George MacKenzie (DD 836) - Naval Cruise Book

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THE CRUISE Following six weeks of refresher training the MACKENZIE underwent a battery of inspections and participated in two major fleet exercises, Blue Coral and Royal Road. After a tender avail- ability for last-minute preparations the battle-ready ship and her crew departed Long Beach on 15 June and joined the USS ORISKANY (CVA34) at sea for the transit to Subic Bay, Philippine Islands. The MACKENZIE steamed at speeds in excess of thirty knots for twelve of the sixteen days of the transit. We made a one day stop at Pearl Harbor, and had a short look at Honolulu. The week of the Fourth was spent in Subic Bay: the nights were mostly spent in the Municipality of Olongapo. For the next thirty five days the MACK acted as plane guard destroyer for ORISKANY, participated in Operations Bear Chain, Kangaroo Kick, and Sea Dragon. Bear Chain and Kangaroo Kick involved amphibious landings near the Demilitarized Zone; Sea Dragon is de- signed to harass the North Vietnamese war effort and interdict the flow of logis- tics southward. Several times each day we moved in toward the beaches to deliver tons of ammunition, placing it accurately upon our assigned targets. Occasionally the enemy would return fire, but his aim never matched ours. On the morning of 29 July, the MACK noticed billowing smoke coming from the USS FORRESTAL (CVA59), some eight miles distant. After picking up several survivors from the water, Captain Sleeper maneuvered the ship to the starboard quarter of the burning flattop, sometimes as close as ten feet, in order to assist in in fighting fires near pyrotechnics lockers. The following message was re- ceived from Rear Admiral Harvey P. Lanham, Commander of Carrier Division Two: It was inspiring to observe the gallant performance of MACKENZIE during the fire in FORRESTAL on 29 Jul v. MACKENZIE came quickly along- side and by superb seamanship and at considerable risk main- tained a position close under FORRESTAL ' S quarter, with a maximum number of fire hoses being brought to bear. Your actions contributed significantly to the containment of the fire with resultant savings in lives and material damage. Please convey my personal admiration and gratitude to the officers and men of MACKENZIE. Official recognition will be sought. For the next three months the MACKENZIE acted as rescue destroyer for ORISKANY, returned to Sea Dragon, and visited Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Sasebo, Japan; and Hong Kong, B.C.C. On 6 November we joined the USS CONSTEL- LATION (CVA64) with which we re- mained until our return to Long Beach. During our WESTPAC deployment the MACKENZIE steamed a total of 44,527 miles, fired 70 tons of ammuni- tion, burned 3,107,395 gallons of fuel oil, and distilled and washed in or consumed 1,999,487 gallons of fresh water, while spending 130 days underway and 43 days in port. The crew ate 33,474 pounds of meat, 16,428 pounds of potatoes, 4250 dozen eggs, and drank 4801 gallons of milk and uncountable gallons of coffee. 15

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