Kalamazoo (AOR 6) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 7 text:

.: -x £ i I l ill! IIS-- SIM ' SJfi » K A L A M A Z o o D E P A R T I N G

Page 6 text:

The USS Kalamazoo (AOR-6), one of nine ships in Service Squadron FOUR and Thirty-nine ships in Service Group TWO was commissioned on August 11, 1973 at the Naval Shipyard in Boston, Massachusetts. On hand to christen the ship was Mrs. Charles III, the wife of a former Secretary of the Navy. From her commissioning to the preserlt, Kalamazoo has been on the move continuously, already completing three Med cruises. Trying to set the pace and remain one of the best oilers in the Fleet, Kalamazoo has a fleet reputation second to none as her crew pursues the highest Navy standards. In the past two years, Kalamazoo was out of her 1978-79 yard period early and saved the taxpayers more than two million dollars. In Refresher Training at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the engineers earned an OPPE waiver with a score of 93. The ship completed the training one week early. The crew of Kalamazoo has also seen enough countries, cultures and customs to last a lifetime. Since her sixth birthday, the ship has visited Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; New York; Nova Scotia; Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico; Rota, Spain; Naples. Italy; Taormina, Sicily; Crete; Sardinia; Athens, Greece; Villefranche, France; Rapallo, Italy; Barcelona, Spain; Haifa, Israel; Suez Canal; and Mombasa, Kenya. Kalamazoo has refueled ships at sea more than 1200 times since 1973 and has compiled 140 customers this past cruise. Kalamazoo has had her share of exercises and hasn ' t missed a customer during the WESTLANT exercises COMTUEX 2-80; READEX 1-80; SAFEPASS - 80; Mediterranean 80 and Indian Ocean 80.

Page 8 text:

Captain Jeremy D. Taylor Commanding Officer 25 May 79 - 14 August 80 Captain Jeremy D. Taylor is from Baltimore. Maryland and attended the University of Maryland prior to entering the Navy as a Naval Aviation Cadet in 1955. He completed flight training in May 1957. Captain Taylor attended the U.S. Naval Post- graduate School, from March 1963 to March 1965 and received his B.A. degree in International Relations. He then served a tour as a Combat Flight Instructor with Attack Squadron ONE TWENTY- FIVE. In August 1966, he reported aboard the USS Enterprise, to the Gulf of Tonkin serving in the Operations and Maintenance Officer billets during his last year in the squadron. He is a River Rat and a member of the 200 Mission Club. Captain Taylor graduated from the Army War College June 1975 and served on the staff of the Commander Light Attack Wing ONE prior to commencing a period of training to prepare him for an assignment at Carrier Air Wing THREE. During his tenure as CAG. which commenced in May 1976. Air Wing THREE scored the highest Operational Readiness Evaluation grade in COMNAVAIRLANT history and became the first air wing on record to achieve an accident free year of operations. On a personal level, he recorded his 1000th carrier landing in June 1977 to become the 24th member of the elite Tailhook Association Grand Club. Captain Taylor reported for duty in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations in August 1977 where he was Deputy of the Head of the Strike Warfare Branch of the Systems Analysis Division. In January 1979, he commenced training in preparation for assignment as CO. USS Kalamazoo. He served as Commanding Officer from 25 May 1979 until 14 August 1980. He and his wife Barbara, and two children, Debbie and Chris, reside in Annandale. Virginia.