Colleton (APB 36) - Naval Cruise Book

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MESSAGE TO ALL HANDS We have spent out year in the Republic of Vietnam in USS COLLETON learning about a new form of warfare. During the course of the year we have been challenged almost daily with the type of problems which have been without precedent for a ship of the United States Navy. Support of 900 embarked Army and Navy personnel with all the requirements for their day to day living. Provide primary Medical Treatment for the combat casualties of the Mobile Riverine Force. Defend ourselves and our embarked personnel from a cunning and determined enemy never more than a 1000 yards from our ship. Maintain our ship continously on the line without missing an operational committment. The details of how we have met these challenges are sufficient to fill a book. The initiative and effort that went into the solutions will provide the stuff from which sea stories will be told throughout the fleet for years to come. The performance of the officers and men of COLLETON in meeting these challenges and seeking additional ones has been attested to by the praise spoken of COLLETON by Commander River Assault Flotilla ONE, the Battalion Commanders and River Assault Squadron Commanders which have been embarked as well as the patients we have treated and the individual soldiers and sailors who have lived on board. To this praise I add my own ; Your efforts and initiative have made a difficult task easy and the im- possible task only slightly bothersome. No matter what the job may be, if it requires good men, I can think of no more competent group than the COLLETON and nothing would please me more than an opportunity to serve with any and all of you in the future. ' Z - . CUju.---

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DATELINE... CHANGE OF COMMAND BIOGRAPHY LCDR ALDERSON began his naval career after graduating from the Naval Academy in June 1955. His first assignment was Navigator aboard the USS SULLIVANS DD 537 . In January 1957, LCDR ALDERSON was transferred to Submarine School and upon completion went aboard the USS CORPORAL SS 346i until December of 1958. The USS MULIPHEN lAKA 61) was his next assignment and he served as Engineering Officer until his transfer to the Naval Postgraduate School in August of 1950 where he was awarded the degree of Master of Science (Physics) in 1952. From Postgraduate School, LCDR ALDERSON was ordered to the USS ROBINSON CDD 562), where he served as Engineering Officer and Executive Officer for a period of two years. From July 1954 to December 1967, LCDR served with the U. S. Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory in San Francisco as an operations research analyst. For his efforts in the evaluation of shipboard defensive systems he was awarded the Secretary of the Navy Commendation for Achievement. Upon completion of this tour he was transferred to the USS COLLETON (APB 36) as the Commanding OfFice Recently LCDR ALDERSON was selected for Com- mander and has received orders to the University of California ' s Lawrence Radiation Laboratory at Lemoore, California. Commander ALDERSON was married to the former Margaret A. Northrop of Washington, D. C. in June of 1955. He now makes his home with his wife, 3 sons and daughter in San Diego, California.

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DATELINE... ATTACK On 31 May 1968 at approximately 0040, the COLLETON began receiving direct enemy fire from the South bank near Ben Tre. It had been a quiet night, typical of the hundreds of others the Mobile Riverine Force has spent in its patrol of the Delta. LTJG John MC CONNELL was the Officer of the Deck on the Bridge, ENI MESSER was the Junior Officer of the Deck below and I was the bridge phone talker. The ship ' s assigned anchorage in the vicinity of Ben Tre was first opposite a South Vietnamese Army Outpost on the South bank. This small cluster of thatched buildings with its protective series of sandbag fortified machine gun nests guarding the perimeter, was set on the shore in a small clearing, behind which was a modest patch of cultivated open land. About 50 yards directly to either side of the outpost was open, but beyond the 50 yards, dense jungle immediately sprang up forming a solid wall of vegetation. It was from the edge of this wall on the right side of the outpost, that the excitement originated. At 0040 Mr. MC CONNELL was standing at the rail scanning in the direction of the outpost while I was inside the conning station monitoring the radio network. All of a sudden several things happend at once. The OOD saw a fl ash to the right of the outpost and instantaneously heard, as did I, the frightening whoosh of a large round going very close over our heads, and then the splash as it fell harmlessly into the water on the other side of the ship. As the second round was going over, MR. MC CONNELL was on the phone calling the Commanding Officer, Command Control and preparing to go to General Quarters. I was getting the guns of Mount 41 trained on the target, pulling on a flak jacket and trying my darndist to make the right log entries. —continued NIGHT ATTACK 57 MM RECOILLESS HOLE