AD-44 USS Shenandoah (Destroyer Tender)
DE/FF-1092 USS TC Hart (Destroyer Escort / Fast Frigate) I believe it is still on duty with the Turkish Navy.
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Congrats to all of you for surviving. I was to be on the Forestal when it blew up off of Vietnam, but I met a Capt. in charge of the Memphis base hospital and he didn't believe in the Vietnam war when he found out where I was going, he hid me in the hospital until those orders were cancelled. I would have been where the guys that died were. AQF shop.
I happened to be in SE Asia in 2009, for you of those that never went back. Da Nang base is still there like a surplus whatever, but across the road, in both directions as far as the eye can see are Condos, casinos, golf courses and luxury resorts. Capitalism in Vietnam is rampant, it is amazing to see. I'm not sure how the government handles it, but if you want to open a business you need to find a Vietnamese partner.
Being ADD with authority issues, I wasn't worth a damn, but I did use my time wisely and made it out with an honourable discharge.
Thank you for your service, and for the story. Where did you serve, if not on the Forrestal?
The USS Forrestal is a storied, conventionally powered aircraft carrier that was the largest carrier built at that time. The fire in 1967 resulted from a shortage of modern munitions available for the intensive bombing runs, resulting in some old WWII munitions being brought out of storage and used aboard the carrier. The riveting story can be found here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_USS_Forrestal_fire
I was at Virginia Beach AQ84 , then 11 months on the Independence, Caribbean, and the Med. IMO the Forrestal was jinked. It had that incident (McCain was in the lead plane, 139 killed) repaired sent to the Med to replace the Roosevelt. Back then normal attrition of dead was 12 on a 9-month cruise. We lost our 12, all negligent over the 9 months. You also had so many fires, a major one every month, as we did. The Forrestal lost their 12 men in the 30 days going to the Med, and had major fires all of the time.
"As a naval aviator, McCain flew attack aircraft from carriers. During the Vietnam War, he narrowly escaped death in the 1967 Forrestal fire. On his twenty-third bombing mission in October 1967, he was shot down over Hanoi and badly injured. He subsequently endured five and a half years as a prisoner of war, including periods of torture. In 1968, he refused a North Vietnamese offer of early release, because it would have meant leaving before other prisoners who had been held longer. He was released in 1973 after the Paris Peace Accords."
One of the bitter ironies of war; to escape death on the Forrestal only to be shot down and captured and tortured for 5 years in a POW camp. Senator, I will miss your steady voice of reason and quiet strength on the national stage. If only you had chosen an equally credible running mate in 2008, the world might be a very better place today.
Thanks. I don't remember which ship but I do remember using Naval gunfire in support of a couple of missions we went on later. Damn those things were accurate. Gnat's eye at 10,000 yds. We had a Naval FAC attached to us. I don't know what he said but it worked.
Yes, we very rarely had to fire more than 1 or 2 rounds of Willy Peter before the land forces would ask us to "fire for effect".
Unfortunately, they happened to call fire down on their own CP somewhere off Da Nang and we hit it on the first shot. The inquiry as to what happened was the reason I was in that whaleboat in Da Nang harbor. We used to listen to the FAC as they directed fire. They had balls of brass sitting up there in their little fragile Birddog's.
One of my lawyers retired at 80, later that year they were celebrating the 60+th anniversary and the wife announced that they were getting a divorce, of course, everyone, especially their kids are going nuts. Then she said, that "she had promised for better or worse, NOT for lunch".
I go to a neighborhood barber shop owned by a Vietnamese woman and have had some very interesting conversations with her regarding the transition of Viet Nam after the war ended. She goes home once per year, usually around Christmas, to visit her extended family and has put together some photo albums of the country today. It is amazing!
When my buddies and I sat aboard my ship hurling shells toward the beaches I told them that if it weren't for the war this place would be an ideal resort area. That is exactly what has happened. Chu Lai and Nha Trang both are now covered in resorts and flower-lined streets with beautiful pink sand beaches. A cousin who was a helo pilot in the army visits Viet Nam frequently to scuba dive and has moved to the P.I. to be closer to Viet Nam.
I can't say the Vietnamese people are any more thrilled with their government than we Americans are with ours but they certainly have made a remarkable recovery.