These NVA shore battery positions appeared to be located about two miles north of the DMZ at a coastal point of land called Cap Lai, also known as Mui Lai. Mount 51, twin 5-inch/38 caliber guns letting loose on targets in Vietnam. The conditions here had remained the same it was like we had never left. The now-familiar area between the Cua Viet River and the DMZ seemed to be the hot area once again. Less than 30 minutes later, our ship was providing gunfire support on targets in several areas located just south of the DMZ. We shifted back into Watch Condition II, with watch rotations six hours on, then six hours off. Marine Corps 1st Air and Naval Gunfire Liaison Company (ANGLICO) Marine spotter. At 1600 that afternoon, we checked in with the naval gunfire liaison officer (NGLO) and the U.S. Apparently, we were going to race ourselves in covering the distance back to MR1. It was our turn back in the barrel.Īfter detaching from USS Midway, the ship was brought around to a new course of 265 degrees (west), speed 25 knots. I guess the 7th Fleet staff had decided our ship had been having it too good for too long. We were to proceed to the area of MR1 at Point Allison, back on the gun line. The next morning at 1113 on January 20, our ship was ordered to detach from USS Midway and CTG 77.3 and report to CTG 75.9. I hoped we wouldn’t, but as it turned out, we went back. My thought was that if we did go back, they would just have to see it for themselves, then they would believe it. You could detect looks of disbelief on the new crew members’ faces as guys would sometimes recount our earlier experiences on the gun line or during Linebacker operations. In the interim period since the ship had last been on the gun line in mid-December, we had received a considerable number of new crew members on board.

One comment heard on the mess decks summed up how many in the crew were feeling: “This plane guarding shit beats the hell out of getting our ass shot at every other goddamn night.”

In that event, the plane guard ship proceeded to the approximate position of the aircraft, and their rescue boat was launched into the water to rescue the aircrew. While approaching the carrier to land or following a failed landing, aircraft might ditch or crash. A plane guard ship was tasked to recover the aircrew of planes or helicopters which might have to ditch or crash in the water during aircraft carrier flight operations.

Vietnam war us navy ngfs