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Carronade firing on a Nam target
Same as before
Another day, another shoot...
When you are 19 or 20 years old you usually don't think of your own mortality very much. You put yourself in harm's way and
don't think too much about it, at least not at the time. Whenever we had a rocket shoot on the Carronade I was usually in the 5"
gunmount sitting on the fusebox just inside the starboard hatch. This is when I was the gun captain. When we fired the rockets,
the 5" guncrew was on hand in case of return fire. When one of the rockets either misfired or fired off intermittantly (which
happened quite often), a crewman came up from below decks wearing an asbestos firesuit to clear the launcher or the deck.
When he had problems clearing it by himself the bridge would call down, "In the 5", bear a hand". As I was sitting in the
hatchway it was usually me that got the pleasure of helping out wearing my typical, tropical uniform of the day... t-shirt, cutoff
dungarees, socks, sandals and ballcap.
I would go over to the launcher and either push on the motor end of the rocket while reaching past the blastshield (by the way,
the flame from the rockets was about 1400 degrees farenheit so that shield was HOT!) or I would reach down inside the
launcher tube (again HOT!) and try to pull it out while the other guy pushed. If that didn't work, I would reach inside the tube and
unscrew the fuse from the warhead, exposing the explosive to the air, then screw on a plug with a padeye attached. I would then
attach a line to the plug and pull out the rocket that way. Remember, these were 5" diameter rockets and that was about the
size of my forearm, so I learned to control my flinches from touching the inside of the hot tube real quick. One of us would then
carry the rocket over to the rail and deep-six it. It got real interesting when the rocket motor fired off and on because it might
clear the launcher tube but not the ship. It would fall to the deck and start firing again, off and on, and careen around on the
deck ramming into other launchers, the gunmount and anything else that might be on the deck. This got real spectacular at
night, watching this live rocket roaming around the deck and beneath the gunmount. We were very thankful that the rockets
didn't build up enough rotation to arm themselves. I'm sure the other ships in the division had the same problem with their
rockets.
don't think too much about it, at least not at the time. Whenever we had a rocket shoot on the Carronade I was usually in the 5"
gunmount sitting on the fusebox just inside the starboard hatch. This is when I was the gun captain. When we fired the rockets,
the 5" guncrew was on hand in case of return fire. When one of the rockets either misfired or fired off intermittantly (which
happened quite often), a crewman came up from below decks wearing an asbestos firesuit to clear the launcher or the deck.
When he had problems clearing it by himself the bridge would call down, "In the 5", bear a hand". As I was sitting in the
hatchway it was usually me that got the pleasure of helping out wearing my typical, tropical uniform of the day... t-shirt, cutoff
dungarees, socks, sandals and ballcap.
I would go over to the launcher and either push on the motor end of the rocket while reaching past the blastshield (by the way,
the flame from the rockets was about 1400 degrees farenheit so that shield was HOT!) or I would reach down inside the
launcher tube (again HOT!) and try to pull it out while the other guy pushed. If that didn't work, I would reach inside the tube and
unscrew the fuse from the warhead, exposing the explosive to the air, then screw on a plug with a padeye attached. I would then
attach a line to the plug and pull out the rocket that way. Remember, these were 5" diameter rockets and that was about the
size of my forearm, so I learned to control my flinches from touching the inside of the hot tube real quick. One of us would then
carry the rocket over to the rail and deep-six it. It got real interesting when the rocket motor fired off and on because it might
clear the launcher tube but not the ship. It would fall to the deck and start firing again, off and on, and careen around on the
deck ramming into other launchers, the gunmount and anything else that might be on the deck. This got real spectacular at
night, watching this live rocket roaming around the deck and beneath the gunmount. We were very thankful that the rockets
didn't build up enough rotation to arm themselves. I'm sure the other ships in the division had the same problem with their
rockets.
Nighttime rocket shoot near Da Nang
On another occasion, we were conducting a night "H and I" fire mission with the 5" gun and using flashless powder which
emits a lot of smoke and helps hide the muzzle flash when we fired. This one time the gun did not fire off with its usual "bamn"
but, a kind of "bamn/crack" and the inside of the mount was immediately filled with heavy smoke. I was in the pointers seat at
the time and even with the sound-powered phones on it hurt my ears. I couldn't breathe and made my way to the open hatch
and at first just stuck my head out to get some clear air. I then got out onto the main deck with the rest of the guncrew.
Meanwhile, down in the handlng room beneath the gunmount, they had heard the "bamn/crack" and all of a sudden smoke
came pouring down the ammo scuttles. They called up into the mount but got no answer and even used the phones but, we
were so deafened, we couldn't hear anything. People were yelling down from the bridge after being notified by the handling
room of the problem. No one knew if we had all been killed or what.. Finally, someone from the forward 40mm gunmount
looked over the edge of the gun tub and could see us there on the deck. The damage control party was already on its way
and were in the handling room ready for whatever action might be necessary.
We finally got things squared away and decided to continue the shoot. A round was loaded into the gun and everyone in the
mount waited......... Then came the command."SHOOT!" We all flinched... and nothing happened!!! No 'bamn", no nothing.
Dead silence. This was almost as bad as the first incident... As the designated gunner, I crawled around the gun and
discovered that the electrical firing lead had been blown off of the firing pin. Now we had a live round in the gun and had to
get rid of it before it cooked off inside the hot breech. It was decided that someone had to sit under the gun and touch the
"hot" firing lead to the firing pin on command. GUESS WHO??? You got it, kemo sabe, me!! So I crouched down there under
he gun and did my thing, and you ask any gunner, that is not the place to be when the gun goes off. Any number of things
can and have gone wrong and most of them have involved the "pit" because guess what, gravity works. Anyway, we secured
after that and repaired the gun the next morning. We figured that the initial problem had been a powder case that had gotten
moisture inside or had an excess of powder, so that when the lip of the powder case cleared the breech of the gun, powder
was still burning, hence the "bamn/crack" noise we all heard. I have no problem at all in remembering this incident.
emits a lot of smoke and helps hide the muzzle flash when we fired. This one time the gun did not fire off with its usual "bamn"
but, a kind of "bamn/crack" and the inside of the mount was immediately filled with heavy smoke. I was in the pointers seat at
the time and even with the sound-powered phones on it hurt my ears. I couldn't breathe and made my way to the open hatch
and at first just stuck my head out to get some clear air. I then got out onto the main deck with the rest of the guncrew.
Meanwhile, down in the handlng room beneath the gunmount, they had heard the "bamn/crack" and all of a sudden smoke
came pouring down the ammo scuttles. They called up into the mount but got no answer and even used the phones but, we
were so deafened, we couldn't hear anything. People were yelling down from the bridge after being notified by the handling
room of the problem. No one knew if we had all been killed or what.. Finally, someone from the forward 40mm gunmount
looked over the edge of the gun tub and could see us there on the deck. The damage control party was already on its way
and were in the handling room ready for whatever action might be necessary.
We finally got things squared away and decided to continue the shoot. A round was loaded into the gun and everyone in the
mount waited......... Then came the command."SHOOT!" We all flinched... and nothing happened!!! No 'bamn", no nothing.
Dead silence. This was almost as bad as the first incident... As the designated gunner, I crawled around the gun and
discovered that the electrical firing lead had been blown off of the firing pin. Now we had a live round in the gun and had to
get rid of it before it cooked off inside the hot breech. It was decided that someone had to sit under the gun and touch the
"hot" firing lead to the firing pin on command. GUESS WHO??? You got it, kemo sabe, me!! So I crouched down there under
he gun and did my thing, and you ask any gunner, that is not the place to be when the gun goes off. Any number of things
can and have gone wrong and most of them have involved the "pit" because guess what, gravity works. Anyway, we secured
after that and repaired the gun the next morning. We figured that the initial problem had been a powder case that had gotten
moisture inside or had an excess of powder, so that when the lip of the powder case cleared the breech of the gun, powder
was still burning, hence the "bamn/crack" noise we all heard. I have no problem at all in remembering this incident.
The White River in action...
In the top picture, at the upper left, you
can see the fiery tail of a departing
rocket. On the right, looking through
the two guy wires, another rocket is
just streaking from its launcher tube...
In the top picture, at the upper left, you
can see the fiery tail of a departing
rocket. On the right, looking through
the two guy wires, another rocket is
just streaking from its launcher tube...
This is an LSMR firing a BOMROC
during a test conducted by the China
Lake Weapons Facility, probably off of
San Clemente Island. This LSMR is
ID'd as the USS Clarion River, but Ray
Harvey (a Clarion River crewman)
states that he, and others, do NOT
believe that it is the Clarion River
because of the two 1MC boxes
mounted on the aft-side of the MT.41
gun director pedestal. While he was
aboard, there was no 1MC mounted
there, ever. He states that there is the
possibility that the boxes were
removed at sometime prior to his tour
of duty...
during a test conducted by the China
Lake Weapons Facility, probably off of
San Clemente Island. This LSMR is
ID'd as the USS Clarion River, but Ray
Harvey (a Clarion River crewman)
states that he, and others, do NOT
believe that it is the Clarion River
because of the two 1MC boxes
mounted on the aft-side of the MT.41
gun director pedestal. While he was
aboard, there was no 1MC mounted
there, ever. He states that there is the
possibility that the boxes were
removed at sometime prior to his tour
of duty...
Foredeck of the Carronade showing
our main armament consisting of the 8
rocket launchers, the 5' gun and one
of the two twin-40mm's
our main armament consisting of the 8
rocket launchers, the 5' gun and one
of the two twin-40mm's