Battle Group Romeo 1986 Long Beach New Jersey dn-sn-87-00355
An aerial bow view of the first battleship battle group to deploy to the Western Pacific since the Korean War underway with Australian ships during a training exercise. The ships are, clockwise from bottom: USS LONG BEACH (CGN-9), USS MERRILL (DD-976), HMAS SWAN (D-50), HMAS STUART (D-48), HMAS PARRAMATTA (D-46), USNS PASSUMPSIC (T-AO-107), USS WABASH (AOR-5), HMAS DERWENT (D-49), USS KIRK (FF-1087), USS THACH (FFG-43), HMAS HOBART (D-39) and USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62), center.
Funny, I was the Staff Cryptologist for Commander, Cruiser Destroyer Group One embarked in Long Beach during our WESPAC cruise as Battle Group Romeo. I don’t remember this picture likely because Long Beach was diverted from going to Australia and sent up to Adak, Alaska where we fired the first off range Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missile (TLAM) along the Aleutian chain.