1972-73

1972-73 <--click here to view or download cruise book

Hoel's 7th Westpac

(64 pages)

Deployment: Jun 13,1972 to Jan 13,1973

Commanding Officer: CDR Roger L Coffey

Relieved CDR Bowen on June 19th, 1972 @ 1900 hours.

Fired first rounds on July 11th,1972. Fired last rounds Dec 21,1972.

113 days on the gun-line

19 Dec 1972 @ 21:55 - USS Goldsborough DDG-20 hit by return shore batteries

20 Dec 1972 @ 21:15 - MT52 Explosion

We were on a firing mission with....

Cochrane DDG-21 (which had just relieved the Goldsborough DDG-20 because of their shore battery hit the night before)

Floyd B Parks DD-884.

On the Hoel, we were right at the end of our scheduled 72-73 Westpac.

The barrel exploded on the 3rd round.

It was the last round that MT52 fired during the Vietnam War.

MT51 ended up firing 39 rounds on that mission, and fired its last round in the Vietnam War the next morning (21st) at 05:04, after firing 30 rounds.

Next morning on the 21st, @ 13:37, we embarked ComDesRon 21 from the Towers, and proceeded to Subic, and then home.

On the way to Subic for our last visit there for this Westpac, we were in company with....

Gray DE-1054

Shelton DD-790

James E Keyes DD-787

Shipmates stole Kitty Hawk (CVA-63) Mascot while in Subic Bay

Stolen while the Kitty Hawk was in port from 1972-10-03 until 1972-10-11

It is believed that it was stolen the night before the Kittyhawk got underway on 10/10/1972.

At the time, the Hoel was in port from 1972-09-28 until 1972-10-17