Blue Ridge (LCC 19) - Naval Cruise Book

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Captain P. H. Speer was born m Greensburg, Pa., in 1928 and is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Stuart W. Speer, pre- sently of Ridgway, Pa. He began his Naval Career in 1946 when he enlisted in the Naval Aviation College program. Following two years at Wisconsin State College, Captain Speer entered flight training in 1948 and was designated a Naval Aviator in Feb- ruary 1950. His first assignment was with VX-3 at the Naval Air Station Atlantic City, N.J. He was subsequently ordered to VF-1 72 and participated in the introduction of the F2H Banshee jet into the Korean War while flying from the USS ESSEX. Captain Speer attended General Line School, Monterey, Ca., in 1953 and then was a flight instructor in the Naval Air Training Command until 1955. He served as Operations Officer with VF-1 1 1 aboard the USS BON HOMME RICH- ARD and as a combat instructor with VF-1 24. He was sub- sequently named Executive Officer and Commanding Officer of VF-21 1 , making two combat tours to Southeast Asia in 1966 and 1967. During his tours, VF-21 1 became the first Navy squadron to down more than five enemy |et aircraft and also won the Naval Air Pacific Combat E for excellence. Captain Speer scored a personal kill of a North Vietnamese MIG aircraft over Hanoi on May 19, 1967. He made two more deploy- ments to Southeast Asia on the staff of Commander Carrier Division Three in 1968 and 1969 prior to reporting to Miramar Air Station, north of San Diego, Ca., for training as a prospective Air Wing Commander. He took command of Attack Carrier Air Wing 1 1 in October 1969 and of Attack Carrier Air Wing 14 on 26 January 1970, making another combat tour of Southeast Asia on the USS CON- STELLATION. Captain Speer holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of California. He is married to the former Genevieve B. Nagy of McKeesport, Pa., and they, along with their son Paul, reside in San Diego.

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Captain K. J. Carroll enlisted in the Navy in February 1944 in the V-5 Aviation Cadet program and received his commission at the Univer- sity of Notre Dame in June 1946. He attended submarine school in 1949, graduated from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1955, from the Naval War College in 1960 and from the Army War College in 1965. Upon completion of his initial duty assignment as Main Battery Divi- sion Officer on the battleship USS MISSISSIPPI, Captain Carroll was a student at the Naval Gunfire Liaison School in Little Creek, Va. This specialized training was followed by four consecutive assignments as Naval Gunfire Liaison Officer in the Second Marine Division, aboard the Attack Transports NOBLE and OKONOGAN and the Aircraft Carrier KEARSARGE, In May 1949 he was ordered to the Submarine Base, New London, Conn., and served aboard the submarine I REX while awaiting submar- ine school. During the next five years he had duty aboard the submar- ines CAIMAN and SEAFOX which were based at Pearl Harbor and spent twenty-one months in the Western Pacific during the Korean War. In 1955 he was assigned to the Plans and Policy Division of the Bureau of Naval Personnel. Captain Carroll qualified for command of submarines during a two- year assignment as Executive Officer of SEA POACHE R in Key West, Fla. He was the commanding officer of USS SABLEFISH from June 1960 to June 1962, relinquishing that command to return to the Sub- marine School as Director of the Tactics Division. In June 1 963 he became Director of the Basic Officers Department at the school. In July 1965 he was assigned as Aide and Flag Secretary to the Deputy Commander, Submarine Force, U. S. Atlantic Fleet. In August 1967 he assumed command of Submarine Division 81 . Captain Carroll returned to Washington as Military Deputy to the Deputy Assistant Oceanographer for Science in August 1968. In September 1970 he was assigned as Commanding Officer of BLUE RIDGE. He was detached from that post in July 1972 an d assumed command of Amphibious Squadron 10. . .,: ' pj:i. . ' ,mr . ' :M4 ' l llll l|liliilll mi jliili iilliii in iiiiiiii iiiiiiiib iiiiifmiMii ipiiiiiiiiiH iiiiMiMiiiiii

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