Lofberg (DD 759) - Naval Cruise Book

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11 JULY We entered D NANG HARBUR, embarked seven newsmen, and headed for a tar et. Lucas ln Viet Nam Little Destroyer ls Big Trouble For Holed-Up VC By JIM G. LUCAS Scriops-Howard Staff Writer OFF THE SOUTH VIET NAM COAST-The USS Lof- berg's five-inch guns-all six of them-spoke with one au- thoritative voice and the little destroyer shook violently. The voice of her aerial spotter over the radio also shook with excitement. EXCELLENT coverage! Navy Lt. Don Trimble of Seattle, shouted. Right on the money. The target, as Trimble des- cribed it, was a VC-plus area. Here, Dong Nhut Mountain comes down to the South China Sea. DONG NHUT IS honey- combed with Viet Cong caves and tunnels. It is an enemy storage area, a hiding place for troops, an infiltration route from the sea. From here, the Viet Cong regularly shell Phu Loc, a district town, and a Viet- namese naval junk base. Dong Nhut is difficult to reach from the ground and it is all but invulnerable t0 aerial bombardment. BUT ITS CAVES open out to the sea and the Lofberg's angry guns find them a good target. This, Trimble had said after an early reconnaissance flight, will take pinpoint ac- curacy. And pinpoint ac- curacy it got. CAVE AFTER CAVE was smashed. After one violent salvo, Trimble reported: That was a direct hit. One went right into the cave, dead center. INSIDE THE Lofberg's war room, Lt. Cj.g.D Hal Manicke of Whitefish, Mont., took Trimble's calls and translated them into firing data. Com- puters took over from there. Another salvo rocked the ship and another cave was smashed. Trimble then asked for direct fire. IN THE MAIN gun mount, Lt. Cj.g.D Bruce Foerster of Milwaukee, Sailor Leroy Har- lem of Cleveland, and Sailor Harry Hudson of Kenton, O., carefully edged their guns to bear on the target. This too, took pinpoint accuracy. The Lofberg's skipper, Cmdr. Bill Madill of Detroit, took her closer in, her guns smoking, for a final bombard- ment. Once again, all six tubes belched. The Lofberg was only a few hundred yards off shore. THROUGHOUT THE bom- bardment there had been no letup in the ship's daily rou- tine. In the office Chief Person- nelman Dan Wise of 3090 Kenlawn-st. Columbus, O., and Seaman Ralph Knieriem 22, of West Hyattsville, Md., worked over their records. DANNY PHILLIPS of 2072 Sale-rd. Columbus, and Ray- mond Frazier of Cleveland, both cooks, sweated in the galley. Targets at last were ex- hausted, and for the mo- ment-were quiet. NBC NEWS CAMERAMAN -f

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