Frank Knox (DD 742) - Naval Cruise Book

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COMMANDINC OFFICER Commander james G. Baker, USN Ships and cruises are unique to the Navy. A ship is among other things, the place Where We eat, sleep, Work, relax, and serve our country. To successfully make a ship a fighting unit, and simultaneously serve as a home for its crew requires the utmost in team Work, cooperation, understanding and comradeship. A ship's company must become a closely knit family. The true test of a ship and her crew comes on an extended cruise. It is then that all of the previous training and preparation, individual and team efforts are tested to the fullest extent. It is then that the family muSt produce. This book is dedicated to the officers and men of USS Frank Knox QDD 7429, Who during the seven month deployment with the Seventh Fleet in 1969, met and passed the test. Well done! J. G. Baker CDR, U.S.N. Commander james Gilbert BAKER, U. S. Navy entered the Naval Service in 1951, having received his commission through the NROTC Program at the University of Idaho. During his career he has served aboard the destroyers USS DE HAVEN CDD 7275 and USS GEORGE K. MACKENZIE CDD 8365 as Well as the auxiliaries USS DIACHENKO QAPD 1235 and USS MISPILLION CAO 1051. Ashore he has served as Exec- utive Officer for the Naval Adminis- trative Office, Marianas Islands, as Force Personnel Officer on the Staff of the Commander Naval Forces, Marianas Islands and in the Intelli- gence Division, Staff, Commander-in- Chief, Pacific. During his sea-going tours Commander BAKER has served in billets in the three major shipboard departments of Operations, Weapons and Engineering and Was Executive Officer aboard MACKENZIE for eighteen months. As well as service in the Marianas Islands, he has been homeported in Yokosuka, japan and saw two tours of duty in the Pacific during the Korean Conflict. Commander BAKER assumed command of USS FRANK KNOX CDDR 7425 on 28 December 1967 at the U. S. Naval Station, Subic Bay, Philippines. The Captain is married to the former Betty Lee Thompson of Yuma, Arizona. The Bakers now reside in San Diego, California with their four children.

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FROM THE TOP OF THE ROCKS- 9 TO THE TOP OF THE RANKS FROM THE TOP OF THE ROCKS TO THE TOP OF THE RANKS The Arleigh Burke Fleet Trophy is awarded each year to the ship in the U. S. Pacific Fleet which displays the greatest improvement in battle efficiency during the competitive year. In 1968 the Arleigh Burke Trophy was won by the USS Frank Knox. This is a praise- worthy achievement for any ship. For the Frank Knox it was more than that. In the year 1964 this ship was one of the top destroyers in the Pacific Fleet, displaying battle ef- ficiency E's in all major departments, with hash marks under many of them. She had just been voted Ship of the Year for 1963 by OUR NAVY MAGAZINE, and awarded the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award. One of the few laurels not received was the Arleigh Burke Trophy. But on 18 july, 1965, these merits seemed of secondary impor- tance as the Frank Knox lay stranded on the coral heads of Pratas Reef, in the South China Sea. Extensive salvage operations finally freed her, and she made her way slowly to japan. Over a period of 386 days in drydock in Yokosuka, japan, the Frank Knoxwas resurrected through the skill and industry of japanese yardworkers and her dedicated crewmembers. She was recommissioned in November of 1966. I In july of 1967 Frank Knox deployed to the Waters of Southeast Asia and began a climb that has brought her to the level she previously held as one of the most distinguished ships in the Pacific Fleet. During the competitive year 1968 she walked off with the Battle Efficiency E for Destroyer Squadron Seventeen plus individual awards in gunnery, engineering and antisubmarine warfare. Then on 20 November 1968, two years and one day after she was recommissioned, Frank Knox was formally awarded the Arleigh Burke Fleet Trophy. The achievement is testimony to the spirit and ability character- istic of the Navy in general and the destroyerman in particular. 3 ...- .....,..-....,...............,.....,-..-..........:.1.N.....,.s.,.-.,.nmr...,...1.1i.E...:a-.......'...:..:T.x4.4.sa,a..,....,m....,.c.......a...- 1-.5 --av,-....,.,.- :..,......:.,,a-,..........,,.

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EXECUTIVE OFFICER LCDR P. A. Baker received his com- mission from the Naval Academy in the class of 1957. Since then he has served on various ships in various billets and in shore billets at Fleet TraGroup in San Diego, as a company officer at the Naval Academy and he also attended the Naval Post Graduate School. During his sea going tours he served aboard the cruiser Roanoke, the USS Dale CDLG-191, and was on the commissioning crew on both the USS Somers CDD-9471 and the USS King CDLG-105. His billets aboard these ships have included Missle Officer, Gunnery Officer, Navigator and Oper- ations Officer. I-Ie assumed duties as Executive Officer aboard the Frank Knox in August of 1968. fm... -...ma-n..L.-4-..-fn.n--,.,,wvr1iAv-1