Wichita (AOR 1) - Naval Cruise Book

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v. OPPOSITE PAGE CDR C. BURCK and CAPT 8.0. TERRY on the bridge of wlcmn. THIS PAGE CDR CW. BURCK, EXECUTIVE OFFICER I 3 1 94 i K 1 -i VUXV I iil I .-.. ,,,,, ,,,. I T v

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rt K K ' , bm According to rumor, COMMANDER BURCK'S first assignment was as Chief Engineer on the ARK. That is ridiculous though, because everyone knows that he was an enlisted man back then. Also, contrary to popular belief, the COMMANDER did not invent steam, but he was there when it happened, At any rate, COMMANDER BURCK has more Sea Timo than quite a few younger sailors put together. lilo startvrl his Naval Cfarc-er in the early 1950's, l0nS before most ol the WIC lllTA'S sailors were even born, as an vnlistr-rl man in lngineeting. The COM- MANDER has r limhml the ranks through the LDXO Program, sr-rving as ffhir-l l nginf-or on several NAVY ships ranging from Stat Going lugs lATFl until fe' cently, ont' ol thc' large-st -ships, the USS TARAWA ll HA-ll. In r-arly 1980 CMCJMMANIJI R HURC K at,lgmQl'tIEd YO thc llnrrwtrirtvrl lim' .intl .tltr-r the apprtlpfliff srhoolf. and tmtninig if-pottr-rl aboard the U55 Wlf llllA lui tluty .ia the- lXll llllVl flflilcfk.

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4 ' ' Q sg sf i i i sw S' W l The departure from Hawaii fround the WICHITA in company with five small boys , the USS FLETCHER lDD-9921, the TURNER IOY lDD-9515, the LYNDE MCCORMICK fDDCi-8i, the BENIAMIN STODDERT lDDG-22i, and the USS MORTON fDD-948i. These ships would accompany the WICHITA to the area of Guam, where they would detach and proceed to port. Again we were involved with numerous exer- cises that were ongoing twenty-four hours a day. One such exercise was formation manuvers, in which all of the ships lined up and manuvered around each other. Twice we witnessed near colli- sions and several close calls by the small boys . . cs.-Q .HA an as ff. . is sf j-Q us f 6 v. Q. 5 R The Commanding Officer inspected the whole ship's company in summer white uniform. All of the divisions put a lot of pride and time into their uniforms, I was impressed, said the lfxecutive Offi- cer afterwards. It was hard to choose the best divi- sion, stated the Commanding Officer. B and M divi- sions were awarded first place. After our departure from the West coast, and even more so after our departure from Hawaii, a strange thing happened Alot of the crew cut off all of thelf hair to resemlile the Hfiiiot camp loolc. Not to be outmdone, all of the l nsigris and Chief Warrant Offi- cer t irsiirnario shaved cill the-ii liearcls. Now there is not one offic ei who li.is .i hair, on his chin anyway- These events rriav have lic-en clue to the WlCHlTA passing thr'ough the rc-.ilni ot the iiolden Dragtlft .rrouricl the Thfith parallel where we lost a claw BS W9 headed eastwai il