Coontz (DLG 9) - Naval Cruise Book

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Missile Warship Shows Her Teeth From a Special Reporter in the Coontz COONTZ. At Sea, Thursday.— Sfeanv ing towards Sydney today the £20 million L ' .S.S. Coontz gave Australian naval officers they- first glimpse of the warship ' s formid- able armament. Three minutes after a ' general alert the 350;mem- ber crew and officers were at battle-stations, and deadly missiles were sliding on to their launch- pads for firing. The Coontz, a guided- missile frigate, was ready and could have repelled an air or sea attack before it got within 10 miles of the ship — a slightly larger er- sion than the two destroyers Australia has ordered from the Unitfd States. The Coontz. is on a good- will visit to show her power to the R..A.N. It is ex- pected to dock at Garden WE WAVED A SAD FAREWELL TO AUSTRALIA Island at 8 o ' clock this morning, and will be open for public inspection until sailing on Monday. The e.xercise today show- ed that the Coontz could have deslroyed more than, 10 miles away every enemy plane which attacked Dar- win 20 years ago. First To Visit Australia The Coontz is the first missile-carrying warship to visit Australia, and officers expect recor( crowds on in- spection tours. It will be open to the public tomorrow. Saturday and Sunday before sailing for the U.S. on Monday. Visting hours will be be- tween 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. fomorrow. Saturday and Sunday, with an extra period on Sunday between 9.30 a.m. and 11 a.m. A special guard will be on watch to keep visitors out of three or four classi fied areas on the ship. The captain of the Coontz, Commander H. H. Ries. tonight invited the public to visit the Coontz. Officers and ratings will be on duty to show visitors over the ship. he said. If the crowds become too large, we will extend visiting hours to make sure that evejiybodw can get aboard. r. y , SKY SPECK BRINGS SHIP TO ACTION BY MICII.AEL MACGEORGE, WHO ARRIVED IN SYDXKY yesterday on board the AMERICAN DESTBOYER-LEADER U.S.S. COONTZ, FROM MELBOURNE. As U.S.S. Coontz, first guided- missiie warship to be seen in Aus- tralia, steamed past Wilsons Promon- tory in blissfully calm waters the bosun ' s pipe sounded shrilly over the ship ' s amplifying system. Then came the ur- Ihan, the two Charles F. Adams type destroyers which the Australian Government has ordered from the United States. These two destroyers, costing £20 million each are expected in Australia The call to battle stations ; jn iggs. gent message, Gen- eral quarters, general quarters. All hands man your battle sta- tions. R. ' V N. officers aU is one of the lew examples fLhion°ed ' ' ' drama mt ' ' y ave travelled m rasnioned arama leu , — ,,, Australian Coontz waters. Three of them travelled 1 from Melbourne to Sydney. aboard this t ' . o-year-old , destroyer-leider, one of the j crack warships o[ the i American Seventh Fleet. .. ' u ■.? .. ' ' ? ' ' ! Hal£-Iight push-button warfare, with its own drama of a ! The three stood in the new and oritn eerie kind, combat information centre These sailors, wany of } h.en the order, Man your them electronic techni- cians, should never see their enemy — other than as an image on an elec- tronic detector. came 14 screens battle stations, ' through- In the half-light, in- formalion was riowing in from radar and sonar de- tectors and other sources. The position of the simu- They sit .n comfort in ' lated plane was plotted and dimly lit control rooms, i marked on a large glass watcning 14 radar screens. I chart. They have to consider Standing in the deci- whether a speck showing sion area as it is called, on a screen from perhap i the ship ' s executive officer, 200 miles away is a friendly Lieut. -Commander ' W. R. plane or an enemy tor JHartman, weighed the evid- maybe just an innocent i ence and decided the neutral). They have to decide plane was an enemy. The weapons control men whether to throw a I gnt to work with radar switch which will send a Terrier missile, with or without a nuclear war- head, speeding along an electronic beam to destroy its target in seconds. Are we carrying nu- clear warheads? I asked ■Weapons Officer Lieut. - Commander William Phil- lips. I am sorry, he replied. That is one question I am not allowed to answer. All I can say is that we can carry 40 missiles. Coontz is similar to, though slightly larger and electronic computers. In seconds they had fixed a track beam on the aircraft, a guidance beam to keep the Terrier missile on course; and a cap- ture beam to give the missile a smooth ride all the way to the doomed air- craft. Then a chief petty offi- cer, sitting quietly in front of the weapons assignment console and a panel head- ed. Count down procedu- ure. pulled a switch to send the missile on its way. AND HEADED HOME!

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STEAMING INTO SYDNEY HARBOR S Y D N E Y ' • ' J f ' iM ' 4 THE RAN VISITS CIC A SMALL AUSSIE AT THE 3 '

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WE STOPPED AT PAGO PAGO AND PEARL HARBOR AND WE WERE HOME AT LAST