Stribling (DD 867) - Naval Cruise Book

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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

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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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On 29 September STRIBLING celebrated twenty-five continued years of commissioned service after coming down the ways in Staten Island, New York. lt was a celebration marked with messages from several high officials including the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Elmo R. ZUMWALT. STRIBLING continued her Eastern Mediter- . . , H ronean operations of patrol and rescue S I I 'fd destroyer until the night of 22 October when . . the watchword of all destroyers was heard on G the bridge: SONAR CONTACT . What fol- lowed was almost two days of evaluation, re-evaluation and most of all, waiting. Several times bits of evidence proved encouraging, but it was not until the night of the second day that our contact fully manifested itself. Shortly before 2000 the contact started to increase speed, and ultimately STRIBLING was involved in a high speed chase with speeds in excess of twenty-five knots. The submarine was definite- ly nuclear and STRIBLING had achieved the feat of holding it down for almost 48 hours! .QQ The month of November was filled with plane guard duties for the USS INDEPENDENCE lCVA-621 and port 'visits to Taranto and Naples, Italy, for a tender availability with the USS GRAND CANYON IAD-281. On 1 December it was underway for ASW operations in the area belwfef' SW , and Sardinia- 0Pe'0'l0n0' the usssnusunc mo-san underway on me comer florida. experiments with sonar Convergence Zone became the order of the day. STRlBLlNG's ASW team demonstrated such an outstanding proficiency and facility in Convergence Zone employment that Squadron Commodore, Captain Edward G. KELLEY, stated STRIBLING was SUPERB and conspiciously superior to all other units participating in the Convergence Zone operations. Additionally, on 5 December STRIBLING demonstrated firing an exercise ASROC for the French News Agency PATHET. This test firing was part of a multi-unit ASW demonstration involving ASW helos and surface ships. The devised scenario concluded reasonably well with all units getting off exercise shots for the cameras of the French press. Subsequently, STRIBLING proceeded to Barcelona, Spain for a port visit and then it was on to a new assignment with Task Force 61, the Amphibious arm of the Sixth Fleet. STRIBLING participated in a practice assault on Scuda Bay, Sardinia, performing the tasks of ASW screen ship and gun fire support. During this period STRIBLING also became involved in an evaluation of the utility of high speed PG craft in the Mediterranean. PG's DEFIANCE and SURPRISE assumed the role of high speed raiders on the task unit. Conversely, STRIBLING assumed this role with DEFIANCE and SURPRISE protecting the amphibious task force. It soon became evident the STRlBLlNG's superior radar and ECM tracking capabilities severely curtailed the PG's speed advantage. Following operations with Task 61, STRIBLING reioined the carrier INDEPENDENCE for transit to the Christmas ports of the French Riviera. STRIBLING was to spend Christmas and New Years in the port of Golfe Juan. The presence of a U.S. Navy task force spread out in various ports along the Riviera was reminiscence of days when relations with France were considerably more amiable. STRIBLING began 1971 enioying the holiday season at anchorage at Golfe Juan, on the French Riviera. The ship got underway 6 January for three weeks of operations with the amphibious Task Group. On 1 1 January the ship anchored in Aranci Bay, Sardinia, for a two week training anchorage. During the anchorage, ioint exercises and drills were conducted with amphibious units, and STRlBLlNG's landing party participated directly with Marine Units in squad and field tactics. On 23 January the ship, along with the amphibious units, got underway for a port visit in Mersin, Turkey. During the transit STRIBLING was once again doing her familiar iob of acting as a screen against submaries. On 29 January the ship moored in Mersin for a short visit and got underway again on 1 February for a two day transit to Athens, Greece. The ship's five days in Athens were busy. Besides the many tours available and all the historic sights to see, this was the ship's last port visit before an underway period of three weeks and the return transit to Mayport. All hands put forth great effort in preparing the ship for the trip home. STRIBLING got underway on 8 February and participated in National Week exercises from 10 - 18 February. On 21 February STRIBLING passed through the Straits of Gibraltar and steamed for home. STRIBLING crossed the Atlantic and arrived in Mayport on 1 March 1971 to commence a brief stand down period before entering Charleston Naval Shipyard on 27 April for a regular overhaul which lasted a little over four months. Her overhaul complete, STRIBLING departed Charleston on 5 September to transit to Mayport for a brief stay before leaving for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for modified refresher training. On 24 September, Commander Rollin L. BAUCHSPIES, Jr. relieved Commander Bruce A. BAUER andnassumed command of STRIBLING. STRIBLING arrived in GlTMO on 4 October. After extensive training, which included numerous engineering and damage control drills and gun