Hawes (FFG 53) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 7 text:

COMMANDING OFFICER CDR Robert Liggett Only a seaman realizes to what extent an entire ship reflects the personality and ability of one individ- ual, her Commanding Officer. To a landsman this is not understandable, and sometimes it is even difficult for us to comprehend - but it is so. A ship at sea is a distant World in herself and in consideration of the projected and distant operations of the fleet units, the Navy must place great power, responsibility and trust in the hands of those leaders chosen for command. In each ship there is one man, who, in the hour of emergency or peril at sea, can turn to no other man. There is one who alone is ultimately responsible for the safe navigation, engineering performance, accu- rate gun firing and morale of his ship. He is the ship. This is the most ,difficult and demanding assign- ment in the Navy. There is not an instant during his tour of duty as Commanding Officer that he can escape the grasp of command responsibility. His priv- ileges in view of his obligations are ludicrously small, nevertheless command is the spur which has given the Navy its great leaders. It is a duty which most richly deserves the highest time honored title of the seafaring world. - CAP- TAIN,'. JOSEPH CONRAD ,mal 3

Page 6 text:

men ready for action. Then, returning through heavy fire, PIGEON hauled the submarine SEADRAGON which later went on to sink more enemy tonnage than any other submarine in World War II. For her heroic actions in saving SEADRAGON, PIGEON received the first Pesidential Unit Citation awarded a ship in World War II. By the end of December, Hawes' valiant sailors earned a second Presidential Unit Citation for their fight. ing ability, and LT Hawes was awarded a second Navy Cross. In june 1942, Hawes was recalled to Washington where he played 3 major role in designing and building the USS CHANTICLEER CASR-75, a submarine rescue vessel. It was the first such vessel of its type, and Commander Hawes subsequently became its first Com- manding Officer. He exhibited such ingenuity in effecting repairs to the submarines assigned to his ship for refit that he received a letter of commendation from Commander, 7th Fleet. The final ship Rear Admiral Hawes commanded during World War II was the submarine tender USS ANTHEDON QAS-241. He received a Bronze Star for the leadership of his crew which repaired and refitted 34 submarines in addition to making emergency repairs to a dozen others. In all, Rear Admiral Hawes commanded three ships during World War II, participating in heavy battle action at Cavite, Subic Bay, and off the Australian coast. VVhen he retired in December, 1952, Admiral Hawes had won most of the medals and ribbons awarded by the Navy. In addition, USS PIGEON was the only surface ship to win two Presidential Unit Citations during World War II. One of the nation's most gallant Naval heroes, Admiral Hawes died in 1968. I 1 I I

Page 8 text:

Commander Robert D. Liggett, USN, a native of Pittsburg, Pennsylva- nia, attended the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating with the class of 1972. His first tour of duty was aboard USS LA MOURE COUNTY QLST 11945 where he served as 3M Coordinator, Communications Officer, and Operations Officer. He then attended the Department Head course at Surface Warfare Officeris School in 1976. Upon completion of this course of instruction, CDR Liggett reported to USS PHARRIS QFF 10945 as Engineer Officer. Subsequent assignments included a tour as an instructor on the staff of Surface Warfare Officer School Command, Main Propulsion Assistant in USS JOHN F. KENNEDY fCV67j, Exegu- tive Officer aboard USS SEMMES QDDG 182, Commanding Officer of USS ILLUSIVE CMSO 4485. While under his command, ILLUSIVE deployed to the Persian Gulf in the fall of 1987 to participate in mine countermeasures operations, Commander Liggett had command of USS LEADER CMSO 4901 from january to April 1988. During Comman- der Liggettis tour in HAWES, the ship completed a five month drydock- ing availability, participated in various fleet exercises and counternar- cotics operations, and was deployed to the Middle East area for Opera- tion Desert Storm. Commander Liggett is married to the formerjanet Elaine Morgan of Kenmore, New York. The Liggett's have three chil- dren, Andrew, Patrick, and Emily.