USS DECATUR DDG-31 WESTPAC CRUISE 1968-1969
July 18 1968 WESTPAC deployment started Long Beach, Ca.
July 18 1968 First serious accident aboard (loss of distal Phalanx at ring finger)
July 18 1968 First personal transfer (Dr. Peter Hacker, MC USN)
July 20 1968 First refueling from USS Hancock CVA-19
July 21 1968 First helo personal transfer – Chaplin Hodges
July 21 1968 First underway church service (protestant & Catholic)
July 23 1968 First mail via helo from USS Hancock CVA-19
July 24 1968 First visit to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
July 31 1968 Midway Island, Refuel and Mail
Aug 8-11 1968 First visit to Yokosuka, Japan
Aug 15-16 1968 First visit to Subic Bay, Philippine Is.
Aug 26 1968 First day at war in Gulf of Tonkin, plane guard For USS Hancock CVA-19
Aug 29 1968 First unrep
Sept 18 1968 First unrep from USS Ranier (AE-5) Gulf of Tonkin
Oct 19 1968 First change of command, CDR J. B. Allen Relieved CDR L. Baggett, Jr.
Oct 24 1968 First crossing of equator, Kingdom of Neptune Shellbacks and Pollywogs
Oct 25-31 1968 First visit to Singapore, Malaysia
Nov 1 1968 First VERTREP from USS Camden AOE-2
Nov 13 1968 First VERTREP from USS Mars AFC-1
Dec 3-4 1968 First visit to Sea of Japan
Dec 3-10 1968 First visit to Sasbo, Japan (in drydock for Repairs)
Dec 11-14 1968 First visit of Taiwan straits
Dec 13-14 1968 First visit to Hong Kong, China
Dec 22 1968 First emergency break-away USS Ponchatoula AO-145 (heavy seas during unrep)
Jan 20 1969 First visit to Manus Island, Papua New Guinea
Jan 25-29 1969 First visit to Brisbane, Australia
Feb 7-10 1969 First visit to Tauranga, New Zealand
Feb 13-14 1969 First visit to Pago Pago, American Samoa
Feb 26 1969 End WESTPAC cruise, Long Beach, Ca.