Hamner (DD 718) - Naval Cruise Book

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N- i FIRE CONTROL TECHNICIANS- Front Row: HOVER, O. A., BALDWIN, CROWDERQ Back FT 4, --T Row: RAMSEY, STEWART, C. E., MAIENKNECHT, KAIN, JOHNSON, C. N., ENS CAMERON. Hardly anybody had ever beard of a Fire Control Technician in the Fleet twenty years ago or dreamed of their forthcoming widespread use. However, with the advent of fast moving, highly maneuverable aircraft and the necessity of firing at surface or land targets obscured from vision by fog, haze or darkness, control of gun laying passed, for the most part, to us FTs manning gun directors and plotting rooms equipped with automatic or semi-automatic tracking equipment. This equipment, housing numerous electronic and mechanical computers, leads the aim of the guns ahead of the target enough to compensate for the relative motion between the HAMNER and its target, the target's elevation, the projectile trajectory, the propelling force of the powder and the amount of gun barrel erosion caused by past firings and will keep the guns pointed at the correct position in space despite the perpetual rolling and pitching of the ship. Highly skilled, electronically inclined men such as we are vital in operating and maintaining the complicated radars, consoles, computers, stable elements, servo-mechanism, ampli- dynes, etc., any of which can develop a casualty at the most inoppor- tune time to disrupt an otherwise perfect target acquisition and gun laying solution. On the first indication of such a casualty with the ship at General Quarters, we have to determine immediately which compo- nent the casualty is in, open it up, locate the faulty parts among the maze of wires, tubes, resistors and capacitors, race to the tube or spare parts locker for the replacement, install the part and check the equipment for proper operation, all in a manner of minutes. To be able to do this takes many hours of on the job training probing through the various components to become familiar with each part, its function and FIRE CONTRO I-E ff if 625-I Q XT!! ow qi? ff? ' fl ' I SEQ the possible resulting system or component casualty based upon its failure. Normally we run daily performance checks to detect improper operating levels or telling signs of forthcoming failures and make what- ever repairs or adjustments deemed necessary. For, whenever General Quarters is sounded, we will not accept anything but peak performance from the fire control systems so necessary to the accomplishment of the HAMNER's mission, whether it be striking for the E or an actual war engagement, , l TECHNICIANS

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K7 3 'N lg X l Q X fNN M o K SHGM J N N1 'x X X Ae THREE INCH GUNNERS' MATES-Front Row GIBBS IDDINGS MALTBIE, HUNSBURGER5 Back Row: LTJG GOTTSCHALK RENKEN BOWEN, WAGES, FLANAGAN. THREE INCH GUNNER'S MATES While gazing at those lumbering well sheltered five inch mounts, don't forget us up here in the open, fast slewing, rapid firing 3 f50 mounts. Maybe the bigger guns have more range, but during the last minute to few seconds before an attacking aircraft is overhead, the period that counts, our three inch guns can put out twice to three times as many rounds with as good or better accuracy to triple the HAMNER's short range fire power. ln maintaining our guns in top condition and striving for our E, we of the three inch gun gang have two big problems. The first problem is the constant infiltration of salt air and spray into every corner and barely accessible area of the mount, resulting in hundreds of rust spots, despite the canvas covers normally kept over the guns while at sea. The second is the relative delicateness of the loader mechanism, installed over the basic single fire guns to convert them to rapid fire antiaircraft weapons, in comparison to the loader of the simpler, shorter range and out dated 40mm guns which the 3 f50s replaced. Facing these problems squarely, rolling up shirt sleeves in warm weather and zipping up foul weather jackets during the cold, armed with a pot of red lead, another ot grey and a third of grease, dangling four or five wipe rags from dungaree pockets, as needed, and hiding for our use only wire and paint brushes borrowed from other sections of the ship, we repeatedly tackle our job to check the onrush of salt corrosion and repair the material casualties which threaten to leave our guns inoperative at the very time we will need them.

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I 'Qi fx Q dd- X so i bm - C J V SHE? cfffE,J! L-' 'X' FF f if-f-L E A ag C ff SDNARMEN Front Row GRIGGS HOVER A D HODGE EWU? ,A Back Row:-wnno, T. 'M., REEVES, ENS. DAMERONZ Closing the WILTSIE with a relative speed of over fifty knots on a SONARMEN Except for occasional maintenance to the hedge hog projectors and the depth charge racks, we sonarmen have little affinity for the fresh ocean breeze topside. Our preference, quite naturally, is to remain within the confines of our kingdom, the sonar shack, where, in addition to our acoustic-electronic equipment by which submarine detection and attack is possible, we maintain an ample supply of magazines, books, candies, cookies, peanuts, etc., plenty of hot coffee, a mattress for off hours snoozing, various varieties of shoe shining materials, and, best of all, a unique amount of privacy from the bustling activity topside. During operations with the Seventh Fleet it is our beam to beam search sweeps by either echo ranging or hydrophone listening which provide the HAMNER with its first warning of impending actual or practice subma- rine attack, and, during the contact portions of these operations, the accurate use of additional depth determining and solution generating equipment makes a rapid succession of attacks not only possible but commonplace. Having operating knowledge of our equipments and being proficient in visual or audio differentiation between the peculiar traits of old wake, water inversion layers, schools of fish and the first telltale traces of a submarine compose only half of our job with the other involving maintenance of our equipments, whether for normal cleaning or for complicated rewiring. Having worked well as a team through many ASW exercises, we feel strongly that, regardless of how close the scrutiny or terse the comments across the conference tables, over foaming beer- steins at the club or wherever ASW maneuvers are discussed, the HAMNER's ASW reputation, thanks to us, will always remain amongst the best. clear hot tropical day, just -north of the equator, we torpedomen were offered the slim opportunity of staking out of HAMNER's first claim for an E during this competitive year. For the past few years, the results of our shoots had been sadly disappointing despite the countless hours spent carefully lubricating the torpedoes and tubes, chipping and paint- ing the mount and director, aligning the computers and aiming devices, testing out the propelling motors, recharging the compressed air and running through many practice dry runs. While we waited nervously on the mount and director, keeping the WILTSIE lined up in the sights and applying the proper range, and bearing corrections, the bridge suddenly made a radical maneuver to gain a better firing position, settled on a course and gave us permission to fire. The torpedo burst out in a cloud of compressed air, settled perfectly into the water and except for the wisp of air trailing on the surface well behind it, withdrew from our view. Long seconds passed while we waited, with crossed fingers, for the announced results. Hit, directly below my 422 stack was passed excitedly over the pri-tae. WE DID IT! WE DID IT! Finally, after years of famine, we've obtained our just reward. ' x NV' 4 ul C9 Q37 X I TORPEDOMEN-Front Row: MANN, C. A., DECOUD, DIEHLg Back Row: Q 9 BUSHART, ENS CAMERON, DUCHARME, GRAGEg Missing: KETTERINGHAM. me if