Lewis Puller (FFG 23) - Naval Cruise Book

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USS BOLSTER (ARS 38), the first of six ships of the AR5 38 class, was built by the Basalt Rock Shipbuilding Company, Inc. at Napa, California, and commissioned on 1 May 1945. Her primary missions are harbor and coastal salvage and long-distance open ocean towing. She is assigned a full complement of divers, and can support air diving operations to a depth of 190 feet of sea water using either MK 12 or the new MK 21 Surface Supported Diving Systems. She has an onboard recompression chamber for treatment of stricken divers and for conduct of surface decompression dives. BOLSTER carries a full package of portable salvage equipment, including high-capacity water pumps, generators, compressors, and underwater welding equipment. She also carries two 50- ton capacity hydraulic cable pullers and four specialized anchors to assist in refloating grounded vessels. Coupled with her installed deck equipment, all these items give BOLSTER enormous flexibility and the ability to accomplish a wide variety of heavy salvage tasks. Her 100,000-pound capacity automatic towing winch allows her to perform double duty as a towing vessel, and she is often called upon to transfer decommissioned Naval units to their final resting places. BOLSTER ' S long and illustrious carrer has included participation in campaigns during the Korean and Vietnam conflicts. In Vietnam, she operated in the vicinity of Da Nang, earning the Republic of Vietnam Meritorious Unit Citation. In December 1982, BOLSTER made diving history by conducting the first working dive of the MK. 12 mixed-gas (He02) rig while salvaging an F-4 aircraft in 210 feet of sea water outside Subic Bay, In June 1983, she transferred to the Naval Reserve Force and moved to Long Beach from her original home port of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Although her primary mission is now training of her Selected Reserve force, she has continued to support vital Third Fleet Operations by successfully completing well over 20,000 miles of open ocean towing since 1987, in addition to numerous salvage evolutions. Along the way she has earned both the COMNAVSURFPAC Self-Sufficient Ship Award and the CNO Surface Ship Safety Award for salvage vessels. 19

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BOLSTER ' S Year in Review January 1991 Long Beach - IMA (Maintenance) Security dives in support of ThreatCon Bravo February 1991 Long Beach - Dive Safety Survey San Diego - McCann Submarine Rescue Chamber operations Long Beach - MTT Phase III March 1991 Long Beach - Dive Safety Survey OPPE Preps OPPE - Clean sweep! San Diego - Support SEAL Team Submarine lock-in lock out operations April 1991 Palo Verde - search for sunken Coast Guard buoy Long Beach - R Avail (Maintenance) May 1991 Long Beach - INSURV UMI Dependent ' s Cruise San Pedro - recover sunken Coast Guard buoy June 1991 Seal Beach - ammo offload Long Beach - PMA (Maintenance) July 1991 Long Beach PMA August 1991 Long Beach - PMA Sea Trials Training and Readiness Evaluation (TRE) Ammo onload Transit to San Francisco deployment Visit San Francisco begin September 1991 Tow ex-SSN to Bremerton, WA Visit Bremerton Visit Vancouver Tow ex-John Paul Jones to San Francisco San Diego - REFTRA October 1991 San Diego - REFTRA Transit to Pearl Harbor Visit Pearl Harbor MIDPAC - Dive ops November 1991 Pearl Harbor - Salvage Training Diving Operational Readiness Assessment December 1991 Transit to Long Beach, end deployment Ship ' s Christmas Party Holiday post-deployment standdown 18

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Lieutenant Commander William T. D ' Amico United States Navy Commanding Officer Lieutenant Commander William T. D ' Amico is a 1977 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. Upon completion of Navy Diving and Salvage Training at the Washington Navy Yard, he was assigned to USS PIGEON (ASR 21) in San Diego, CA. Enroute he attended Saturation Dive Training at Submarine Development Group ONE. In May 1984 he was reassigned to the Navy Experimental Diving Unit (NEDU) in Panama City, FL as the Operations Training and Saturation Diving Officer. Upon completion of his tour at NEDU, he was assigned as Executive Officer of USS EDENTON (ATS 1) from September 1986 to February 1989 and as Executive Officer of USS OPPORTUNE (ARS 41) from July 1989 to June 1990. Both ships are homeport- ed in Little Creek, VA at the Naval Amphibious Base. He assumed command of BOLSTER in September 1990. Lieutenant Commander D ' Amico is a recent selectee for promotion to Commander. His personal decorations include the Navy Commendation Medal with two gold stars. Navy Achievement Medal with one gold star, National Defense Ribbo n and Sea Service Ribbon. He is married to the former Darlene Carter of Annapolis, MD. They have two children: Cara, 9 and Andrea, 7. 20