Everett Larson (DDR 830) - Naval Cruise Book

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Excerpt from citation for presentation of Silver Star Medalg For conspicous gallantry and intrepidity while serving with the Second Battalion, Fifth Marines, First Marine Division, during action against enemy Japanese forces at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, October 8, 1942. With utter disregard for his own personal safety, Private First Class Larson braved the intense fire of the enemy to swim the Matanikau River in a heroic attempt to rescue a wounded comrade. His valiant and self-sacrificing action, in which he lost his life, was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.

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EXECUTIVE BER Lieutenant Commander Frederick E. McCandless, USNR, enlisted in the Navy on 27 July 1956, and was commissioned an ensign through the Naval Officer Candidate School at New Port, ,Rhode Island, on 12 December 1956. LC dr. McCandless has served in USS Orleck QDD, 8865 and USS Somers QDD 9475 prior to joining Larson. He has also served on the in- structor staff of the Pacific Fleet Antisub- marine Warfare School at San Diego.From 1960 to 1965, he worked in private industry, and served as an instructor on the staff of the Naval Reserve Officer School at Treasure Island and Vallejo, California. - LCdr. McCandless and his wife, the former Margaret Walsh, of Vallejo, have two sons, Frederick and David.

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SH 'S B EN RUUND USS Everett F. Larson was christened early in 1945 by the mother of the marine whose name she carries. Built by the Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, as a standard destroyer, Larson was converted, prior to commissioning, into a radar picket destroyer. She was first assigned to the Pacific Fleet and, until her return to the states in 1946, operated throughout the Japanese Islands and the North China Coast. Attached to the Atlantic Fleet from 1947 until 1956, Larson made seven Mediterranean cruises and won the Destroyer Force E four times. After an overhaul at New York Naval Shipyard in 1956, Larson underwent refresher training at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. At the completion of training, she was again assigned to the Pacific Fleet and Destroyer Division 92, with her home port in Long Beach. In March 1957, Larson made her first deployment to WesPac since 1946. From that time until the Viet Nam situation worsened, she made one tour every eighteen months. I Vice Admiral Griffin, then Commander of the Seventh Fleet, commended Larson in 1961 for ...setting a goal for Seventh Fleet 'small boys' to emulate. In September of 1961, she was transferred to Destroyer Squadron Nineteen to await a facelifting a FRAM in the summer of 1962. Larson entered the Long Beach Naval Shipyard in June 1962 for her chance to receive rejuvenation under the Navy's Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization Program. While' in the yard, she received the numerous, improvements and modifications which enabled her to change her mission to anti-submarine war- fare. Among these were: extensive rebuilding of her superstructureg addition of a flight deck and hanger for drone anti-submarine helocoptersg installation of a new .torpedo battery, and the addition of improved sonar, radar, and electronic equipment. The FRAM was completed in a record time of seven months, and, on 1 April 1963, Larson became a unit of Destroyer Squadron Twenty-three and was assigned to Destroyer Division 231. On 13 May 1963, Larson became the second ship of the Pacific Fleet to receive DASH when she took control of two birds from San Clemente Island and landed them on her helo deck.. In June of 1963, she began the first of many anti-submarine warfare exer- cises when she joined the Pacific Fleet Ready Hunter-Killer Group composed of USS Hornet and Destroyer Division 231. Larson is still a member of the Pacific HUK group and is presently assigned to Anti-Submarine Warfare Group Five. Her guns fired in anger for the first time since her commissioning when she provided gunfire support for US forces in Viiet Nam in 1965, firing over 800 rounds with results evaluated as highly effective. This year the gunsroared again for real and spewed out over 500 rounds insupport of U.S. and South Vietnamese forces. A . - ' 5 7