Destroyer Duty in Vietnam
as lived by LT Bill Baldwin, Communications Officer Past Commander of the Cincinnati Chapter in 1978, now living in Mendham, NJ. Current member of the New Jersey Chapter, Military Order of the World Wars Many Americans have no idea about the role a Navy Destroyer crew played in Vietnam. We weren’t in the rice paddies, in Laos, fighting hand-to-hand with Viet Cong or flying helicopters or Carrier based bombers to support troops or hit facilities in North Vietnam. Destroyers provided gunfire support to troops on the ground in South Vietnam within minutes, picked up downed pilots who slammed into the fantail of their Carrier upon returning with damage, took fire from SAM sites in North Vietnam in order to expose their position for fire control solutions from a Cruiser, protected guided missile destroyers from high speed “nasty craft” torpedo boats out of Haiphong harbor, and policed the mouth of the Mekong Delta for Viet Cong supply boats to challenge their entry. It was long hours, little sleep and 50,000 miles at sea in 9 months with little port time. Nearly 100,000 sailors made these deployments, in this very unpopular war.
On 7 September, 1968 CDR C. S. Snodgrass got USS Corry, DD-817 underway for Vietnam from Norfolk. We were a unit of COMDESDIV362 who was aboard USS Robert L. Wilson DD-847, and included USS Douglas H. Fox DD-779, USS Waldron DD-699 and USS Waller, DD-466. Just one day out, Fox blew a boiler and Corry was detached to receive the 3 dead and 5 severally burned BTs and BMs by motor launch, along with LT Robert Tripplett, MD. Corry traveled at flank speed to Charleston, SC Naval Base. Our Wardroom became a hospital, and patient instructions for burn treatments were received from Charleston and relayed by me to Dr, Tripplett. This was my first exposure to the severely wounded and dead. Corry rejoined DESDIV-362 ships off of Jacksonville, FL, while the Fox limped into port. Corry, along with RL Wilson, Waldron and Waller transited the Caribbean, refueled in Colon and transited the Panama Canal at night, two destroyers to a lock. From Balboa on 12 September, we made way to San Diego, where we received a major delivery of WESTPAC Operations Orders. From San Diego on 9/19 it was on to Pearl Harbor where we off-loaded our more deadly ASROC torpedo rockets. The officers drilled with Operations Orders every evening while underway. We departed Hawaii on 9/28, refueling at Midway Island on 10/6 and then encountered Typhoon Faye, while in transit to Guam. The eye was avoided, but we were like a “peanut shell” at 395’ in these 20-25’ seas for 12 hours. We departed Guam on 10/13 and arrived in Subic Bay, Philippines on 17 October. Corry detached from DESDIV 362, refueled, rearmed and restored for a departure to a Naval Gunfire Support mission in the Mekong Delta. Corry was participating in Vietnamese Counter Offensive VI and took on two Republic of Vietnam Naval Officers, Ensign Le Hoang Dao and Dao Van Hai. I had to go ashore in Vung Tau to obtain our gunfire grid coordinates. We were then escorted by swift boats, fore and aft, into the Mekong Delta, all of us on the Bridge wearing flak suits. My job was Officer of the Deck (OOD) at GQ, conning the ship for the Captain. Corry lay at anchor from 10/23 until 10/27, providing “Call for Fire” shells to targets from spotters during the day. I was one of 2 NGLOs in CIC who managed each call for fire mission. Harassment and Interdiction fire at night was like what Francis Scott Key saw over Ft. Sumter. No one really slept. From the Mekong, Corry refueled and rearmed underway, returning to the mouth of the Mekong in III Corps, to be part of Operation Market Time. Our mission was to keep Viet Cong supply boats from entering the Mekong to replenish their troops. We made surprise challenges to 6 small craft at darken ship, and our day-time presence discouraged dozens more who feared to approach. Corry returned to Subic in early November and then redeployed to PIRAZ, Positive Identification Radar Advisory Zone, in the northern end of the Gulf of Tonkin, to join the USS Wainright DLG 28 as her shotgun. We took a 46 degree roll during this mission from a rogue wave. Later in November 1968, Corry returned to Subic to prepare for Operation Sea Dragon with the USS Springfield CL-66. As we approached our station, off the coast of North Vietnam, Corry received a flash message from President Johnson to cease all hostile fire against North Vietnam. He saved my life as the GQ OOD. Corry was to draw battery fire
from shore SAM sites, while the Springfield, staying out of battery range, would knock out the firing site with her 8” guns. Corry took this opportunity to redeploy to Sasebo, Japan for some repairs and a short R&R. We returned to Subic and then Yankee Station on 12/22 to be Plane Guard to the USS Intrepid CVA-11, in her final combat mission before retirement. We spent part of Christmas day, 1968 alongside the USS Ponchatoula AO-148 refueling, with the Intrepid on the other side, listening to Bob Hope and his USO Entertainment team. Bob gave Corry a salute song over the PA as recognition for our plane guarding. Corry returned to Subic on 12/30 for New Years. I spent New Years in Olangapo, off base and nearly got shot by a local who began shooting his pistol throughout the restaurant at midnight. After providing plane guard for the USS Ranger CVA-61 on Yankee Station in the first week of January, Corry deployed to Da Nang, where I went ashore for grid coordinates, almost getting hit by a mortar attack. We then went onto the Batangan Peninsula, off the coast of Chu Lai in I Corps. We joined the USS New Jersey BB-62 on 1/8/69 in an amphibious operation, Bold Mariner. Corry provided call for fire and H&I gunfire until 1/30/69. RADM W. W. Berens provided a message commendation to Corry for the accuracy and rapid response of gunfire support. Following that mission we received a much needed R&R in Hong Kong for 4 days, many of us suffering from sleep deprivation. Afterwards we headed to Kaohsiung, Nationalist China for repairs. On 2/15, Corry deployed to the gun-line in II Corps. We did “call for fire” and H&I off Phan Rang and Nha Trang until the end of February. By now Corry had fired 6,607-5” rounds and had performed 40 underway replenishments. We headed for home, stopping at Buckner Bay Okinawa on 5 March, and then Yokosuka, Japan, from 6 to 12 March. We were rejoined by the Waldron, Waller and R.L.Wilson as COMDESDIV 362. We took a straight shot from Yokosuka, leaving the deck ice and cold, to Midway Island on 17 March, and then Pearl on 22 March. We cruised in a column formation at night (I was OOD) in driving rain through the Hawaiian Islands at 22 knots to make liberty at 8:00 AM at Pearl. Upon arriving we witnessed the filming of “Tora, Tora Tora.” It was surprising to see Jap Zeros flying all around the Pearl Harbor. Back to San Diego on 3 April and then on to Mazatlan, Mexico on 7 April, back through the canal on 21 April and on to Norfolk, 18 April, 1969. NOB provided a fire boat spray salute, but the anti war protestors on the beach were unkind to many of us. A lot of us returned to our civilian lives again, and tried to fit in. No one really cared about our experiences! During my 2 years aboard Corry, I logged nearly 100,000 miles at sea, suffered sleep deprivation from 24x7 operations, visited 14 countries and had experiences of a lifetime.