Saint Paul (CA 73) - Naval Cruise Book

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.QQ . - K lufraducfivn In 1966 you of SAINT PAUL have had a proud tradition to uphold. It is a tradition that has been forged by the hundreds of outstanding sailors and their officers who have served in this famous ship in her long and illustrious history. Under the command of Captain Higgins, you brought the ship through a difficult overhaul and training period. You sailed her to Vietnam for the arduous and demand- ing gunfire role that awaited you . At the change of command ceremony, he remarked on your accomplishments and what lay ahead when he said, You have breathed new life into this ship's soul. When I view the achievements of the recent past, I am full of confidence for your future. . .for you are SAINT PAUL. Captain Higgins was justifiably proud of your record in Vietnam. As we complete our deployment, and return to our homes and families, you can feel a real sense of pride and achievement. For the first time in more than three years the SAINT PAUL returned to the Far East and the seas and some of the ports she knew so well. But this time she returned as a fighting ship with the unique distinction In 101 days on the gun line off Vietnam our ship fired a total of 941 gunfire support missions. She fired nearly 10, 000 rounds of 8 and 5 ammunition--9708 to be exact. To keep the guns firing you loaded over 1000 tons of ammunition--over 900 tons from ammunition ships via replenishment at sea. Many new names were added to the battle record of the Fighting Saint. Deckhouse IV, john Paul jones, Hastings, Emer- son, and Colorado were some of the operations where SAINT PAUL's 8 Voices of Freedom and her 5 batteries were heard from. The areas where these opera- tions took place had strange and unfamiliar names. Da Nang, Quang Ngai, Dong Ha, Quang Tri, Tuy Hoa, Qui Nhon and many others were new to our ship's experience. The names were unfamiliar but the mission was not. The SAINT PAUL left the gun line with a Well Done from the Commander Seventh Fleet and glowing trib- utes from the Marines and Army troops she had so abl su ported Y P - The naval gunfire support record achieved on this cruise was the result of hard work and complete dedication by every member of the ship's company. Truly this was an All Hands achievement. Only a final question remains. Did we keep faith with a great tradition or did a great ship decide to share her tradition with of being the only all-gun heavy cruiser in U57 the Pacific Fleet. Many wondered whether the VIETNAM 1966. Fighting Saint would be able 50 match the 3- superb naval gunfire support performance . - she provided to the troops ashore at the end of World War II and during the Korean War. Q Captain H , F, Fischer, jr., USN Let her guns speak for her. Commanding Officer

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9orew0rd A four month shipyard overhaul, five weeks of refresher training, an Admi11iSt1'H' tive Inspection, a dependent's cruise, and. a 5h1p'S party were all part of our preparation for deployment. As the eleventh of May approached, we became increasingly aware that this date portended a new page in the history of the SAINT PAUL. Our heavy cruiser, which had steamed over a million miles and fought in two wars in the twenty- one years since her commissioning, was going to a new combat zone . She had fired shore bombardment on the japanese island of Honshu, served as flag- ship for the Yangtze River Patrol Forces in China, patrolled the Formosa straits, pro- vided gunfire support near Wonson, Korea, fired support for the Hungnam evacuation, fired on Chongjin and Zongjin and Anchor Hill. She had rescued downed pilots, treat- ed wounded Korean troops, captured prison- ers of war, lost men in a tragic turret ex- , plosion, received fire from shore batteries, and fired the last naval round of both World War ll and the Korean conflict. In peacetime she had visited ports-- japan's Hiroshima, Yokohama, Beppu, and Nagasaki, Taiwan's Keelung and Kao-hsiung, Buckner Bay, Okinawa, Wellington, New Zea- land, lnchon, Korea, the Philippine's Manila, Cebu, and Zamboanga, lndonesia's Djakarta, Vietnam's Saigon, Malaya's Port Swettenham, and many, many more. As flagship of the Seventh Fleet and First Fleet her quarterdeck had greeted Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and john F. Kennedy, His Emminence Francis Cardinal Spellman, Republic of Vietnam's President Ngo Dinh Diem, Republic of China's Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, and many other famous personages She had been overhauled in Bremerton, Long Beach, Yokosuka and San Francisco, she had trained in Operations Beacon Hill, Big Shot, Golf-ball, Turk's Head, Blue Star, Silver Lance, and countless other Fleet exercises. And so, in l966 we prepared our Fight- ing Saint for yet another overseas deploy- ment and for another war. We were apprehensive, our ship not having fired a shot in anger since 27 july 1953, but as our guns pounded San Clemente Island with in- creasing accuracy, we became confident and eager to sail. The eleventh of May approach- ed rapidly. 1 il

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Slzgvyard Overhaul One hundred sixteen twenty-four hour working days in Long Beach were spent cutting and welding, chipping and sanding, removing and installing to accomplish the hundreds of jobs tackled during shipyard availability. Nine new 8 !55 gun barrels, a new communications deck house, freshly polished screws, and a represerved underwater body were but some of the products of the long hours of painstaking work by yard laborers, technicians, and ship's company. On 7 February 1966 SAINT PAUL completed her overhaul, and sailed with a new lease on life. IO I