took about as many pictures of us as we did of them. When surveillence was completed, JOSEPH STRAUSS returned to Yokosuka for a brief upkeep and then sailed once more for the Tonkin Gulf on 4 June. The ship then headed for Hong Kong for 2 weeks of Station Ship duty. This entailed much more work than meets the eye but the crew still found time to help repair an orphanage and throw the best ship's party the Hong Kong Hilton has ever seen. The ensuing 27 days as flagship of the AAWXSAR picket unit were uniquely successful establishing operational procedures and capabilities which remain destroyer standards. On 17 June two F4B Phantom's

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Q QQ S I z f.f?fff F -.I 01. ,,, am, , f A Wfmwrf JOSEPH STRAUSS was christened at New Or Qi? g Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, N.J., on 9 DeCeI11bCf 1961 by her sponsor, Mrs. Lawrence Haines Coburn, a grand-daughter of Admiral Joseph Strauss, a World War I hero. On 29 March 1963 JOSEPH STRAUSS was delivered to the Navy, the second of her class, and soon afterward CDR William M.A. Greene, USN, assumed command at commissioning cere- monies at the U.S. Naval Shipyard, Philadelphia, Pa., on 20 April 1963. JOSEPH STRAUSS has an overall length of 437 feet, a beam of 47 feet, and a displacement of 4500 tons. Her complement includes 21 oiiicers and 320 men, who are provided with modern accomodations. Considerably larger than destroyers as known in the past,JOSEPH STRAUSS is a fast, highly maneuverable ship. The Automatic Combustion Control power plant is one of the newest to be installed in de- stroyers, enabling her to carry out with great speed and mobility any task which she is assigned. Her armament includes iQtlief'f.TART AR guided missile weapons-fsystem, ASROC QAnti-Submarine Rocketj anti-submarine torpedoes, -Vaneli two 5 inch 54 cal. dual purpose gun mounts. ,She is equipped with the most modern communications and electronics installations and is capable of .detecting tracking, and delivering rapid salvos of missiles and projectiles against enenfy targets, be they in the air, on the sea, under the sea, or on land. On 13 July 1963 after a memorable voyage through the Panama Canal JOSEPH STRAUSS arrived in Long Beach, California, to join Cruiser Destroyer Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet for a year of intensive training and drill. On 13 November 1963'CAPT Vincent P. Healy, USN, assumed command of the newly formed Destroyer Squadron Three in a 'ceremony on the decks of JOSEPH STRAUSS, his flagship. On 22 June 1964 JOSEPH STRAUSS arrived in Yokosuka, Japan, to assume duties with the Seventh Fleet as flagship of the Asiatic Squadron. Shortly after her arrival in Yokosuka, CDR Bruce Keener, III, USN, assumed command of an extremely talented and well-trained, yet unproven crew, and JOE STRAUSS was ready for her WestPac debut. While enroute to the South China Sea, word was received of the North Vietnamese PT boat attack OH USS Maddox and the first of nine at sea periods exceeding 3o days was launched. Any idea of an Oriental honeymoon in the Asiatic Squadron quickly faded as the war in Vietnam increased Seventh Fleet opera- tions to a Puflishiflg tempo. H0WeVef, the Crew responded with enthusiasm, eager to prove themselveS now that the real thing had finally arrived. The ship earned the Armed Forced Expeditionary Medal while supporting carrier air strikes in Vietnam before returning to Yokosuka in September. After a short overhaul and a pleasant 4 day visit to Beppu, Japan, the ship once again headed for the SO1lfh China Sea, fhiS time for 3 months. This trip was climaxed with Task Force Operation TALLBACK off the coast of the Philippines.

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from USS MIDWAY QCVA-41D under JOSEPH STRAUSS' advisory control shot down two J MIG-17's, accounting for the first two hostile aircraft downed by U.S. Forces in aerial combat since 1953. Three days later on 20 June, two propeller driven AIH Skyraiders, also from USS MIDWAY and also under JOSEPH STRAUSS' advisory control shot down a third MIG-17. For their part in this latter achievement, four members of JOSEPH STRAUSS' CIC team were decorated by the Secretary of the Navy. Except while taking part in an ASW exercise, Operation GILLNET from the 10th to the 19th, the month of August was spent in upkeep at Yokosuka. On 5 September, two successful improved TARTAR missile firings were conducted while -MCDR. BRUCE KEENER III, LT. T. J. M ARTI, i the ship headed south with USS BON HOMME LTJG, BNI, M ACKAMAN, W. MILLIGAN RD3, RICHARD QCVA-34J. After arrival in the R, PRATT RD3, South China Sea, JOSEPH STRAUSS was detached on independent duty and spent the last three weeks of September on AAW picket station in the Gulf of Tonkin. During the first two weeks of October, JOSEPH STRAUSS operated with two carriers in support of operations in Vietnam and then returned to Subic Bay. After a training period which included her first Naval Gunfire Support training since the spring of 1964, JOSEPH STRAUSS proceeded to Danang, South Vietnam, for additional type training. On 28 October, JOSEPH STRAUSS fired her Hrst shot in anger and became the first DDG to fire Naval Gunnre Support in South Vietnam, expending 217 rounds of 5 f 54 ammunition in just over twenty-four hours in support of a combined ARVN Marine Corps search- and-destroy operation. Throughout November, JOSEPH STRAUSS was again assigned as a member of the advanced SARXAAW picket team, this time with the USS TUCKER QDD-875J. On completion of this assignment JOSEPH STRAUSS proceeded to Yokosuka to commence a long awaited midterm availability. On 7 December, shortly after arrival in Yokosuka, CDR Bruce Keener, III, Commanding Officer, was presented with the Bronze Star Medal for outstanding performance of duty during April, May, and June 1965. In December COM- SEVENTHFLT nominated JOSEPH STRAUSS for the Navy Unit Commendation in recognition of her performance from 8 June to 1 December 1965. On 31 January 1966, JOSEPH STRAUSS was again underway, this time for a brief period of type training in the Yokosuka area before she again went back to the old stomping grounds of SAR station in the Gulf. JOSEPH STRAUSS proceeded at the end of February to provide Naval Gunfire Support in South Vietnam. During this period, the ship pounded enemy targets in the Mekong Delta area and the Gulf of Siam, firing their 1000th round without missing a call for Eire, a great tribute to her cun crews. CDR J.D. Elliott relieved CDR Bruce Keener, III, in the midst of an actual Gunfire Support mission. While painting the blistered gun barrels we headed for Hong Kong, arriving on 13 March to again assume the duties of station ship for two weeks. After a few hours stop in Buckner Bay, Okinawa, on the way north, we arrived in Yokosuka to face the fire of another Admin and NTPI. ' At the time this book goes to press a chapter in the history of JOSEPH STRAUSS is almost com- Plefed- In Juli' of 1966, JOE STRAUSS Will Shift homeports to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and assume HCW' duties as flagship of Destroyer Squadron 25. It has been a hard grind, but all hands have been enriched by our fortune of having had the opportunity to serve in the Asiatic Squadron