Decatur (DDG 31) - Naval Cruise Book

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UA ' 7 -f' 5: Q -'.,.., '-2' J-C-9'1 -'f r':2 f x'1 ' ' 1 I .. . . -i ,U N--U - 1 ,. . . . .. ff., N , 'f f., Wi XF' f' r ffl wwxR f2y'f f ,f M-...M 'H W QW 7 , M V THEODORE ROCNESS JOHNSON,iIII, CAPTAIN, USN COMMANDER DESTROYER DIVISION 132 A graduate of Yale University-CBA 1943D and the United States Naval Academy CBS 19465, Captain T. Rogness JOHNSON, Jr., United States Navy, has served in a variety of sea going assignments as an Unrestricted Line Officer. These have included command of four combatant ships- the Landing Force Rocket Ship USS DES PLAINES RIVER CLFR-4125, the Ocean Going Minesweeper USS PERSISTENT CMSO-4913 and the Destroyers USS FLOYD B. PARKS CDD-8845 and USS ERNEST G. SMALL CDDR-8385 in addition to his current assignment as Commander Destroyer Division ONE THIRTY-TWO. Captain JOHNSON is also a special warfare qualified Underwater Demolition Team.CUDTJ Officer and SCUBA Diver, servingin Underwater Demolition Team TWELVE during the Korean conflict. Captain JOHNSON has served two tours in Washington, D. C., both in the Bureau of Naval Personnel. On his last tour as Head of the Active Enlisted Plans Branch, he was the Navy's principal Liaison and Briefing Officer for the Special Sub Committee of the House Armed Service Committee on Enlisted Promotion Policy Review. A native of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Captain JOHNSON currently resides in Costa Mesa, California. The Captain and his wife, Frances, a former Navy Nurse have five children - two sons and three daughters. . -.. ww- ...r I. . . N' - gg, .4-1,:,,,,.,,-1. v. 1-.,,.s',,, . ... .i ., in . -. ..,,..1,w,.f+n 1 hfaih-,,e,,.,,L,,.1,,..5ff,.g..-1. Q ,,. ..,..-..

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THE DECATUR TRADITION 1 rQ'w'l' .r 1, . i. X 'I Stephen Decatur was born at Sinepauxent, Maryland, on 5 January, 1779. At the age of nineteen, he was pro- vided with a midshipman's warrant by Commodore Barry, I under whom he made his first cruise in frigate UNITED I STATES. Commanding the schooner ENTERPRISE at the outbreak of the Tripolitan War, Decatur captured the bomb ketch MASTICO on 23 December 1803. It was in this prize ketch, renamed INTREPID, that Decatur entered the harbor of Tripoli on 16 February 1804 and boarded ,the captured frigate PHILADELPHIA. Within twenty minutes, he and his men had swept the Tripo- litan crew overboard, and, with but one man wounded, had returned under fire of shore batteries,- their way lighted by the burning PHILADELPHIA. Horatio Nelson termed this ' 'the most bold and daring act of the age. During the attacks on Tripoli itself, Decatur com- manded a gtmboat division. In the first attack, 3 August 1804, he took one gunboat ' by furious hand-to-hand combat, and with but ten followers leaped aboard a second, personally to attack and kill the huge Tripolitan leader. Upon receipt of his Captain's commission in September 1804, then at age twenty-five, Decaturwas given command of frigate CONSTITUTION. shifting to CONGRESS in November, he held negotiations with the Bey of Tunis at the close of the Tripolitan War and re- turned to America with the Tunisian Envoy during September 1805. .Commanding UNITED STATES at the outbreak of war in 1812, Decatur captured MADARIN on 11 October, and on'25 October, in a battle gallantly sustained on both sides, he captured frigate MACEDONIAN, This victory earned Decatur the thanks, of Congress and several State Legislatures. Then, blockaded in New London for a year, he transferred to PRESIDENT at New York, remaining for defense of the city. He fell in with a British Squadron of five heavy ships on the morning of 15 January 1815 and silenced frigate ENDYMION after sailing side-by-side in two hours of furious combat. Because of the extensive damage suffered by PRESIDENT, it WELS impossible to execute an escape, thus Decatur was overhauled by other enemy frigates. Twice wounded himself, he lost twenty-four men with fifty-five wounded. He reluctantly surrendered but was soon paroled, landing in New London on 22 February 1815. Aboard flagship GUERRIERE toward the end of the war, he negotiated a treaty with the Bey of Algiers, ending tribute and exacting full payment for injuries to Americans. He exacted the same from the Bey of Tunis and the Bashaw of Tripoli shortly thereafter. From November 1815 until his death, Decatur served on the Board of Navy Commissioners. He died 22 March 1820, as the result of a duel' with Commodore James Baron. Loyalty to his country was the breath of life to Stephen Decatur. At a dinner in Norfolk in April 1816, he gave a stirring response to a toast: 6 ' Our Country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she be always in the right, but our country, right or wrong.

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-, , -..,-..:.N.-V ...,,..w r. - I ,.,.,,,, - .vm-' -- A -1- H., . ... JOHN BISHOP ALLEN, COMMANDER, USN P COMMANDINC OFFICER - 19 SEPTEMBER 1968 - 14 JULY 1970 John B. ALLEN, ,son of Mr. and Mrs. George I. Allen of Caruthersville, Missouri, was born on January 16, 1930. After completing the local schools in Caruthersville, he attended Southwestern at Memphis before entering the Navy Officer Candidate School. Following graduation from Officer Candidate School, in December 1952, he reported to the USS MCCOY REYNOLDS CDE-4403 and served as Gunnery 'Officer during operations with the Seventh Fleet from January 1953 to December 1955. ln January 1956 he reported for duty on the Staff of Commander Destroyer Flotilla 6, where he served as Aide and Flag Lieutenant. In October 1958 he completed the General Line Course at the Navy P.G. School at Monterey, California. From Monterey, he reported for duty in November 1958 as Assistant Secretary in the Office of Joint Chiefs of Staff, Washington, D. C. As a Lieutenant he returned to sea duty in March 1961 as Executive Officer of the USS BORDELON CDDR-8813. In August 1962 LCDR ALLEN took command of the USS ALACRITY CMSO-5205. The two assignments carried him to the Mediterranean for deployments in support of Sixth Fleet operations. After' completing the course at the Armed Forces Staff College at Norfolk, Virginia in January 1965, he re- ported to the Office of the Chief of Naval.Operations as Head, Joint Plans Section, Logistics Plans Division. Commander ALLEN took command of USS DECATUR during ceremonies at sea on September 19, 1968. He is married to the former Carolyn Milton of Martin, Tennessee, daughter of Mrs. O. O. Milton. They have three sons, Paul, Christy and Wesley. Commander ALLEN is presently attending the Naval War College in Washing- ton, D. C. P P P P P P P L P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P ?. P P P P P P P P P P P P P P ...L