Joseph Strauss (DDG 16) - Naval Cruise Book

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i' Bock Rovvg K. Scnmidl, A. l-lernondez, R. Keillw, R. Nelson, M. l-lobbs, D. Burgess, D. Qoskom, B. Pine N. Asn, l-l. Leopold. , l:ron'r Row: J. Borns, J. Erlewine, N. Vicforino, M. I-lofer, M. Eosl, A. Knielel, J. Souzo, J. Plummer. QP Q9 1 .1 ill l l . s I 5 ,, . , SQ? Ll -l , 4 Q of S , ,l W xl 1. kt 0l Division ,

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Uperations Department The OperaTions DeparTmenT beTTer known as OPS for OOPS depending on who you Talk To has Truly been in The cenTer oT The ship s acTiviTies during The pasT seven monTh deploymenT To The UniTed STaTes SevenTh EleeT OrganizaTionally The deparTmenT is builT around iTs Three sTalward divisions OE OI OC and is ably lead by The OperaTions OTTicer I-T GaeTon Long who is The auThor in a while iT you looked quickly you could caTch a glimpse oT The GreaT I3aleTace I-T KnuTe SchmidT as he sTepped ouT oT' The sunnyconfines oT CIC To parTake of an occasional meal in The wardroom This caused no one any greaT worry Tor we all knew ThaT iTThe'CIC OTTicer was gone his able assisTanT LTJG l-lank I-eopold was There To Take his place I-Iank could usually be Tound in CIC y l I . of The deparTmenT's baTTle cry, ' 'Seaman Kniefel-9i6. 'Every once ff I Y, I The sea is an unnaTural environmenT Tor man, and iT Takes someThing exTra Tor men To live wiTh iT. L Paul I-I. IXIiTze - as virTually every waking momenT IabouT 3 hours a dayj was 'spenT busily Trying To balance The wardroom mess sTaTemenT. Mid-way Through The cruise LTJG Bob Poelking, aTTer a shorT sTay aT The Subic Bay IVIenTal I-IospiTal To recuperaTe from The aTTer eTTecTs of his Iob as ElecTronics lVIaTerial OTTicer, relieved LTJG Rboy Driver as CommunicaTions OTTicer. IT was The unTorTunaTe experience oT ENS Rick You break iT and I'll Tix iT - maybe I-Iarbaugh To relieve as EMO. The new CommunicaTions OTTicer was Too shorT To reach The Top oT The message delivery boxes in Radio CenTral so Bupers ordered in ENS Russ Six TooT Two, eyes of blue Lind- sTedT To Take care oT The higher level' work in Radio. GeTTing back To The more serious side oT The picTure, The OperaTions DeparTmenT lived up To iTs name and hard earned repuTaTion as The OperaTing DeparTmenT. OI Division sTood many long porT and sTarboard waTches in order To provide seniors'in The chain oT command wiTh accuraTe and deTailed analysis oT The curren'T TacTical picTure. OC Division also sTood a Two secTion waTch in order'To provide boTh The ship and various embarked sTaTTs wiTh The rapid, reliable, and secure communicaTions so necessary To compleTion oT any assigned mis- sion. Backing up her Two sisTer divisions was OE. The men of OE were Task ed wiTh keeping all assigned elecTronic ge.ar up and ready Tor insTanT use on any assigned mission. -WiThouT The coordinaTed eTTorTs of every person in The. deparTmenT, JOE STRAUSS would noT have been able To leave The- SevenTh I:leeT wiTh The ouTsTanding record she leTT behind.

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T iz, CombaT Informafion CenTer, or CIC is The operaTions,cenTer or War room of a Guided Missile DesTroyer in combaT operaTions. The men who work There are highly Trained and skilled Radarmen. CIC is a large dark room divided inTo smaller red lighfed areas, each vviTh a specialized funcTion. This area is filled WiTh The laTesT and mosT modern elecTronic eauipmenf in The Navy. WiTh The push, pull or Tvvisf of knobs These professionals conTrol and assisT This fighTing ship in a varieTy of environmenTs, AnTi-Air Warfare, AnTi-Submarine Warfare, Shore I3ombardmenT, Radar NavigaTion, and ElecTronic CounTer Measures. During This deploymenT, STRAUSS has spenT The maIoriTy of The Time firing her guns boTh in OperaTion Sea Dragon in NorTh VieTnam and offering Naval Gunfire SupporT To forces in SouTh VieTnam. We in-CIC be- lieve ThaT iT is all done from our space and as a resulr of -our acTions. MarTin, Norman, and VicTorino, WiTh whom we like To Think The Weapons DeparTmenT would have a hard Time using Their guns, ploT The ship' s. posiTion in an exTremely accuraTe and Timely fashion. From This They obTain offseTs To be used in The fire conTrol compuTer. While They are busy Trying To find a good seT,of poinTs from which To obTain a radar fix, Mike EasT and John lplumj Plummer are busy Talking To our airborne spoTTer obTaining TargeT descripfion and coordinaTes. AnoTher member of The Team is Chief BarTholomevv IBarTI. Norman lNormj Ash and 'Jack Barns are conTrolling aircrafT which paTrol The coasTline To deTecT and direcT fire againsT lucraTive TargeTs of opporTuniTy. WiThouT The help of Rod KeiTh, I3aT Erlevvine, and Esourgeious on.The surface search radar, MarTy Hafer and Vic would noT have goTTen Their fixes. Also on The surface search radar, Herky Hernandez and Jimmy Souza were keeping an eagle eye for hosTile surface TargeTs and Dave Roskam and Tiny Taylor were mainTa'ining The 'Air ThreaT picTure. Bill Pine and Rick Nelson had Their personalized commanche boards and were making The minor adiusTmenTs. required To bring our guns on TargeT. Wallace Jackson, Marlin Hobbs and Jerry Allovvay acTed as recorders, ploTTers, Talkers in The relay of informaTion To The bridge. Our CIC was The place To be during combaT operaTions, for us iT was inTeresTing, challenging and never dull, we were where The ACTION was. BuT This was noT all The Radarmen did They were in porT and sTarboard vvaTches The full Time. We navi- gaTed long TransiTs and vvide or narrow channels inTo our liberTy porTs We mainTained a conTinuous ECM vvaTch in hosTile environmenT This plus many oTher large and small Iobs ThaT were necessary helped make JOSEPH STRAUSS The fighTing ship she is We all had an engoyable cruise and gained much valu able experience buT iT is nice To be back in Pearl Harbor again 1 1 if ' ' . , . . - -T f .