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15 UNIT AWARDS AND CITATIONS
Combat Action Ribbon (1), Navy Meritorious Unit Citation (1), Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (1),
Vietnam Service Medal (11) and Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation (1)
The second Loyalty (AM-457) was laid down by Wilmington Boat Works Inc., Wilmington,
Calif., 9 November 1951; launched 22 November 1953; sponsored by Mrs. William L. Horton; and commissioned 11 June 1954, Lt.
E. W. Riordan in command.
After shakedown Loyalty operated out of her home port, Long Beach, for the remaining
months of 1954. Reclassified MSO-457 on 7 February 1955, the new minesweeper sailed on her first WestPac cruise 1 July. Operating
with the 7th Fleet, Loyalty engaged in minesweeping exercises off Japan, Taiwan, and Korea before returning to Long
Beach in February 1956.
From 1956 until late 1964 Loyalty sailed on three WestPac cruises; performed
special operations in 1962 during the nuclear tests in the Pacific; and exercised off the California coast perfecting the
techniques of modern mine warfare. She also performed sonar searches for downed aircraft. Her service with the powerful 7th
Fleet was climaxed during her 1964 cruise. Following the Gulf of Tonkin incident when North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked
U.S. destroyers in international waters, Loyalty was dispatched to steam off the coast of Vietnam ready for further
provocation.
Returning Long Beach 7 December, the minesweeper performed mine countermeasure exercises
off the west coast for the next 14 months. Sailing 7 February 1966 Loyalty steamed to the Far East to join U.S. forces
assisting South Vietnam to repel Communist aggression. Following a brief stay in the Philippines, she joined operation "Market
Time" patrol off the coast of Vietnam early in April.
During Loyalty's first patrol, her crew boarded 348 junks, detained two and arrested
14 enemy smugglers. While the minesweeper was signalling a Junk to heave to on 6 April, she received fire from enemy positions
ashore. Loyalty immediately answered this fire and silenced the hostile guns. Two days later, the versatile minesweeper
knocked out a Vietcong emplacement which had been firing on a U.S. Army L-19 spotter plane. Rescuing a wounded American adviser
from a junk some 2 miles ok the coast on 17 April, she ended her patrol 8 days later when she arrived in Hong Kong. She was
back on station off South Vietnam 12 May and resumed the task of preventing supplies getting into South Vietnam from the north.
Loyalty continued as a unit of TF 115 through late 1968, stopping only briefly for respites in Subic Bay or Hong Kong
and overhauls in her home port, Long Beach, Calif. Into 1969, Loyalty remains at Long Beach. [Transcriber's Note: Loyalty
was stricken 1 July 1972 and disposed of December 1973.]
LOYALTY NEWSLETTER
The USS LOYALTY (MSO 457) is back in Subic Bay after her second patrol
along the coast of
Viet Nam She now has 6 days to get ready for a shorter
third patrol after which she will head for dry dock and some well
deserved
extended beach timeo LOYALTY'S most recent patrol lasted exactly one
month from the day the ship left Subic
bay to the day she pulled in again,
and although there were not as many' junks encountered as on our first
patrol, the
men of the LOYALTY were never at a loss for things to do to
keep busy.
The patrol was memorable for many reasons.
It was the last patrol
for two "old vets LTJG Satterthwaite and LTJG Jamison It was the first
patrol aboard the LOYALTY
for two new officers, ENS McGRUTHER and ENS Whitman
both of whom reported aboard only hours before the ship got underway.
Mr.McGRUTHER
relieved as the Supply Officer and MR.ABBATE moved
from Supply to Operations Officer. Mr. Whitman relieved as Engineering
Officer
Upon our return to Subic Day both Mr.Satterthwaite and Mr.
Jamison were piped over the side as they retired from active
duty and
returned to the US.
LOYALTY hit trouble within hours of the time she left, as the winds
blew aan the seas rolled,
and many of the crew headed for the gunwales
and were sea sick in a very unroyal and unsalty manner Naturally those
who
lasted the storm had the delight or jeering the rest, and such hardy
souls as GIBSON SN, WHITNEY BM2, and KENNEDY EM2 were
noticed leading
the chorus of catcalls Northway EM2, complained that the weather was
to rough Unfortunately this weather
was the straw that broke the
camels back, and the red-bearded STODDARD CS2" had to be transferred
off the ship due to
chronic sea sickness The entire crew joined in
wishing him good luck, and all aboard shall miss him most sea sick of
all
was not any man however, but our mtotor Whaleboat The MwB perked up
on occasion but usually picked the most embarrassing
times to get sick,
inc1uding the time which left the Captain stranded ashore for hours
after a liaison meeting" The
boat took a severe chewing-out for that
one
After three rough days in transit across the South China Sea, Most
of the crew had regained their
sea legs and the sight of land again was
reassuring. even if it was Viet Nam. We were all set to dig in and
board junks
By the hundreds, but junks were simply nowhere to be found'
this time Scattered fisherman Who ventured out far enough to
be picked
up were stricken With fear at the sight of the ferocious...looking
DAVISON DC2, leaping aboard cormplete with
45 and flak jacket Others
of our crew waited armed along the sides ready tor any suspicious move
by the fishermen, but
the most menacing move any or them ever made was
to reach out gratefully for cigarettes offered them The lack of junks
to
board gave us a chance to catch a full night's sleep on occasion, but
never did we really relax"
Loyalty Newsletter Page 2
BURRIS BM2, and his band of deck seamen showed the seventh fleet how
as on three successive occasions
LOYALTY broke her own record of best time
rigging to fuel from the USS CHIPOLA. NORTHWAY EN2, complained that the
engineers
were doing all the work and the deck hands were getting all the
credit But, the engineers got their chance when LOYALTY
carried out her
4-hour full power run Credit was due all down the line for an outstanding
performance, and the
hard work of MillER EN3, HARRIES FN, ENGLERT ENFN, and
PETERSON FN, was as important as the planning at the highest
level
ORNELAS SK3, proved himself a jack of all trades as he switched with
ease from Boatswain's Mate
of the watch to a regular CIC watch stander,
while still keeping up his primary duty as assistant storekeeper ROBERTS SN,
assumed
in fine order the work and responsibility heaped upon him by the
loss of STODDARD CS2 and PETTERs SN, showed noticeable
improvement as a
helmsmen. WEST STS2, claimed thet title of RT King of the Pacific and
MURPHY RD3, turned in an excellent
job in CIC. PURRCELL QMl and BRURRIS BM2,
proved themselves excellent ship-handlers in their somewhat navel roles as
enlisted
underway OOD'S FLEETWOOD RD2, when asked if he would like any-
thing put in this release said, "A'aaaaaaah, wait one."
,
The
campain for "Mr Beautiful Beard" continued, hotly contested by
RICHARDSON YN2, SHELL EMFA,' JHOHSON BM2, ROSENBERG RD3,
and of course the
Smith Brothers" DAVISON DC2 and PETERSN FN, The cruise was navel for
another reason at 0012
on June the 2nd, AmRIGHT SN, was noticed not to
have a smile on his face He quickly recovered.
The usual strains of a long patrol told as fuel began to run low at one --
point, To our pleasant
surprise Holiday Routine was called one aftermoon to
slow down and conserve fuel. Who could complain? NORTHWAY EN2 could;
he
had the watch"
JACOBSON EN.3, kept the evaporator working like a champ and water hours
were never
near being necessary But the boilers were in an ornery mood all
trip and several times just flat out refused to put
out hot water NORTHWAY
offered to trade both boilers off for a bale of clean rags several times but
no one would take
them A middle-ot-the week HoLiday Routine in eary July
was welcomed, and in recognation of his bad luck and hard work NORTHWAY
was
granted exclusive rights to 08:30 Holiday Routine Quote 'Luke' "Either they
want something out of me or they're
making fun of me, No matter; at 0900
we began an approach on an Oiler for fuel and Holiday Routine was Over
"More Benefits
Shortly after the arrival aboard of a new but over-Sized ship's bell, WATT
the super-cook, was
seen slinking around the fantail with possible ideas ot
using the bell for a oneway BT drop.. Leemsmen BEllEW EM2 considered
taking
a refresher math course after the XO asked him to," 53/64 once during an
UNREP. Mr JAMISON respectfully declined to give
a lecture on safe shiphandling
after almost shaking hands with the helmsmen of a Panamanian freighter
one night
in the middle of the South China SEA.
The weeks at sea began to tell as more equipment went down and stores
dwindled Subic BAY
was a welcome haven, but repaired and replenished we are
ready and anxious to go to sea again. Time passes quickly at sea
and when
our upcoming patrol is over our deployment with the Senth Fleet will be
more than half over.
PRESENT MARKET TIME OPERATION
LOYALTY has been on Market Time only two weeks and she has been working hard
During her first
two weeks at the Market. LOYALTY has fired 540 rounds of 40
MM, 1380 rounds of 50 caliber" and 83 rounds of 30 caliber
ammunition at
various targets., LOYALTY'S boarding and searching crews have detected 914 junks
invetigated 401 junks..
and boarded 239 junks 84.7 hours ot these two weeks
have been devoted to boarding alone" This is actual time on board
the junks
and does not involve time going to them or returning On 14 April LOYALTY
detected 181 junks, investigated
72 and boarded 69 This involved 14 hours of
boarding time. During her free time LOYALTY has been involved in 3 refuelings
1
rearming, 2 lightline transters, 2 boat transfers, and spent half a day in
Nha Trang exchanging Laison Otficers.,
MIGHTY MINESWEEP SILLENCES
VIET CONG GUNS
--
On 6 April 1966" LOYALTY was patrolling approximately one mile off the beach
inspecting junks.,
At 2055, LOYALTY attempted to stop a junk tor inspection
by flashing her signal light When the junk failed to stop, LOYALTY
fired
a few warning shots with one ot her fifty caliber machine guns. Immediately
after the warning shots
were fired, LOYALTY was taken fire from the beach by
what was believed to be a thirty-seven millimeter gun LOYALTY answered
this
fire with her forty millimeter gun and one fifty caliber machine gun LOYALTY
pounded the beach for about twenty
minutes and the thirty-seven millimeter
only fired a few rounds before it was silenced .The amount of damage done
by
LOYALTY was unknown.
LOYALTY SUPPORTS ARMY
--
On 8 April 1966 at approximately 1800 LOYALTY received a call from an Army
L-19 spotter
aircraft saying that she was under tire from four Viet Cong on
the beach and requesting that LOYALTY assist her LOYALTY
arrived at the
scene 20 minutes later Four Viet Cong could be seen hiding behind some
rocks at the waters edge
and just above them appeared to be some camoflage
netting" LOYALTY commenced fire with her forty millimeter, fifty caliber.
and
thirty caliber machine guns LOYALTY fired 20 rounds of 40 MM 850
rounds of fifty caliber and 750 rounds of thirty caliber.,
When LOYALTY
ceased firing the camoflaged netting was destroyed three Viet Cong were
confirmed dead and the fourth was
probably killed
FlNAL STORY FOR END OF LOYALTY'S DEPLOYMENT
U.S.S LOYALTY (MSO 457) is heading home to her home port of Long
Beach, California, almost ten
months after her departure early last
February, She will not be home for another two weeks yet, but the end
is
now in sight. In the time 'that she has been gone she has visited ;,
the Philippines. Japan, Taiwan, Okinawa. and Guam,
and has included
Nha Trang, Da Nang, Vung Tau and An Thoi as her ports of call in South
Vietnam. Most of her deployment
was spent on patrol off the coast of
South Vietnam as a unit of Market Time operations In all, from the
day she left
Subic Bay for her first patrol until her return to Subic
after the last patrol. a total of" five, LOYALTY spent 84.3% of
the
days underway, spent 125 days on Market Time. travelling 20,160 miles
during those patrols, and at one time or
another was within view of
the entire coastline of the Republic of Vietnam Also during that time
she was involved
in 107 underway replenishments of one form or another,
making rendezvous with everything from Vietnamese Navy Junks and
US
Coast Guard Cutters to the big US fleet oilers, reefers, and
cargo and ammunition ships" LOYALTY served in many capacities,
delivering
messages. shuttling personnel, relaying ammunit1on and mail, !
providing stores and repair parts, administering aid to
US and
Vietnamese wounded, and contributing to the United States people to
people program Operationally she investigated
almost 1000 junks
provided gunfire support, served as a communications command ship,
chased down countless unidentified
contacts, took part in one Fleet
Mine Test, and as a grand finale participated in a dramatic but
exhausting search
and rescue mission
From Long Beach to Long Beach LOYALTY will have spent 245 out of
309 days At sea from a
total or 79.28% She wil have travelled some
41,653 miles She will have used 398,516 gallons of fuel worth $99,629.
In
the area of communications she will have received 3,718 messages
and sent 1,553 Her crew will have seen nearly a 35%, turnover
of
personnel with 24 enlisted and 3 officers having left. Almost one
half of her crew (a total of 30) have been advanced
in rate.
Along with hundreds of dollars of souvenirs and gifts, LOYALTY
sailors will be bring home some
memories to last a lifetime, The
midnight GQs the successful firefight with the beach 'Which resulted
in three
Viet Cong kills, the "attack" when she screened junks, the
hundreds or junks and trawlers inspected, the action filled
patrols
and the long lonely ones. They will remember the long hours and hard
work, but they will remember too that LOYALTY
always met her com-
mitments, was always ready to go and had less equipment down for less
time than any ship of her
type. It has been a long and hard de-
ployment, but one of which all aboard can be proud.
Robert Gladwin RD3
I had been on the Loyalty about 6 weeks as the leading CS and aslo senior supply type, we were getting
ready to deploy to market time and the skipper informed me that since we didnt have a ships bell, I should order one to be
picked up in subic, needless to say I got right on that. If you knew our skipper it was the best thing to do. I found the
description and ordering info for ships bells and fired off an order.
After a lengthy Market time we arrived in Subic for upkeep and liberty. The following Sunday I had
the duty as supply PO and duty cook, when the quarterdeck watch, (we were tied up Chinesee style so the QD was on the fantail.)
said I had some stores on the pier. Since we had already loaded groceries and most all other parts and things I was curios
as to what it was. When I arrived on the QD I found a small supply warehouse tractor and trailer with a crane waiting for
me. On the trailer was a box about the size of a small car, after seeing this I called the OD and he (without looking at anything)
told me to get it onboard and sign for it, which I did. After the tractor and crane left the OD came to the OD and said lets
have a look. We took the top boards off and lo and behold it was our bell, from a ww2 cruiser. Had we tried to put it on the
ship it would have tipped use over. To top it off the supply depot wouldn't take it back so we did our entire deployment with
the da** thing on the fantail until we got back to Long Beach.
BGWatt MSC RET USN
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