Stribling (DD 867) - Naval Cruise Book

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1968 found STRIBLING celebrating her 23rd year of service, still one of the steamingest ships in the fleet. Following the holiday leave and upkeep period STRIBLING sailed from Mayport on 7 January for Charleston and a yard overhaul in the Naval Shipyard there. STRIBLINO remained in the. yards, where crew and yard workers labored to overhaul her engineering, weapons and electronic systems and to refurbish her living spaces, until 6 July. After STRIBLING thoroughly checked all systems she returned to homeport for 3 weeks. On 26 July sea detail was set and STRIBLING set her cours f GTMO I i . i e or to receive 6 weeks refresher training. The hours were long and hard but the high state of training accomplished at the end was well worth the effort. Following GTMO, STRIBLING steamed down to Culebra to qualify in gun-fire support, engoying a short but pleasant and unexpected stay in San Juan for 2 days. Returning to Mayport for a short stay with families and friends STRIBLING left again on 4 October to provide services as Destroyer School Ship in Norfolk and Newport. Completing her assigned tasks with many compliments she returned to Mayport on 21 October. October 28 found STRIBLING south to provide service a S S h I h fog of Newport. s s onar c oo S ip in Key West, the warm sunny weather a welcome relief from the cold Returning on 14 November 1968 STRIBLING moored alongside USS YELLOWSTONE CAD-273 and commenced her pre-overseas movement tender availability. The crew enioyed the period of holiday leave and liberty while working at preparing for an 8 month deployment in January 1969. As STRIBLING moved into her 24th year of continuous service in 1969, her crew was grooming her for a grueling 8 month deployment to Southeast Asia. lt had been nearly two decades since STRlBLlNG's last visit to this part of the globe during the Korean War in the 1950's. ln 1969 STRlBLlNG's guns and crew were being called upon to aid in the Free World's efforts in the Vietnamese conflict. STRIBLING departed Mayport 30 January 1969 for the 10,000 mile iourney to the waters off Vietnam in company with DESDIV 142 which included the destroyers NOA and MEREDITH. During the transit to the Panama Canal, the destroyer LEARY from Norfolk would also ioin forces. The transit included passage through the historic Panama Canal, a Brief stopover in San Diego for PACFleet briefings, a somewhat stormy passage to Hawaii and then it was on to Yokosuka, Japan and operations with the Seventh Fleet. . 4 5 '9'I3,.... .1 x gf5tw ,IW iff, W A Qfi- .L-4 1 'X ' s 1, ' 5 -s ,-' 5' - , L X. 1' Q ,A-,.. is v., 1 A LF, e 1 , , 'AQ i f- .rf W?-mi I A - L nf. Tm - - N rtll Atlantic Ocean . . . The Destroyer USS STRIBLING, DD-867, center background, operates near the heavy cruiser USS NEWPORT NEWS, CA 148, during the o Atlantic Treaty Organization Exercise Northern Merger .

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December the final sea detail ofthe year was set on board STRIBLING as she entered Mayport for a holiday leave and upkeep. She had logged 200 days away from homeport in 1966. d d ' 1967 and the entire year was a busy and productive one as have been all the 21 earlier years USS STRIBLING celebrated her 22nd birth ay urmg . n . ' i of her service. The year was highlighted by two important events. The first was the witness of a successful missile firing off Cape Kennedy, Florida, The second was completion of a highly successful and active Mediterranean deployment of over five months. During February and March of 1967 STRIBLING served as test ship for several SSBN's completing their operational qualifications. Upon her ' ' d l t nic ear was installed for use in the nuclear submarine qualification tests and arrival at Cape Kennedy, over thirty tons of sophustlcate e ec ro g n . I 0 . checkout. Each day the ship would put out to sea in company with her Polaris carrying submarine and go through extensive exercises and tests all ' f I f' in of a Polaris missile down the Atlantic Test Range. On the day of the firing numerous guests were aimed at the ultimate event, a success u ir g . . . aboard including Commander R. E. HENRY of the Royal Navy, the man chosen to serve as Commanding Officer of the first four British submarines that will carry the Polaris missile and therefore markedly increase the free world nuclear capability. The firing went off without a hitch and the entire STRIBLING crew of Officers and man were commended for their timely and outstanding efforts. Once again the destroyer had proven her versatility and shown the many talents of her crew. The long hard but successful Mediterranean deployment found STRIBLING serving in the environment for which she is most suited, extended d I tin a forei n sea exercising her defensive and offensive muscles with sister ships ofthe squadron, the SIXTH Fleet, and various air and sea ep oymen g units of our NATO allies The Mediterranean deployment was both marred and highlighted by one event, a serious casualty to number four boiler. Though the casualty removed STRIBLING from the active line for thirty days, it was because ofthe superior efforts of her Engineering personnel that her disability was so quickly repaired. The entire generating bank of the boiler was replaced at Malta Drydocks and the ship was back at sea less than one month after the casualty occurred. Her main propulsion plant back in commission, STRIBLING steamed out of Malta in mid-October and once again assumed her role in the Mediterranean activities. Ports of call included Mytilens, Greece, Soudha Bay, Crete, Piraeus, Greece, Diano Marino, ltaly - which proved to be one of the cruise highlights - Taranto, Italy, Valletta, Malta, Alicante, Spain, and finally Lisbon, Portugal. December and the Christmas Season found her heading once again west, toward home and a long awaited holiday reunion with family and loved ones in homeport. I What STRIBLING met on 3 December was not a human enemy but the natural enemy that has plagued men since there have been ships in which to soul - heavy weather. The wind and sea began to build up and by 4 December the ships were fighting for their lives. Seas of thirty feet, whipped by winds of 50 to 60 knots, dealt crushing blows to the ships. Formation course was altered to insure that damage was kept to a minimum. On 5 December the storm abated andthe group again headed directly for home. On 6 December the last sea detail for 1967 was secured and the ship moored securely in a nest of destroyers at Mayport. The deployment was ended and the crew settled back to enioy holiday leave and upkeep period. 31 December found STRIBLING gaily lighted and a second place winner in the Christmas Lighting Contest. . f I' E ChmaSea.. .C tain Thomas! Fortson Commandin Offic f lr swan ,,, mm n. cum: as ne. ' r, rd -' . , 9 0 ' CFM' Cemlwt Support Ship uss sAcnm:nro Mar-11 ,mn swmry of th' mves a on the ship by hugh line from the Destroyer USS STRIBLING IDD-8571 ..fql'S y.

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After a stay in'Yokosuka which included final repairs and preparations, the STRIBLING steamed southward loaded with ammunition and displaying her new installation of 50 caliber machine guns, On the morning of 21 March 1969 STRIBLING was on station ready for call for fire in support of shore operations a few miles north of Da Nang, South Vietnam. lt was here that she fired her first round in support of U.S. forces: an event now commemorated on board by a plaque which incorporates the actual shell casing used. With this gunline effort STRIBLING was in support of the 101st Airborne Division, but she would subsequently support South Korean Marines, ,L 1 various units of the Army and, of course, the United States Marines. . 32' ' .2 Duties following the gunline included Search and Rescue operations lSARl and on station Positive Radar Advisory Zone lPlRAZl activities which often brought STRIBLING to within 25 miles of the hostile capital city of Hanoi. ln their activities STRIBLING acted as shotgun destroyer for larger ships equipped with more sophisticated Secretary of the Navy John ll. CIIAFEE shakes hands with a crewman aboard the Destroyer USS radar and fqrgef degignqtign Systems, STRIBLING IDD-8671. During the month of May, the Secretary of the Navy, John CHAFEE, was hightened to the STRIBLING for the first-hand experience of a destroyer an station in the Combat Zone . May, June and July involved plane guard duties with several carriers on Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin. Well-deserved liberty in Kao Hsiung, Free China, Subic Bay, Philippines, and Hong Kong was enioyed by the crew during this and previous periods of on station activity. During the latter part of June STRIBLING left the Combat Zone for several weeks to provide plane guard services for the carrier Kitty Hawk which was involved in activities in the vicinity of Korea. This transit north provided an unexpected but greatly needed 10 day upkeep period in Sasebo, Japan. July, the last full month of activity in the Combat Zone was filled by plane guard duties and a short return to the gunline in support of an Amphibious landing on the Batagan Peninsula south of Da Nang. STRIBLING left the Combat Zone 2 August for the long trek home. The homeward passage included a semi-diplomatic visit to Kure, Japan l20 miles south of Hiroshimal on 6 August - the 24th anniversary of the Atomic bombing of Hiroshima. STRIBLING was graciously received as the first visit by a U.S. Navy vessel in almost five years. Departing Kure, STRIBLING retraced her steps homeward making stops in the now familiar ports of Yokosuka, Midway, Hawaii, San Diego and Panama. A brief R 8. R stop in Acapulco, Mexico was also experienced. STRIBLING returned to her homeport on 17 September 1969 for a period of leave and upkeep. STRlBLING's activities while on deployment had resulted in numerous accolades including a Seventh Fleet Letter of Commendation for STRlBLING's diligent efforts on the gunline, SAR, PIRAZ and plane guard duties and her most creditable ability to meet every commitment. The latter part of 1969 included a test firing of an ASROC off Charleston, S.C. and operations with the nuclear submarine JOHN ADAMS for firing of a Polaris A-3 missile. STRIBLING remained in Modified CADRE until early June when she got underway for a modified refresher training in Guantanamo Bay. Returning to Mayport on 10 July after liberty stops at Montego Bay, Jamaica and San Juan, Puerto Rico, STRIBLING embarked on a concerted effort to ready herself for the forthcoming MED deployment. A final month inport and Ma art STRIBLING ' CO E h th 't of DESRON 14 depart for the MED on 27 August. yp Sow I wrrymg MD SRON 14' and T e 0 er Um S After a mid-Atlantic rendezvous with other units of the Second Fleet, STRIBLING completed an uneventful but engineering casualty-ridden crossing with tumover in Tongier, Morocco. After Tangier and a brief port visit in Valencia, Spain, STRIBLING stood o t t t ' ' ' USS SARATOGA KVA-60, in the western Mediterranean. u o sea o assume a familiar role of rescue destroyer with the During operations with the SARATOGA the ever-seething cauldron of Middle East olitics bo'l d ' Th' ' S ' f es were . . . . ' . , n P I e Over again. IS time yrlan orc fhfeufemng to 055151 l9f'l'W'n9 J0 d0f1'0n QUSFFIHOS In the OV9l'lhf0W of King Hussein's moderate regime The Sixth Fleet was immediately mobilized to Lrtglsgttglneaipziliseglrztlrlkgetgolcreloifnghzgaarli?eSy,ricl's1hould Uhitecgitagesrgrgtervention become warranted. This Eastern Mediterranean ready-zone was l . . muscen o 's Yankee Station and PIRAZ operations in WESTPAC Several times during ?l:gVla3i'320E'o'32E:lm?3a 15512-L:GfxC:T5 gil: ::,2T?E1lgig9 mobillzedISlxth Fleet as AAW picket ship. Three tense weeks were spent on station before n s o norma anta o ' . STRIBLIN ' ' retummg to the area south of Cyprus and Crete and operations of a mgrenggbscalated ngtirfgs than detached for G pon mn to Athens before