O Brien (DD 725) - Naval Cruise Book

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Make all preparations for getting underway- Happier days: Standard on BOTH shafts 32 O00 gals of regular please U DER WA Y x ' Ei 6 Zz:-i E

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,,. 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 '

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L wp J' ff, 2 F 4 I 3 Submarine! This is a destroyer! PEARL HARBOR PT boat! Helo! Merchant Ship!