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USS CONE DD-866
continued 1974 .....
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From 29 September through 4 October Cone enjoyed the hospitality of England. The period, though brief, was enjoyable due, in large measure, to the herculean efforts of the host ship for the visit, HMS Intrepid (L-10). Cone bid fond adieu to England on the 4th, bound once again across the turbid North Atlantic for Halifax, Nova Scotia. The return transit took only 7 days with a rather novel experience for Cone; refueling from a carrier, USS America (CVA 66). Cone moored at Halifax on the eleventh. The visit to Halifax not only coincided with the celebration of Joseph Howe Days festival but also an opportunity to celebrate the Navy birthday. Host ship for Cone's visit to Halifax was HMCS Annapolis (DDM 265) and, as in England, the effort to make the visit pleasurable was significant and successful. Cone left Halifax on 14 October and arrived in Charleston on 16 October. From 16 October through 23 November Cone remained inport. The weekend of 23-24 November was underway training for the Selected Reservists in the Charleston Operating Area. Not until 2 December did Cone get underway for a significant period. On 2 December Cone embarked a class of Naval Destroyer School Students for two-weeks of training in the Charleston- Jacksonville Operating Area. This training involved every department and was invaluable to the crew as well as the DESCOL students. On 6 December Cone entered Port Everglades, Florida for a brief respite from the wearing pace of DESCOL operations. After enjoying three days in the warm, congenial climate of the Fort Lauderdale area, Cone put to sea again on the 9th to resume the rigorous training schedule. Upon completion of these fast paced operations on 12 December Cone returned to Charleston and received congratulations from the Destroyer School for a most successful cruise. December 15 marked the beginning of the holiday stand-down period and Cone remained in Charleston throughout the last few days of 1974. During the week of 27 through 31 January 1975, Cone successfully passed her INSURV inspection which was a test of her material readiness. For the next three weeks Cone was under tender availability with the USS Yellowstone. Cone ended this successful availabillity/upkeep period of almost two months duration by getting underway 22-23 February. These two days were February's SELRES weekend and extensive training was held including a Radar Beacon Acquisition and Naval Gunfire Support preparation exercises. Cone then returned from the Charleston Oparea for two weeks of maintenance and upkeep. Cone got underway again on 10 March, this time to head for Bloodsworth Island, Maryland for Naval Gunfire Support requalification. She successfully completed her qualifications on the 11th and anchored for the night in Chesapeake Bay. Cone returned to Charleston on the 13th to spend the next month in upkeep. The Reserve Weekend of this period was spent in comprehensive inport training of the SELRES crew in their respective rates. On 16 April the Cone was again underway, having volunteered to take the place of another ship who could not make her committment. The exercise was Agate Punch and Cone performed successfully until relieved on the 21st. While underway for Agate Punch Cone picked up her prospective Commanding Officer, Cdr D. W. Somers, Jr. and relieving ceremonies were held on board at 1030 hours, 28 April. After a short period of time inport following the change of command Cone was underway again on the 7th of May for submarine services in the Charleston Oparea. Returning to Charleston on 9 May Cone spent two weeks in port before getting underway again on the 21st. During this at sea period a great deal of training was conducted including ASW exercises, firing ASROC and AWTT torpedoes, gunfire exercises and on station watch training. Cone pulled in Port Everglades, Florida on 24 May and enjoyed three days liberty there. Returning to home port on 28 May Cone spent the next three weeks in upkeep. During the first week in June RADM Adamson, COMNAVSURFLANT, visited Cone. He expressed his pleasure in the personal appearance of the crew in a letter the following week. Reserve weekend on 14 and 15 June again involved conducting inport training. On the 16th Cone embarked the Selected Reserve Crew from the USS Owens and again got underway. During this period comprehensive deck evolutions were conducted, including a VERTREP from the USS Saratoga, UNREP from USS Seattle, highline and towing with USS Lawe, ASW with Sandlance, Div tacs with USS Lawe and USS Sellers, and precision anchoring. On 19 June Cone embarked COMDESRON 34 and staff for five days. Cone pulled into Freeport, Grand Bahamas for three days of liberty, 20-23 June. After debarking COMDESRON 34 and staff in Charleston on the 24th, Cone returned to the Charleston Oparea for TACEADEX 1-75 exercises with USS Lawe in which she acted as OCE. She returned to port with a well earned "BZ" and headed for the Naval Weapons Station to offload ASROC's and torpedoes on the 27th. USS Owen's Reserve crew debarked later that day upon arrival at the Naval Station, having completed a full and worthwhile two weeks summer training. Cone served as host and support ship for the ARA Francisco de Gurrachaga of Argentina and the ARC Tumalo of Columbia from 1 July until their departure later that month. Cone now commenced much needed repairs during a TAV from the USS Sierra and an RAV from Readiness Support Group. A "Fast Cruise" was held 8 August to check out systems and Cone was ready to get underway for a few final system checks. Cone went to the Naval Weapons Stations on 12 August to onload torpedoes, ASROC, AND 5-inch ammunition. Cone got underway 14 August for ASW and gun training, and returned to Charleston on the 16th only long enough to embark her own Selected Reserve Crew. This time Cone was underway for CARIBREX 1-76. Conducting ASW and gun training enroute, Cone arrived at Naval Station Roosevelt Roads, P.R. on the 19th. On the 20th Cone left for Vieques for the first of two days of Naval Gunfire Support requalification. Cone underwent a night UNREP with the USS Caloosahatchee on the 21st after ASW exercises with USS Vesole and on the 22nd Cone returned to Roosevelt Roads. On the 23rd Cone completed her Naval Gunfire Support requalifications (which later contributed to earning her the Gunnery "E") and commenced transit as Orange Forces for CARIBREX 1-76. After successfully acting as Orange Raider, Cone was detached on 28 August to return to Charleston and debark her Selected Reserve Crew. After five days inport Cone was underway again for ASW exercises from 3-6 September in which POM support was provided for Commander Submarine Squadron 4. During this period she fired two ASROC and two AWTT exercise torpedoes at submarines. Upon her return to port Cone found out that she had been designated special test ship for the 35/65 (35% active crew, 65% reserve crew) manning experiment. This demanding assignment would mean a drastic reduction in the number of Cone's active duty crew and turned out to be a challenge of the highest order. Cone remained inport at Charleston, except for two underway periods for ASW exercises, 17-19 and 20-21 September, until 3 October. Then, in response to requests from the Tampa and Savannah councils of the Navy League, Cone got underway to help those two cities celebrate the Navy's Bicentennial Anniversary. The trip began with a dependents cruise to Savannah, Georgia on 3 October. Cone held open house 4 and 5 October in that city for more than 2000 visitors. Getting underway on 7 October, Cone conducted exercises en route to Tampa, arriving 9 October. More celebrations and ceremonies were held, with open house on the 11th and 12th hosting more than 4500 visitors. Cone held her own Navy Bicentennial celebration on the 13th and got underway for Charleston on the 14th. Arriving in Charleston on the 16th, Cone spent two days at home before getting underway for Reserve weekend 18-19 October. Cone returned to port long enough to debark her Selected Reserve Crew and was underway again for COMPTUEX 3-76. On 20 October Cone embarked COMDESRON 20 and staff by highline and they remained on board until returning to Charleston. In company with USS Koelsch, USS N. K. Perry, USS Ellison, USS Damato and USCGC Dallas, Cone participated in UNREPS and Fleet ASW exercises; small boat evolutions , communications, ASW and CIC exercises were conducted incidental to this. Cone returned to Charleston 24 October with a "Well Done" for ASW and Communications and remained inport for maintenance for two weeks. Cone got underway on 9 November for her baseline inspection in the Ship Manning and Operational Readiness Evaluation (SMORE 35/65 program) and conducted a successful Operations Readiness Inspection (ORI) observed by SMORELANT. On 2 December Cone got underway to provide ASW services for USS Grayling, USS Tunney, and USS Rivers and to assist USS Ingram in her SMORE inspection. On 3 December Cone assisted USS Keystone who was taking on water. Pulling into Port Canaveral on 6 December, Cone stopped for well-deserved liberty before going back to sea on the 9th. On the 10th she assisted USS Leader in mine field drills just prior to returning home. Cone then spent the rest of the month inport for holiday stand-down except for one day at sea with her Selected Reserve Crew on the 13th. During the month RADM Nivison visited Cone to discuss SMORE with the Commanding Officer. Calendar year 1975 was eventful and successful for Cone, featuring generous underway time. The demonstrated engineering reliability and sensor/weapons reliability, which allowed her to frequently act as a replacement in fleet exercises for units suffering breakdown, resulted in major battle readiness improvement. Evidence of this came in August when Cone was advised that she had been awarded the Battle Efficiency "E", ASW "A" and corresponding gunnery and operations awards. Cone ushered 1976 in while sitting in the Charleston Naval Base. SelRes weekend 16-18 January was spent underway for routine training and exercise. Cone also pulled target sleds for USS Meredith (DD 890). CARIBREX 2-76 began on 22 January. Cone rendezvoused with Task Group 27.2 for exercises the next day. On 24 January, Captain F. F. Ames, Jr., COMDESRON Three Four, sent a message commending Cone for "short notice participation and professionalism". The Helo Detail was set on 26 January as the first GTMO observer came aboard. Cone refueled from USS Canisteo that day. 27-29 January was spent in various operational exercises. During 30 January - 2 February Cone joined USS Koelsch (FF 1049) and USS Spadefish (SSN 668) for ASW exercises. 7 February Cone towed HNLMS Rotterdam to Roosevelt Roads, and remained in Roosevelt Roads overnight. Two week ACDUTRA reserves were embarked on the 8th and Cone returned to sea. On the 13th and 14th Cone fired her guns in NGF support training. On the 20th of February Cone supplied NGF support for Onslow Beach landing at Little River Inlet, North Carolina. Later that day Cone was involved in high line transfer of observers, concluding CARIBREX 2-76. In all, 25 ships of the English, Dutch, and U.S. Navies had taken part in the exercise. On 21 February Cone returned to her home port of Charleston receiving a "job well done on CARIBREX" from CTG 27.2. Cone had earned the "Top Gunner" award, for having the highest NGFS score of 83.3. All arms loaded were expended and all ASW Weapons used, firing 2 ASROC's and 2 torpedoes. 17 March five reservists boarded for 27 days of ACDUTRA. VADM Charbonnet, Chief of the Naval Reserve also visited the ship that day. On 24 March ship's picnic was held. The 27-29 March SelRes weekend was spent at sea performing readiness training and exercises. March came to a close with an awards ceremony for the Battle Efficiency "E"s on the Dash deck. 19 April Cone shifted to pier Sierra in Charleston to offload ammo in preparation for the upcoming docking period in Savannah. On 24 April Cone was underway for Savannah. On arrival Cone hosted the USS Julius A. Furer (FFG 6). The Savannah Machine and Shipyard, Co. Dry Dock, entered on 8 May, was to be Cone's home for the next two months. The 18-20 June SelRes weekend was held in dry dock. Cone left dry-dock on 1 July. She refueled on the 6th and held dock trials and a fast cruise on the 8th and 9th respectively. On 12 July Cone sailed from Savannah heading for her homeport, Charleston, where she was to enter Braswell Shipyard for regular overhaul. The 11th of August brought a visit from COMDESRON Three Four, Captain F. F. Ames, Jr and his new relief Captain W. D. Daniels. The Change of Command ceremony was held on the USS Lawe (DD 763) on 14 August. 21 August LT Moore, ENS Wentzel and YNSN Haywood, all of USS Cone, went to Pensacola, Florida for 5 days, representing the 6th Naval District at the Annual All Navy Sailing Regatta. On 6 September Cone sent ETR3 Gerald W. Rutter to represent the 6th Naval District in the Atlantic Fleet Competition Skeet Shoot. Navy Birthday (week) was celebrated concurrently with Fire Prevention Week during 4-9 October. The week brought such events as P-250 drills, OBA team contest, ship's picnic, cake cutting contest and other events. On 20 November, the first lightoff of the forward plant was accomplished. 25 November brought Thanksgiving with the crew of the Cone celebrating the holiday in a restaurant ashore. On 15-16 December dock trials were held at Braswell Shipyard followed by a fast cruise on 18-19 December observed by RADM Wilcox. On 20 December Cone departed the shipyard and returned to Naval Station Shipyard where the ship remained for the rest of the year 1976. Calendar year 1976 was a trying year for Cone. Hampered first by the 35-65 program where the ship's manning was reduced to 35 per cent, Cone ended the year in overhaul. Though steaming time and personnel were reduced, each challenge was met with continued excellence. Word came on 6 December that Cone had been awarded the Battle Efficiency "E" again with the CIC Green "E", ASW "A" and Damage Control "D/C". A phone call from Commodore Daniels congratulated Cone for taking "more awards that any other ship in the Atlantic Fleet". This later was found to be the highest per cent while not the most in number. All in all Cone personnel were proud that their accomplishments aboard Cone had been "well done" in 1976.>/P January 1, 1977 found Cone sitting in the Braswell Shipyard in Charleston, South Carolina. A fast cruise was held on 3 January and the ship shifted to the Naval Station for an ammo onload and refueling the next day. Late in the afternoon Cone began sea trials. Cone celebrated the successful completion of the trials by returning to the Naval Station on 6 January. The remainder of January was devoted to various inspections that were required after the yard period. After an ammunition onload in early February, Cone departed for Mayport, Florida arriving the next day on 9 February. During the period 14-18 February, Cone conducted operations with USS Saratoga (CV 60). Cone conducted an underway replenishment with USS Canisteo (AO 99) on 17 February. Even though most personnel had little or no UNREP experience, it was a most successful operation. The selected reserve crew embarked on Cone in Mayport on the 18th. Underway the next day, the ship arrived in Charleston on 20 February. While in Mayport, the prospective commanding officer, CDR Warren E. McLaine, Jr., reported on board. He relieved CDR David W. Somers, Jr., on 25 February in Charleston, South Carolina. |
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