Hancock (CVA 19) - Naval Cruise Book

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CAPTAIN FRANK B. STONE, U.S. NAVY Commanding Officer, December 1964- December 1965 Captain Stone graduated from Ursinus College at Collegeville, Pennsylvania in 1937 with a Bachelor of Science Degree. He attended post-graduate lschool at Ohio State University at Columbus, Ohio in June 1951 and received his IVlaster's Degree in Public Administration. He attended Naval War College in 1958. During his Navy career, Captain Stone's assignments included Flight Instructor at both NAS Pensacola and NAS Jacksonville, Florida, Landing Signal Officer on board USS Princeton CCVL- 23D and USS Randolph CCV-153 and for Carrier Air Groups Eighty-One and Eighty-Seven, Enlisted Personnel Officer, NAS Jacksonville, Florida, Executive Officer, Attack Squadron Ninety-Four, Commanding Officer, Attack Squadron Eighty-Five, BUPERS Enlisted Schools Assignment Officer, Air Operations Officer, Carrier Division Two, Commanding Officer, Chemung CAO-305. Under his command the Chemung won the Battle Efficiency E Award for 1964. Captain Stone's awards include the Legion of lVlerit, which he won for his service as Com- manding Officer, USS Hancock and Commander Task Group 77.7 during Hancock's operations against North Vietnam from February to Nlay 1965. After being relieved as Commanding Officer, USS Hancock, Captain Stone returned to his old Staff, Carrier Division Two, for duty as Chief of Staff on board the new attack aircraft carrier, USS America CCVA-663 which is currently on tour in the Mediterranean Sea. 10 1

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CAPTAIN JAMES C. DONALDSON, JR., U.S. NAVY Commanding Officer Captain James C. Donaldson, Jr. was born in Bessemer, Alabama on 11 December 1921. He entered the U.S. Naval Academy in 1939 and was graduated in 1942. His first fleet assign- ment was aboard the battleship Iowa, participating in the Marshall Islands Operation, Truk and Marianas Raids, and the Hollandia and Marianas Campaigns. ln January 1945, he was designated a Naval Aviator. His next duty assignment was with Bomb- ing Squadron Five as Executive Officer. From August 1947 until June 1948 he served on the Staff, Commander Fleet Air West Coast, as Flag Lieutenant and Aide. From July 1948 until August 1950, he served in Night Fighter Squadron One. ln April 1951, Captain Donaldson reported to to NOTS, lnyokern, China Lake, California, where he was Project Officer and where he flew as a Project Pilot for the development of Heavy Attack Bomb Director. Following his tour of duty at China Lake he attended the Command and Staff Course at the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island. Returning to sea, Captain Donaldson was Executive Officer of All-Weather Fighter Squadron Seventy-One for 17 months, and Commanding Officer for an additional 14 months. From Sept- ember 1956 until October 1958, he served as Aide to the Vice Chief of Naval Operations. From November 1958 until October 1960, he commanded Carrier Air Group One. He was then transferred to the Staff, Naval Air Force, Atlantic Fleet, where he served as Attack Carrier Air Group Training Officer from October 1960 to July 1962. ln June 1963, Captain Donaldson was a student at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. He served as Operations Officer on the Staff, Commander Carrier Division Four from June 1963 until July 1964, and he took the helm as Commanding Officer of the USS Hermitage CLSD-345 in August 1964. Under his com- mand, Hermitage won the Battle Efficiency E Award for 1965. He was detached from Hermitage in October 1965 and in December of that year Captain Donaldson assumed his duties as Commanding Officer of the USS Hancock CCVA-193.

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COMMANDER JOHN J. GALLAGHER, U.S. NAVY Executive Officer Born 19 April 1921 in Lansford, Pennsylvania, Commander Gallagher graduated from St. Ann's High School in Lansford and enlisted in the Navy as an Aviation Cadet in November 1942. He completed flight training and was commissioned Ensign in December 1944. After serving with Fighter-Bomber Squadrons Ninety-Eight and One Hundred, he reported aboard the USS Boxer where he flew with Fighter-Bomber Squadron Ninety-Three until April 1946. Until 1948, Commander Gallagher attended the University of Pennsylvania under the five-term program, majoring in Political Science. He joined Attack Squadron One Hundred Seventy-Four as Ordnance Officer that year, and during the following two years, the squadron operated from the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt, USS Nlidway, USS Leyte and the USS Coral Sea in the North Atlantic, Caribbean and Panama areas. After a tour as Flight Instructor and a two-year tour as Assistant Operations Officer on the Staff of the Commander of the U.N. Blockading and Escort Force in Korean waters, Commander Gallagher attended the General Line School and was later assigned to the Bureau of Aeronautics Office in Inglewood, California. ln 1956 he joined Attack Squadron One Hundred Five as Operations Officer for a year and a half and as Executive Officer for one year. The squadron deployed to the Mediterranean and the Western Pacific as part of Air Task Group Two Hundred One during that period. Commander Gallagher's next duties were as First Lieutenant aboard the USS Randolph from 1958 to 1960, after which he headed the Senior Officer Space and Astronautics Orientation Course at the U.S. Naval Missile Center, Pt. lVlugu, California, until 1963. Following a year at the U.S. Naval War College CNaval Warfareb, Commander Gallagher reported aboard as Weapons Officer of Hancock in July 1964. In February of this year he assumed duty as Executive Officer.