Fresno (LST 1182) - Naval Cruise Book

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CRUISl Of THE TYPHOON TR ACKER! Without a doubt, FRESNO ' S 1976 WESTPAC deployment would hardly be complete without a discussion of our nemesis, the typhoon. The typhoon (hurricane in some parts of the world) is indeed a formidable force. For example, one day ' s released energy from a typhoon, when converted to electrical energy, would supply the United State s ' electrical needs for more than six months. Meterologically, typhoons are enormous, well organized low pressure systems. The system ' s energy is derived directly from the warm surface layers of the tropical areas of the world oceans (that portion of the ocean between degrees and 30 degrees north and south latitude). Once spawned, typhoons generally remain in, and are partially steered by, the large warm water ocean currents. Typhoon fore- casting, inspite of man ' s technological advancement in the past twenty remains unimpressive, mainly due to the large number of parameters ef- fecting a storm ' s development and steering and the limited resources available to sample our meterological environment. Thus, the only pre- dictable aspect of a typhoon is that it is totally unpredictable in its course of movement. The prudent mariner, then, is wise to take early evasive action and give these prodigious storms as wide a berth as pos- sible. But how have these storms effected FRESIMO? For starters, our initiation, in the form of typhoon (tropical storm at the time) OLGA, released 56 inches of rain in eight days in May while we were engaged in amphibious operations and berthed in Subic Bay, Republic of the Philippines. Our next encounter with a tropical storm, BILLIE by name, necessitated in- terupting our visit to Hong Kong in early August. Then, who can forget our infamous visit to Guam reknown in many circles as the typhoon capital of the world? Here, Memorial Day weekend was spent preparing to get underway to avoid a lady name FRAIM. The storm eventually passed safely to the south but this lady later had her way afflicting millions of dollars of damage to Okinawa and southern Japan. The following weekend however, we were not as fortunate, subsequently getting underway to avoid tropical storm GEORGIA. After five days of taking rolls of up to 40 degrees and participating in an ill-fated man overboard search for a sailor from another ship, FRESIMO returned to port, thus establishing firmly in the minds of all hands, our role as TYPHOON TRACKER!

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Our weather guesser ' Whatever -the- Weather ' Lieutenant Commander J.D. KING was commissioned an Ensign, U.S. Naval Reserve upon graduation from Oregon State University in June 1964. His first assignment was DCA and Engineering Officer aboard USS JEROME COUNTY (LST-848). Subsequently, he recommissioned the USS CLARION RIVER (LSiVIR-409) in September 1965, serving aboard for two years as Engineer Officer. During this tour, he augmented into the U.S. Navy. This tour was followed by a two year tour at the Naval Post- graduate School where LCDR KING earned a Masters Degree in Ocean- ography in 1969. His next assignment was Surface Department Head School followed by a two year tour as Engineering Officer of the USS GARCIA (DE-1040). LCDR KING rotated ashore to the U.S. Naval Academy in the fall of 1972 where he taught Geology, Geophysics, Oceanography and Chemistry for three years. He reported aboard the USS FRESNO as Executive Officer in October 1975. LCDR KING ' S decorations include the Secretary of the Navy Achievement Medal, Navy Unit Commendation (two awards). Republic of Vietnam Meritorious Unit Citation, Vietnam Service Medal, with three campaign stars, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal. LCDR KING is married to the former Mikell Tidd of Ukiah, California. They have two daughters and presently reside at Scripps Ranch in San Diego.

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Engmering Department LCDR R.J. Lubenow, Chief Engineer CW04 R.B, Armstrong, Main Propulsion Assistant LTJG P. Smith, Damage Control Assistant t. '