NNS020816-08 Fast Ships in Harm's Way: 100 Years of 'Tin Cans' (Part 3 of a 3 part series)
Release date: 8/17/2002 6:00:00 AM
By Chief Journalist Bill Johnson-Miles
Destroyers in The Korean War, Vietnam and today
There's hardly any comparison between World War II and the Korean War for the U.S. Navy and its destroyers. In the entire conflict, the Navy only lost five ships, none of them destroyers. Coastal gunfire and mines did damage 73 ships, including 48 DDs and DEs, mostly minor damage in gunfire duels with shore batteries.
While handling these types of threats, destroyers carried out critical missions during the Korean War. They assisted in minesweeping operations, shore bombardment actions, amphibious landings and evacuations. They screened carriers and rescued downed Navy pilots. And they demolished countless shore targets, including gun emplacements, tank columns, troop concentrations, bridges, highways, railroads and trains. Destroyers also did a lot of the same kind of work during the Vietnam War.
"We spent most of our time in the Tonkin Gulf at Yankee Station and all along the Vietnam coast north of Dan Nang," said Rick Broadhead, a former USS Bausell (DD 845) Fire Control Technician. "Our missions included shelling enemy positions, plane guard duty with the carriers and rescue ship station far to the north in the Tonkin Gulf. Our days and nights were spent interdicting coastal shipping and destroying enemy supply vessels. Our northern operations included refueling Sea King 'choppers' sent on rescue missions for downed pilots in the vicinity of Hanoi and disrupting VC [Vietcong] supply routes to the south. Most patrols involved well over 30 days on station nonstop and this 'Greyhound of the fleet' had some holes put in her by hostile gunfire."
Edwin Finney also served in the Vietnam War, as an officer aboard USS Waldron (DD 699) from 1967 to 1969. He's not the first destroyerman in his family; his father commanded USS Harlan R. Dickson (DD 708) from 1951 to 1953.
"I certainly feel proud to have been a destroyerman and be a 'card carrying member' of Tin Can Sailors," said Finney, who works in the photographic section of the Naval Historical Center in Washington, D.C. "I think this came about quite naturally growing up in a Navy family with my father, my uncle Earl and my grandfather all having been surface line officers.... It may sound silly, but in high school I kept an eight by 10 black and white glossy photo of DD 708 steaming at high speed with 'a bone in her teeth' taped up in my locker. I got what I wanted -- service in an old but good destroyer!"
Old and new destroyers have been in a number of actions since the Vietnam War. In the 80s, four destroyers took out a pair of Iranian command and control platforms in the Arabian Gulf after Iran attacked a reflagged Kuwait supertanker. During Operation Desert Storm, they launched Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles into Iraq, and destroyers did the same into Yugoslavia and Afghanistan in more recent actions.
Today, Tin Can Sailors search merchant ships for military contraband, help to enforce the "no fly" zone over Iraq, evacuate American citizens from dangerous situations abroad and provide humanitarian aid to nations that have endured natural disasters. Also, today's Tin Can Sailors are both male and female.
"Growing up I heard a lot about Tin Can Sailors from my dad who was a World War II Sailor," said Senior Chief Boatswain's Mate (SW) Juanita Rozar of USS Bulkeley (DDG 84). "When I first came in the Navy in 1981 I was told by the 'salty old boatswain's mates' there was no way women would ever be allowed to sail [aboard] destroyers."
In 1995 the Navy opened up destroyers to women, and the day after the message came out Rozar asked her detailer for a billet. The Navy put her into the "Women at Sea" program and she became one of the first women to serve aboard a destroyer.
"I checked aboard USS Barry (DDG 52) on April 5, 1996, said Rozar. "It's one of the proudest days of my career. The second proudest day was the commissioning of Bulkeley.... Both ships have been the highlight of my career and both carry my fondest memories...."
Bulkeley is one of 54 destroyers currently in the Navy's active fleet, much less than its high of 377 Tin Cans in 1945. More than 1,000 destroyers have sailed the world's oceans and seas in the vessel's century-long history.
"It is important to remember the history of the destroyer because of all the long days, blood, sweat and tears spent on the work horse of the fleet," said Lt.j.g. Dwight Davis of USS Hopper (DDG 70). "Many destroyers have been spent defending the constitution of the United States, and especially on the 100th anniversary of the destroyer, we should take time to remember the dedicated service of the ship and even more, the crews who served on them."
"Earning the title 'destroyerman' is accompanied with a long history of strength and stability as the name itself sounds," said Fire Controlman Second Class (SW) Kenneth Ryan of USS O'Brien (DD 975). "The opportunity to be directly associated with this history is an honor.... Destroyers have engraved their signatures in history books and continue to be an ever-present asset in creating history. Remembering their toll in history is important, but I feel equal or more impressive feats are still yet to come."
"Destroyermen have established enviable records of achievement," stated Burke. "And they are still steaming toward unknown horizons where developments of the future wait for discovery."
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