Porterfield (DD 682) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 28 text:

Practical factors for Chief. In Combat Information Center the thousands of mess- ages and dozens of Operation Orders current in WEST- PAC were digested and appropriate action was taken. At all times Combat had to be ready to interpret any orders given to the ship and to recommend appropriate action to the Officer of the Deck and the Captain, wheth- er simply maneuvering to a new screen station or pro- ceeding to a new assignment. Badly undermanned, the combat team did an exceptional job in keeping abreast of all activities affecting the ship, as well as maintain- ing a record of the current status of other ships in the Gulf of Tonkin. ' ' Spuds, at last! No reflection on the Barber, but

Page 27 text:

B Lk, Wizard of .... Communications are at the heart of all operations. Without reliable, secure and rapid communications with other ships and operational commanders, we might as well have anchored off DaNang and broken out the fishing poles. The amount of traffic of con- cern to the ship increased by about 8007, in WEST- PAC. During the cruise, radio screened almost 150,000 messages and processed over 3500. Thou- sands more were pulled from the teletypes for the information of the Navigator, Ops Boss, and the Captain and nearly 450 reams of paper were expended to insure that concerned personnel received copies of pertinent messages. Getting a receiver back on the line. On the bridge, the signalmen maintained port and starboard watches continuously. Especially busy during replenishments and when operating with a carrier group, the signalmen provided rapid and silent' communications with other units in company.rAlways shorthanded they were often assisted by the other members of the operations team on the bridge, the quartermasters. Tasked with the responsibility of recording all significant movements of the ship, the QMS had the additional responsibilities of continu- ously fixing the ship's position and occasionally making routine weather observations to be forwarded to meteorological centers. Which way s up?

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Presenting the CIC Tabernacle Choir Not to be forgotten are the Electronic Technicians Without whose skills and energy, usually applied in the still hours of the night, we would have been unable to meet our commitments. All the electronic gear used by operations personnel - radios, radars, loran, IFF, ECM - must be maintained and repaired by them. Finally, we salute the postal clerks, whose frequent mail calls help ward off the doldrums, the ship's office personnel, who managed to keep their heads above the paper work despite standing condition III watches, and the hospitalman, whose mysterious potions prevented many a sleepless night. a hootenanny RM3 Wilson leads