O Brien (DD 725) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 12 text:

- . . f . --yf ff., , .13 I - 11:1 fipmm. W sw ...ff , , . . Q... S1 :YA wx 1 7 , M 4, Q x -4,5 gd.. up 4,1w'im - ' f ? ' - A- 1 V ' 'Li-NW 2 , ,f.--w Y 4 ,.' . M,-5' , '3'r0?,'1fgf5 41 . ,,,,, ,W-44. Q .Q .1 . W v A n.,,,.--V, f LJ. -1, i W, W xy'- fi., -: -., ,Q-u'f.,. Q 5315: 3.1 ..... A ,nw 4 Mm... ,gk ,,,,-f --R , as-M.. -Q Ja... '-Q M 4.-,N-A . -wa T .- ,,f1 'i.f ,-..'T-- . 'T - - - -, f - 31590- 1 .Q -fx - ' ' N-. --J f24!jvfr'L-.91-'g' 317' 15, .. V. WK, , '-9 -- .-1,-:A H, ...wg-w M.. f' T' ,455-'-rnmig , . ' ,--wr- up . , f--W-ggk-iv ' 'fwf-H ,:fm,'...L,:11 -f '. .,,p:,' I 'X' - ,kc .. N D .-3' , ,, - . T ,.-. '- -' .. Q ., -Q vi, 3, Haw, A f .-pm, J N'w.,..'.. ', - t -..-WL, , 1 , 5 A , ,f',:q-5-Q, 1, im -Hts? M K W,.:.f- ' .MX -45.17 lzyrif M 'Ng . .M , A 3, +2-5,332-A f Qg:..R'-..,...,.., J.-,,.5xs-sf-f- :' Zn.-Q if ik' ' -'im-...W WAC- -A H' 'ZR -- ...QM .-. - l ' , 'M , as. N I ' '.w-W. . ' yi' Mt ' K giqp ' .. fo- yu... N N X Q.. 'H-AW L , 4, , , x 1 , . 1 -34 . ,.f-- 1 ,fwr j. ,. -. '- W.. W --N N ' - v , I A -315 , Af Aggn .f . , i r::'- 'T , ., 1 -H ,M Y 'WWW'-A' ' ,w.-.- 5 ff' ..-f.,. ,...... ...M-I VN J .-5' M.4:f.s-.gxgw -' .-:.w ' f - A A -- 453: - fa--2..- ' A-' J'-' M ' HZ..,f.. '-' i ga:-f., .- , T M 'W 'V ' 'TA '.Qn.p.. M ff., .1 , - Q M' Y LTL W 's-- -. . ' ,. , ,, lk ' - ' . ..' 5 W' .1 - ,wqv-NF ,.,,,., , , -, M V. ' . - V J- J-J vb , ' Q ,. In nv .. ' 'n:,,-.ADV V g , , V 1, ' X ....,.,,, 17, 53 --F 7 - W 7 wk if ' Aww- - 'v-wx- xv N' N' 'g . 'X M - ' , ' f ' RT -,M-,,4 . fi: 'P -. YAI,-In A1 x A A :NL .. ,.N,,4,l,.... K K ...3., --q ' ' , .1 , . , fi if , ., . , '11 m y --31:2 s 5, fffxi- s X Ready now .X 2 I! In X Q ' Q V-M if 'Q N'Xf ' , V- . , :An- . I v f I -fl I Left-oveI'S

Page 11 text:

'i Q I E' i N 8 . A? w 'x 3 ntl -Q! The latest O'BRIEN joined the Fleet on 25 February 1944, She saw her first action while escorting landing craft at Omaha Beach on D-Day. Later at the bombardment of Cherbourg, she operated close inshore, protecting mine-sweeps and bombarding German shore batteries with her five inch guns. Behind her the battleship TEXAS was pouring sixteen inch projectiles into the same batteries, O'BRIEN's fire was so effective that German guns concentrated their fire on the destroyer rather than the battleship. It was only a matter of time before the little ship was hit. In spite of heavy damage on the after part of the bridge and the loss of thirteen men, she stayed on long enough to lay a protecting smoke- screen around TEXAS. Following repairs at Boston she was ordered to the Pacific. In Ormoc Bay, she was with the USS WARD when that ill fated ship was hit by suicide planes. Salvage crews from O'BRIEN desperately tried to save the WARDg the impossibility of salvage was shortly seen and WARD was sunk by O'BRIEN guns. Three years earlier O'BRIEN's Captain, W. W. OUTERBRIDGE, had had command of WARD when she had sunk a Japanese submarine off Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Then the ship went on to participate in the invasion of Mindoro and the pre-invasion bom- bardment of Lingayen Gulf. Here in January 1945, she was hit by a Zeke fsingle engine suicide planeb which left a gaping hole in her port side. Quick repairs were made, O'BRIEN headed north for the first raid on Tokyo. As an advance picket, she approached within ninety miles of the Japanese capital. Following these raids, the gallant destroyer headed south for the action at Iwo Jima. At Kerama Rhetto, off Okinawa, a Japanese suicide plane hit the ship just aft of the bridge, explodingamagazine. Twenty-eight men were killed, twenty-two missing and one hundred were injured. The ship re- turned to Mare Island for repairs. In July 1947, O'BRIEN was placed in the reserve fleet. At the outbreak of the Korean War, she was reactivated and placed under the command of CDR C, W, NIMITZ, Jr. In March 1951, she arrived in Korean waters as flagship of Destroyer Division 132, participating at the seige of Chongjin, the Battle of the Buzzsaw, and various bombardment missions along the Korean coast line. During these activities, both Radio Moscow and Radio Peiping reported O'BRIEN sunk by the North Korean Peoples Navy. 1961 brought an extensive overhaul through the Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization program. O'BRIEN became a member of Destroyer Division 232 in April 1963. y

Page 13 text:

,,. esfroyer 0'Brien Plays Havoc With Viet Cong to Help Aussies SAIGON, Vietnam - From the 7th Fleet destroyer 0'Brien comes an unusual report on the effective- ness of Naval gunfire. 0'Brien completed a successful 26-hour gunfire support mission near An Thinh airfield about 90 miles from Da Nang, which helped turn back a determined assault by hard core Viet Cong troops. O'Brien fired more than 48 tons of ammunition at an average rate of one round every 66 seconds. The defense perimeter was a tri- angle roughly 1500 yards on a side dominated by the 50-meter hill Nui Tho. The post is positioned midway between mountains and sea to control Highway 1', the rail- road, and the coastal plain. O O C O'BRlEN FIRED 209 rounds against Cong battalions deploying onto the coastal plain. Having ap- parently discouraged these battal- ions, O'Brien was called south to provide support to an Australian position under mortar attack. O'Brien proceeded and commenced ...A li firing from a range of eight miles. Viet Cong troops were launch- ing attacks against the perimeter fence from positions only 30 yards away. O'Brien commenced rapid salvo fire from her six 5- lnch guns, putting about 195 tons of high explosive per mln- ute on Cong reserves. Asked what effect O'Brien's fire was having, an Aussie spotter re- plied: Smashing, smashing. After the first broadsides, more selective probing fire was conduct- ed up to 100 yards from friendly troops. At one point the ground spotter snouted into his radio, You're on, you're on, shoot the hell out of them! At another point, he said, I've got Viet Cong hanging by their toes from my barbed wire. I'm going to put down the radio and pick up my rifle, they're getting awfully close. The determined defense sup- ported by the accurate naval gun- fire blunted the attack. And air spotter flew in to assist 14. in directing O'Brien's Ere. Short- ly after arriving he exclaimed: Holy Cow, one just went through my windshield . . . No Sweat. He cooly directed 0'Brien's fire at the offending machine gun. It was put out of action. Later, air support arrived and the destroyer Bache appeared to provide additional gunfire sup- port. The tide of battle was turned. 0'Brien's shells then probed for VC platoons retreat- ing. A spotter reported seeing about 12 Cong killed and 25 wounded by 0'Brien's guns. Harassing and interdiction fire was conducted throughout the night by O'Brien and the destroy- er Fletcher which arrived at night- fall to replace Bache. A ground spotter reported that 40 automatic weapons, three light machine guns, and one 57 mm and one 75 MM recollless rifles were found. He said those weapons were used only by the Hardcore Viet Cong. Navy Times '