Hooper (DE 1026) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 7 text:

t Tfi.4 expected tour in W ■June 19C 4. During received her l ' iur1 h John W. Walden, I Western Pacifi including the addition of a helicopter flight deck and now electronic gear for detecting sub- marines. Again, Hooper trained as a the Ready Hunter Killer Group and departedfor the Western Pacific in October lUi ' ,2. Cpon returning to San Diego on I s June L963, H started a ret raining cycle in preparation forthe rPAC to ii 1 9 his training period, she ommanding i ifi icer, LCDH . i pi 11 returning from the :, the HOOPER began a period of rest, recreation, and local operations that continued until sheen! Long Beach Naval Shipyard in July 196 . During this period, LCDH C.E. Gurney 111, relieved l.CDR Walden as commanding of! It was also during this period that an enclosed bridge, DASH (Drono Anti-submarine Varfare Helicopter) and advanced eletronic counter var- fare measures gear was installed. After the yard period, HOOPER began an intensive train- ing period preparing for its sixth deployment to the Western Pacific. The HOOPER departed San Diego, California in January 19t ' . visiting Hong Kong and parts in Jan . I the Philippine- mcl Thailand and after seeing duty off the coast ui Vietnam, HOOPER reti to th ' in July l!)i -— Some o! the many ports that HOOPER has visited since commissioning include capulco, Pearl Harbor, Midway Island, Okinaw i, H;iv, Manila, ( ebu i iu fRepublic of the Philip- pines), Hong Kong, (iuam, the Japanese p i ' i Voko- ■ ' mi, Mat ?u am i and o ri tus Australian pi rts, Bang I liailand.

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HOOPER was built by the Bethlehem Pacific Coast Steel Corporation at San Francisco, Cali- fornia. The keel was laid on 4 January 1956; she was launched on 1 August 1957 and placed in commission on 18 March 1958 by her first com- manding officer, LCDR John K„ Leslie, USN. After a shakedown cruise and intensive shake- down training, designed to mold the ship and her crew into an efficient fighting unit of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, the Hooper departed for the West- ern Pacific in early November 1958. The ship returned to San Diego, in April 1959 and con- ducted local training operations until her depar- ture for a second tour of duty in the Far East in January 1960. It was during this period that LCDR T. J. Quarton, USN relieved LCDR Leslie as commanding officer. Upon returning to San Diego after her second WESTPAC cruise, she entered the National Steel and Ship Building Company Shipyard for her first major over- haul. During the next five months a unit com- mander ' s facility was added to the superstruc- ture to accommodate Commander, Escort Squad- ron THREE and his staff. Intensive training followed the yard period which enabled the HOOPER to reach the readiness level required of a member of the Ready Hunter Killer Group. This group consisting of an anti-submarine aircraft carrier and eight destroyer type ships, of which the HOOPER was part, departed for the Far East in March 1961. The HOOPER returned September 1961, a highly qualified anti- submarine vessel. Prior to her second major overhaul, LCDR Quarton turned over command of the HOOPER to LCDR J„ T. Wells, USN. In March 1962, the HOOPER returned to San Francisco for another major overhaul. During this period many significant changes were made

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CAPTAINS MESSAGE This is a book of people! As we read through it this year and next year, and the pictures start us reminiscing about these seven months, the deeds will get larger with every telling, the weather will become rougher or calmer than it really was, that division PO will look meaner or nicer than he ever was, the hours ashore or on watch much shorter than they actually were. But that is the joy in reminiscing. That is the reason for a cruise book. Each of us can add his own caption to each picture because we were there together. We saw the same things differently, from different points of view, and this book needs one of us to explain it. It is nothing by itself; it is quite dull unless each of us sits down and adds his own point of view as he leafs through the pages. So it is with a ship. A ship is people. No shipbuilder or navy yard can turn out a complete weapons system or ship. They provide the materials in certain form but it is the people, in careful combination, who make the ship. We were HOOPER during these past seven months and this is our book. C. E. GURNEY III