While crossing the Pacific, we were scheduled to pull into Pearl Harbor in Hawaii for a couple of days to show off our stuff to the
local brass. Despite the assurances of the yardbirds in San Diego that our ship was seaworthy, we had some major problems
just traveling enroute to Hawaii. We lost our #1 diesel engine, our #1 and #2 generators as well as the #1 emergency generator.
We lost both distillery's for our fresh water so that was rationed. Our steering gear drive went out on the second day and we had
to turn-to in the aftersteering room turning the handcrank for the two five-ton rudders. When the gear went out we suddenly
went into a sharp 90-degree turn and came close to colliding with the other ships in the division. Because of the lack of full
electrical power, our radar unit was out as well as our main radios. The only radios that we had to use were the small handsets.
When we reached Pearl, the yard sent out a small pilot tug, not realizing how heavy or big we were. The pilot came aboard and
the "tug" was attached to the ship by a line running from bow to bow. As we were pulling into pier "MIKE ONE" we began heading
towards a New Zealand destroyer moored aft of our spot and had to back down a bit. Unfortunately, the stress created on our
remaining engine caused the circuit breakers to kick in and shut down the engine, but not before we built up a speed of about
four knots astern. We were just pulling the "tug" along like it wasn't even there. We collided with the flagship of the Pacific Fleet
at about 0100 hours and the Admiral was aboard and he was awake when we hit. We hit the USS Providence CLG-6 at her port
side screwguard and knocked some men out of their racks, breaking one man's arm we were told. The screwguard hit on our
starboard quarter, puncturing a large hole into the steering room just above the waterline. When we realized that the ship was
going to hit, some of the men and myself grabbed one of the large rubber bumpers and held it in place by hand where we
thought the ships would connect. On impact, the biggest guy on the ship, Blankenship (we called him Tank), was ahead of me
on the line and he fell
backwards into me, knocking me down against a long pad-eye mounted on a vent. My back hurt like hell, but we still had to clear
the Providence and get the ship tied up. We tied up to the pier finally, I was on line four, and I asked permission to go to sickbay
to get my back looked at.. I went down and was chewed out by the corpsman, "Doc" Milford, for not coming down sooner. I had
an "L" shaped scar for awhile about 2"x2". Oh well...
Oh yeah, I forgot, "Tank" was ok....
We stayed in Pearl for a week and had a patch plate welded over the hole to get us to Japan. With the rest of our equipment
repaired we continued on, stopping at Midway Island to refuel and have a picnic and ballgame. It was funny watching the gooney
birds get hit by the batted or thrown balls. There was a law protecting them from being handled so if they built a nest on the
playing field they were just left there and life went on. It was illegal to handle them, but if you hit them incidental to the ballgame,
that was ok. Go figure... I went snorkling over a small coral growth in the lagoon. We then completed our trip to Yokosuka with no
further, major incidents, arriving to the watercannon display of a fireboat.
As my stepfather was on the ship, he was allowed to bring his wife and stepdaughter along (my mother and sister) as well as the
family car, a 1965 Mustang (fun!!!). At first we had a house out in Hayama Kokusai, a suburb of Yokosuka but, we later moved
to the Naval Housing Project in Yokohama. One day, on the way home, I decided that I needed a haircut and stopped in at the
Yokohama exchange barbershop. As I was sitting in the chair, a man came up and stood in front of me, staring at me quizzically.
I finally asked him if I could help him and he asked me where had I gone to bootcamp. As soon as he said that, I recognized him
as Skinner, one of the recruits that I had traveled from Virginia with. Ten thousand miles (plus or minus a couple) away from our
first meeting in Richmond, Virginia! (At this point, you can hum the tune of Disney's "It's a Small World")
local brass. Despite the assurances of the yardbirds in San Diego that our ship was seaworthy, we had some major problems
just traveling enroute to Hawaii. We lost our #1 diesel engine, our #1 and #2 generators as well as the #1 emergency generator.
We lost both distillery's for our fresh water so that was rationed. Our steering gear drive went out on the second day and we had
to turn-to in the aftersteering room turning the handcrank for the two five-ton rudders. When the gear went out we suddenly
went into a sharp 90-degree turn and came close to colliding with the other ships in the division. Because of the lack of full
electrical power, our radar unit was out as well as our main radios. The only radios that we had to use were the small handsets.
When we reached Pearl, the yard sent out a small pilot tug, not realizing how heavy or big we were. The pilot came aboard and
the "tug" was attached to the ship by a line running from bow to bow. As we were pulling into pier "MIKE ONE" we began heading
towards a New Zealand destroyer moored aft of our spot and had to back down a bit. Unfortunately, the stress created on our
remaining engine caused the circuit breakers to kick in and shut down the engine, but not before we built up a speed of about
four knots astern. We were just pulling the "tug" along like it wasn't even there. We collided with the flagship of the Pacific Fleet
at about 0100 hours and the Admiral was aboard and he was awake when we hit. We hit the USS Providence CLG-6 at her port
side screwguard and knocked some men out of their racks, breaking one man's arm we were told. The screwguard hit on our
starboard quarter, puncturing a large hole into the steering room just above the waterline. When we realized that the ship was
going to hit, some of the men and myself grabbed one of the large rubber bumpers and held it in place by hand where we
thought the ships would connect. On impact, the biggest guy on the ship, Blankenship (we called him Tank), was ahead of me
on the line and he fell
backwards into me, knocking me down against a long pad-eye mounted on a vent. My back hurt like hell, but we still had to clear
the Providence and get the ship tied up. We tied up to the pier finally, I was on line four, and I asked permission to go to sickbay
to get my back looked at.. I went down and was chewed out by the corpsman, "Doc" Milford, for not coming down sooner. I had
an "L" shaped scar for awhile about 2"x2". Oh well...
Oh yeah, I forgot, "Tank" was ok....
We stayed in Pearl for a week and had a patch plate welded over the hole to get us to Japan. With the rest of our equipment
repaired we continued on, stopping at Midway Island to refuel and have a picnic and ballgame. It was funny watching the gooney
birds get hit by the batted or thrown balls. There was a law protecting them from being handled so if they built a nest on the
playing field they were just left there and life went on. It was illegal to handle them, but if you hit them incidental to the ballgame,
that was ok. Go figure... I went snorkling over a small coral growth in the lagoon. We then completed our trip to Yokosuka with no
further, major incidents, arriving to the watercannon display of a fireboat.
As my stepfather was on the ship, he was allowed to bring his wife and stepdaughter along (my mother and sister) as well as the
family car, a 1965 Mustang (fun!!!). At first we had a house out in Hayama Kokusai, a suburb of Yokosuka but, we later moved
to the Naval Housing Project in Yokohama. One day, on the way home, I decided that I needed a haircut and stopped in at the
Yokohama exchange barbershop. As I was sitting in the chair, a man came up and stood in front of me, staring at me quizzically.
I finally asked him if I could help him and he asked me where had I gone to bootcamp. As soon as he said that, I recognized him
as Skinner, one of the recruits that I had traveled from Virginia with. Ten thousand miles (plus or minus a couple) away from our
first meeting in Richmond, Virginia! (At this point, you can hum the tune of Disney's "It's a Small World")
I enlisted in the U.S. Navy on September 23, 1964 in Portsmouth, Virginia. I was sworn in at Richmond, Virginia and was sent by
train with three other recruits to Great Lakes Recruit Training Command near Chicago, Illinois. I was accompanied by Seaman
Recruits Piner, Willis and Skinner. At the completion of my basic training with Company 460/1964, I was stationed at Great Lakes
Naval Training Command while awaiting an opening to GM"A" School. During this time I worked as a messcook twice as well as in
PWD and Special Services. I completed gunnery training in December, 1965 and proceeded to San Diego for two weeks leave
with my family. My orders were to report to Treasure Island, California to fly out to where ever the USS Ticonderoga CVA-14
happened to be.
While in San Diego, my stepfather, James L. Welch, SFM2 was aboard the USS Carronade IFS-1 while undergoing refitting from
the mothball reserve fleet there. I had been requesting duty aboard the Carronade prior to this, but to no avail. When the ship
went out on a three-day training exercise, I received permission to come aboard as supercargo. While undergoing gunnery
exercises off of San Clemente Island, I was in the 5" gun mount when I noticed that the recoil buffer plug at the side of the gun
was extended and shouted "SILENCE", which in the Navy means nobody moves or says anything until the person who shouted
the warning has explained the reason for it. With the plug extended, the 4,000 lb. slide could have been blown out of the rear of
the gun, possibly causing severe injuries to the men inside the mount. I don't know if this incident had anything to do with it, but
the next day my orders were changed via speedletter ordering me aboard the Carronade.
We finished the work on the ship and were sent on to our new homeport of Yokosuka, Japan. We were accompanied by the three
other ships in our little division, the USS White River LSMR-536, the St. Francis River LSMR-525 and the Clarion River
LSMR-409. Each ship was equipped with eight 5" twin-tube rocket launchers, one 5'38 caliber gun and the two twin-barreled
40mm guns as well as assorted .30 caliber and .50 caliber machine guns mounted around the ship at their captains descretion.
The biggest difference was that the other ships were converted LSM's and the Carronade was built from the keel up as a rocket
launcher vessel for action in Korea which she missed.
train with three other recruits to Great Lakes Recruit Training Command near Chicago, Illinois. I was accompanied by Seaman
Recruits Piner, Willis and Skinner. At the completion of my basic training with Company 460/1964, I was stationed at Great Lakes
Naval Training Command while awaiting an opening to GM"A" School. During this time I worked as a messcook twice as well as in
PWD and Special Services. I completed gunnery training in December, 1965 and proceeded to San Diego for two weeks leave
with my family. My orders were to report to Treasure Island, California to fly out to where ever the USS Ticonderoga CVA-14
happened to be.
While in San Diego, my stepfather, James L. Welch, SFM2 was aboard the USS Carronade IFS-1 while undergoing refitting from
the mothball reserve fleet there. I had been requesting duty aboard the Carronade prior to this, but to no avail. When the ship
went out on a three-day training exercise, I received permission to come aboard as supercargo. While undergoing gunnery
exercises off of San Clemente Island, I was in the 5" gun mount when I noticed that the recoil buffer plug at the side of the gun
was extended and shouted "SILENCE", which in the Navy means nobody moves or says anything until the person who shouted
the warning has explained the reason for it. With the plug extended, the 4,000 lb. slide could have been blown out of the rear of
the gun, possibly causing severe injuries to the men inside the mount. I don't know if this incident had anything to do with it, but
the next day my orders were changed via speedletter ordering me aboard the Carronade.
We finished the work on the ship and were sent on to our new homeport of Yokosuka, Japan. We were accompanied by the three
other ships in our little division, the USS White River LSMR-536, the St. Francis River LSMR-525 and the Clarion River
LSMR-409. Each ship was equipped with eight 5" twin-tube rocket launchers, one 5'38 caliber gun and the two twin-barreled
40mm guns as well as assorted .30 caliber and .50 caliber machine guns mounted around the ship at their captains descretion.
The biggest difference was that the other ships were converted LSM's and the Carronade was built from the keel up as a rocket
launcher vessel for action in Korea which she missed.
"Inshore Fire Support Division Ninety-Three, consisting of USS Carronade (IFS 1), Clarion River (LSMR 409), St.
Francis River (LSMR 525), and White River (LSMR 536)-----Awarded the NUC for exceptionally meritorious service in
support of friendly forces during combat operations from April 1966 to May 1967. The team's fire support action
against the enemy was unsurpassed for a relatively small unit.
For a report on this Navy team of ships, see the March 1968 issue of All Hands Magazine, page 18."
Info and Sea Stories From the Carronade
Article appeared in the May 1968 issue of "All Hands" magazine, page 9, with an accompanying photo of the St. Francis River.
Page 2
USS Arizona Memorial
Inside the Memorial looking out at the
remains of the ship
remains of the ship
Parts of the USS Arizona still above
water
water
Navy Unit Commendation