Moinester (FF 1097) - Naval Cruise Book

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ANGE OF COM ' THE PRESTIGE, PRIVILEGE AND THE BURDEN OF COMMAND Only a seaman realizes to what great extent an en- tire ship reflects the personality and ability of one in- dividual, her commanding officer. To a landsman this is not understandable and sometimes it is even difficult for us to understand. But it is so. A ship at sea isra distinct world in herself and in consideration of the protracted and distant operations of the fleet units, the Navy must place great power, responsibility and trust in the hands of those leaders chosen for command. In each ship there is one man who, in the hour of emergency or peril at sea, can turn to no other man. There is one who alone is ultimately responsible for the safe navigation, engineering performance, accurate gunfire, and morale of his ship. He is the Commanding Officer. He is the ship. This is the most difficult and demanding assign- ment in the Navy. There is not an instant during his tour as Commanding Officer that he can escape the grasp of command responsibility. His privileges in view of his obligations are almost ludicrously smallg never-the-less, Command is the spur which has given the Navy its great leaders. It is a duty which most richly deserves the highest. time-honored title of the seafaring world .... CAPTAIN. On June 23rd, while the ship was par- ticipating in Operation Fluid Drive, change of command ceremonies were held on board USS MOINESTER. CDR. STEWART, having served as both PCO and the ship's first CO, was relieved by LCDR ALEMIAN. .. gg- 9 I O 5 3 x

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UFFICERS Commander ALEMIAN received his com- mission through the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps, upon graduation from Tufts University in 1961. His first sea assignment was as a deck division officer on board USS THUBAN QAKA 191. He has also served tours of duty with the Bureau of Naval Personnel, the pre- commissioning crew of USS ST. LOUIS CLKA 1161, and as XO of USS VOGE CFF 10471 His most recent duty was with the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Surface Warfare Division. CDR. ALEMIAN is married to the former Jeannett Kalaydjian of Washington, D.C. and they ahve two children, Karine, age 6 and Gregory, age 3. His decorations include the Navy Achievement Medal with Gold Star, Vietnam Service Medal C3 starsj, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal fCubaJ and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal. Q ,. I :ffm 1 -' .f .fl 'A ' 'T l, 1 - Trials. F ' kg I ,iv V' Am, V , ' Ai E X , I il. L r ' f KI I r f x e lf f

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THE EXECUTIVE OFFICER LAMENTS EXECUTIVE OFFICER LCDR ROBERT L. HICKS, USN Lieutenant Commander HICKS was commissioned an Ensign upon graduation from the Naval Academy in June 1962. He was assigned to the USS BIGELOW CDD 9421 as Gunnery Officer for his first sea tour. Subsequently he served on board USS MEREDITY QDD 8901 as Weapons Officer, with COSURVFORXFLOT 10 in Vietnam, and the staff of COMCRUDESFLOT 12. He is a graduate of the Navy Post Graduate School and came to MOINESTER from duty as an instructor at the Naval Academy. LCDR HICKS is married to the former Shelby Langford and they have three sons, Ragan, Steven and Kevin. His decorations include the Vietnamese Campaign Medal with 3 stars and the Vietnamese Service Medal. AS NEARLY EVERYONE knows, the Executive Of- ficer has practically nothing to do, except decide what is to be done, to tell everybody to do it, to listen to reasons why it should not be done, why it should be done by somebody else, or why it should be done in a different way, to follow up to see if the thing has been done, to discover that it has not, to enquire why, to listen to excuses from the person who should have done it, to follow up again to see if the thing has been done, only to discover that it has been done incorrectly: to point out how it should have been done, to conclude that as long as it has been done it may as well be left where it is: to wonder if it is not time to disrate a per- son who cannot do a thing right, to reflect that he pro- bably has a wife and large family, and that any relief would be just as bad and proably worse: to consider how much simpler and better the thing would have bene done if one had done it oneself in the first place: to reflect sadly that one would have done it correctly in twenty minutes, and as things turned out it has taken two days to find out why it has taken three weeks for somebody to do it incorrecty. E94 ...w.Q,....l'i 'kwa MSEMPER FLEXIBILUS'