Alfred A Cunningham (DD 752) - Naval Cruise Book

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Y-.., ..f..f--r-Y,---f -----,,. ....,e. THE LOG steamed out of Long Beach Ihebfightinf Nlogeirilggi bound for a six .and one-half month dcployraivcglilig A533 Vglgsl ar or on . - J h T, , , - port of U.S Seventh Fleet operations. Capitained by C33 ECQERSOLE CDD 789, USS O.BRiEN Cam., CUNNINGHI?giNg3lEnRe?D1Ilg 22:1 gsoieeilegstb the Hawaiian Islands to participate in the QDD 7251 and USS Y , . E i tion. A 'i'Submm e warfare Group one Operational iiifadntfif c vis uiiuwriza USN commander Dee Th d'vision of four ships, under the Suifiance 0 HP ' ' ' ' ed- d they' trotyeg Division 232, exercised in Hawaiian waters for three weeks before lp-roiceoringm Swings ' G, L CLARK, USN to Yokosuka Japan, from w. ic p 3vee:ecatii2c?1?ggii,vta:ri,otilsnSeventh Fleet Commanders to accomplish tasks asilgngiirs of the Taiwan One of the CUNNINGHAM'S first jobs was to patrol the shallow, roug w h 1 its i to a Straits off the east coast of Red China. December winds from .the north mixed t e s. ral ln confusion of choppy seas which left little opportunity t0 3CC0mPllSh fffulme outsldfe mamtenance cfn the ship Christmas Day was spent in Keelung, Taiwan, where it rained the entire time the ship ' . Y ' D s ent at sea on patrol. , was mlpogt New CtI?NlfJINaC1lIIvATMSgeparted to Taiwan Straits and proceeded to the Gulf of Tonkin to In ear y anuary i - - ' , provide plane guard and pilot rescue services for USS BENNINGTON t3'VS 20l -aadwlgsagigtmlngss men of aircraft shot down in raids over North ietnam g piijixaielnci Fglghiigdgegrz Operations that CUNNINGHAM'S motor whaleboat rescued a severely injured helicopter pilot at night in heavy seas and strong winds. She assisted in several other rescue efforts and acted as a Shotgun Rider for search and rescue units close off the coast of North Vietnam to protect them from enemy PT boats and aircraft: 4 Late in January CUNNINGHAM proceeded to Subic Bay, Philippine Islands, for a brief upkeep per- iod. In the first few days of February the 2200 ton anti-submarine warfare destroyer steamed for the Tonkin Gulf again, this time to bring her six five-inch guns to bear in Operation Sea Dragon. a logistics interdiction effort in the coastal waters of North Vietnam. While. on Operation Sea Dragon, CUNNINGHAM destroyed and damaged large numbers of enemy logistics craft. Although fired upon by enemy shore batteries, she was not hit and, after supressing the batteries with gun- fire and called-in air strikes, she continued her mission of cutting off the flow of supplies being carried from North to South Vietnam for use by the Vietcong. Primary targets were water- borne logistics craft which use inshore waters to bring supplies southward. During these arduous weeks of combat operations, ship's personnel were called upon to perform at their utmost effici- ency at all hours. ' In early March the variable depth sonar equipped ship arrived in Sasebo, Japan for a period of up- keep, rest and recreation. Side trips were made to Nagasaki and the surrounding countryside. The middle of March saw CUNNINGHAM underway for Yankee Team and more duty as plane guard, this time for the Bon I-Iomme Richard. Shortly thereafter Sea Dragon was again the daily routine and CUNNINGHAM and others assisted USS CANBERRA tCAG-27 in pounding North Viet- namese supply lines, highway choke points, ferry crossings, shore batteries and radar sites. I-Ier job as Shotgun for CANBERRA was to shoot up enemy shore batteries which attempted to in- terfere with the cruiser's heavy guns. Once again morale was high and the ship proved herself to be at combat ready unit. During this period CDR WELLS was relieved as Commanding Officer by CDR John H. McKAY, USN of Louisville. CDR WELLS reported to Commanding Officer Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Livermore, Calif. A welcome trip to Hong Kong. was enjoyed by all hands in early April and was followed by another Taiwan. Straits Patrol, the ship working out of Kaohsiung, Taiwan. In late April the ship rode the Kuroshio, or Black Current, to Yokosuka, Japan, where preparations were made to sail on 28 Ap ril for home with the rest of the division. The four ships took the Midway-Pearl Harbor route. iazpganigsbgeaiyqgs each por? agar fusl. Maiy 12th, iihe long awaited day of homecoming arrived and o piers u 0 e en ents an friend wh ' ' - comiplishments in the Seventh Fleet. P S 0 were proud of their many fine ac During the- 40,000 mile cruise CUNNINGHAM, a warship as long as a football field tincluding the end zonesl, consumed an impressive amount of fuel, food and supplies For instance CUNNING- HAM sailors ate 20,000 lbs. of beef, 5,000 lbs. of chicken 40000 lbslof otatoes 5500 d eggs, 5,500 loaves of bread, and drank 35,000 cups of coffee The coke' maghine sold foo 2000553 drinks and 13,Q00,000 cigarettes went up in smoke. The officers and crew were 'd ' d 7,500 - - . ,, . Pa' 5400-000-00 :Elven trcipair parts were used to keep the ship fighting. The Tin Can spent an average of ou o ten days underway. Most of the consum bl d ionsumed 12,761,173 gailonsi were received from underwafielpisnishbriizsitaslhtipzslmost an of the fuel n iddfuon uf C0PSUmm8'f00d and fuel, the ship fired plenty of ammo-31 tons of it mostly high 312112 giiiiflygi wing the Sevjnth Fleet CUNNINGHAM was commended by - 96 , omman er Cruiser Destro e G C d S , I y r roup, Seventh Fleet and Q32115:nb?rcoggggdiftgi?fE5g11:gtl:Jf:lrgirVietnlalm for her highly successful intelligence collection nications reliability: by Commander C 'oupv orth Vletnam for noteworthy Operational Commu' troyer Division i92, and Commander Dg2iSer'DeSifQYf?F Group, Seventh Fleet, Commander Des- during gunfire suPPort Operations on Sea gJgg01r?lVF?1?n 132 forisuperb professional performance eleven months of the readiness evaluation 'od 1 Ou Standing performance during the first . ,, . M ,, , pen CUNNINGHAM d d CE andthe white Asw A tthird awardibycoMcRUnEsPAc. wasawar e thered Engmeermg . I . , I t52.? 'SE2aS2i5SfZ1if1!F S1281-t'lZdNaVa1 Shipyard 3' Long Beach for H Overhaul in July western Pacific- r Hy thls Year and this makes her fourteenth deployment to the USS ALFRED A CUNNINGHAM tDD 752i 'D' ...L