Tag Archives: USS Goldsborough (DDG-20)

Semper Paratus: Sandbox edition

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Today is the 235th anniversary of the circa 1790 founding of Alexander Hamilton’s old Revenue Cutter Service/Revenue Marine, which became today’s U.S. Coast Guard.

It is also the rough 35th anniversary of the beginning of the USCG’s continuing service in the Arabian and Persian Gulfs, which is about 6,700 miles as the crow flies from the continental U.S.

When Saddam crossed the line into Kuwait on 2 August 1990, the resulting Operation Desert Storm build-up in Saudi Arabia soon saw Coast Guard Marine Safety Offices (MSOs) activate personnel to inspect the nearly 80 Ready Reserve Fleet (RRF) vessels preparing for sea duty.

Soon after, four 10-man USCG LEDETs and a 7-man staff liaison team deployed to the Gulf to work from U.S. and allied vessels to inspect shipping.

USCG LEDET on a Turkish ship during Desert Shield

The first Iraqi ship impounded, Zanoobia, was on 4 September by a LEDET team from USS Goldsborough (DDG 20). Once the shooting started as Desert Shield became Desert Storm, LEDET personnel helped clear Iraqi oil platforms, securing 11 such platforms and aiding in the capture of 23 Iraqi prisoners, with one of the busiest being on the OHP-class frigate USS Nicholas (FFG-47).

Something like 60 percent of the 600 boardings carried out by U.S. forces were either led by or supported with the USCG LEDETs– which shows how busy those 40 guys were!

Further, 950 USCGR personnel were activated to support Desert Storm, with over half of those being in Port Security Units.

As noted by the USCG Historian’s Office:

  • On September 14th, PSU 303 (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) became the first Port Security Unit deployed overseas when it was assigned to Al Damman, Saudi Arabia.
  • On September 22nd, PSU 301 (Buffalo, New York) deployed to Al Jubayl, Saudi Arabia, and on November 14th, PSU 302 (Port Clinton, Ohio) deployed to Bahrain.
  • These PSUs featured the first Coast Guard women to serve in combat roles, including female machine gunners assigned to “Raider” tactical Port Security Unit boats.

The first allied craft into Kuwait’s Mina Ash Shuwaikh Harbor on 21 April 1991 was a Coast Guard Raider tactical port security boat from PSU 301, which gingerly led a procession of multinational vessels into the harbor.

Members of the U.S. Coast Guard Port Security Unit 302 patrol the harbor aboard a Navy harbor patrol boat during Operation Desert Shield.

Finally, to address the ecological nightmare that occurred once Saddam ordered scorched earth on the Kuwait oilfields during the liberation, on 13 February 1991, two USCG HU-25A Falcon jets, equipped with AIREYE side airborne looking radar (SILAR) and oil detection equipment, flew from Air Station Cape Cod to Saudi Arabia, supported by two Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules cargo aircraft from Air Station Clearwater packed with ground crew, spare aviation parts and support packages.

The Falcons were deployed for 84 days and mapped over 40,000 square miles of the Persian Gulf. They logged 427 flight hours in the region and maintained an aircraft readiness rate of over 96 percent. These flights provided daily updates on the size and direction of the spill.

Post Desert Storm, with LEDETs continuing work with the 5th Fleet Maritime Interception Force adjacent to Operation Southern Watch from 1992 onward, in November 2002, the all-USCG Patrol Forces Southwest Asia (PATFORSWA) was stood up with what would eventually become six 110-foot Island class cutters (USCGC Adak, Aquidneck, Baranof, Maui, Monomoy, and Wrangell).

Persian Gulf (April 27, 2005) – Coast Guardsmen aboard U.S Coast Guard Cutter Monomoy (WPB 1326) wave goodbye to the guided missile cruiser USS Antietam (CG 74) after the first underway fuel replenishment (UNREP) between a U.S. Navy cruiser and a U.S. Coast Guard Cutter. Antietam completed fuel replenishment with the Monomoy in about two hours and saved the 110-foot patrol boat a four-hour trip to the nearest refueling station. Antietam and Monomoy are conducting maritime security operations (MSO) in the Persian Gulf as part of Commander, Task Force Five Eight CTF-58). U.S. Navy photo by Journalist Seaman Joseph Ebalo (RELEASED)

7/25/2007. NORTH ARABIAN GULF-Petty Officer 3rd Class William J. Burke performs a security sweep aboard a tanker ship in the North Arabian Gulf. Burke, a machinery technician, is part of Law Enforcement Detachment 106, which is deployed in the NAG to help train Iraqi Navy and Marine personnel in boarding procedures and tactics. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Public Affairs Specialist 2nd Class Nathan Henise.

As it had in Operation Desert Storm, the Coast Guard deployed port security units, law enforcement detachments, and patrol boats to the Middle East to support Operation Iraqi Freedom and the Global War on Terrorism. Adak captured the first Iraqi maritime prisoners of the war, whose patrol boat had been destroyed upstream by an AC-130 gunship.

USCG small boat team conducting operations in the Gulf – 31 August 2022

In OIF, LEDETs deployed on Coast Guard and Navy patrol craft continued to board and inspect vessels in the Northern Arabian Gulf. As a member of one of these LEDETs, DC3 Nathan B. “Nate” Bruckenthal died when boarding an explosives-laden dhow that detonated near USS Firebolt (PC-10).

Today, PATFORSWA is still very much in business with six new 154-foot Fast Response Cutters (USCGC Charles Moulthrope, Robert Goldman, Glen Harris, Emlen Tunnell, John Scheuerman, and Clarence Sutphin Jr) replacing the old 110s in 2021-22.

220822-A-KS490-1182 STRAIT OF HORMUZ (Aug. 22, 2022) From the left, U.S. Coast Guard fast response cutters USCGC Glen Harris (WPC 1144), USCGC John Scheuerman (WPC 1146), USCGC Emlen Tunnell (WPC 1145) and USCGC Clarence Sutphin Jr. (WPC 1147) transit the Strait of Hormuz, Aug. 22. The cutters are forward-deployed to U.S. 5th Fleet to help ensure maritime security and stability across the Middle East. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Noah Martin)

With some 300 personnel assigned, it is the largest Coast Guard command outside of the U.S.

Working the Gun Line

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USS Beale (DD-471) crewmembers use a fire hose to cool the barrel of the ship’s forward 5″/38 cal gun. Note the jumble of empty shell casings near the gun mount. Possibly taken during Beale’s mid-1966 naval gunfire support operations off Vietnam. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command. Catalog #: NH 103718

During the Vietnam Conflict from just May 1965 to June 1968, U.S. surface warships fired over 1.152 million rounds of ammunition. One destroyer fired over 48 tons of ammunition in a 48 hour period – over 1,300 projectiles. Such high-tempo operations required destroyers providing naval gunfire support to replenish from AEs sometimes several times a week, and store shells temporarily on deck or in mess areas while clocking back in to answer calls on the gun line.

The barrels of the USS Boston, an 8-inch gun cruiser, were worn nearly smooth.

USS Boston (CA-69) Fires a salvo of eight-inch shells at enemy positions, while operating off the coast of the Republic of Vietnam during her 1969 deployment to the Western Pacific. Photographed from a helicopter flying nearby. This photograph was received by All Hands magazine on 12 November 1969.  NH 98300

Secretary McNamara announced that heavy cruisers due to be decommissioned would stay on the Naval List to add weight to the gun line.

This proved critical when the heavy cruisers USS Canberra and USS Newport News gave sustained support to ground forces combating the enemy’s Tet Offensive.

Forward 8-inch main guns of the heavy cruiser USS Newport News and spent cases after a mission off Vietnam.

In her last tour before decommissioning in 1970, the USS Saint Paul (CA-73), a Baltimore-class cruiser fired 3,000 rounds of 8-inch projectiles, often catching hell from shore batteries in return.

USS St. Paul (CA 73) fires at the Cong Phu railroad yard as it is bracketed by North Vietnamese shells in this August 1967 photo

The USS New Jersey, during her single 1968-69 deployment fired over 1,200 16-inch projectiles – proving especially effective in counter-battery fire against North Vietnamese Artillery.

"USS New Jersey in Vietnam" Painting, Tempera on Paper; by John Charles Roach; 1969; NHHC Accession #: 88-197-CE Launched in 1942, New Jersey (BB-62) saw service in WWII and Korea before being decommissioned in 1957. In 1968 she was reactivated and outfitted to serve as a heavy bombardment ship in Vietnam. At recommissioning, she was the only active battleship in the U.S. Navy. Between late September 1968 and early April 1969, she participated in Operation Sea Dragon, providing offshore gunfire support against inland and coastal targets. Soon thereafter, the Navy decided to reduce heavy bombardment forces in Southeast Asia. New Jersey was again decommissioned in December 1969.

“USS New Jersey in Vietnam” Painting, Tempera on Paper; by John Charles Roach; 1969; NHHC Accession #: 88-197-CE Launched in 1942, New Jersey (BB-62) saw service in WWII and Korea before being decommissioned in 1957. In 1968 she was reactivated and outfitted to serve as a heavy bombardment ship in Vietnam. At recommissioning, she was the only active battleship in the U.S. Navy. Between late September 1968 and early April 1969, she participated in Operation Sea Dragon, providing offshore gunfire support against inland and coastal targets. Soon thereafter, the Navy decided to reduce heavy bombardment forces in Southeast Asia. New Jersey was again decommissioned in December 1969.

This sparked Major General Jim Jones in the 1980s, who as a young Marine officer in Vietnam called in direct NGF support from New Jersey to save his unit, to recall about the 24-mile arc of the Black Dragon’s 16-inch gun range offshore, “Within that arc, the WAR evaporates; the enemy quickly learns that there are better places to be and things to do than to serve as a target for these fires that actually alter the terrain.”

Gratefully, we still have ironmen with us today who worked the shells and corrected the fire, and they are sharing their experiences.

The Hampton Roads Naval Museum has been running a great series of first-hand interviews with the men who worked the gun line.

John Uhrin, USS Cone (DD-866), recalls when sleep deprivation resulted in an unexpected target destroyed.

Bill Palmer, USS Goldsborough (DDG-20), recalls the near-constant operations necessary for ships on the gun line.

Herb DeGroft, a Marine NGFS aerial observer, discusses how calling naval gunfire support worked during his time in Vietnam. Interestingly, he flew almost exclusively with Army and Air Force FACs.

Jerry O’Donnell, USS Davidson (DE/FF-1045), describes arriving on the gun line under fire by the North Vietnamese.

Charlie Pfeifer, USS Richard S. Edwards (DD-950), recounts his experience on the gun line during the Tet Offensive.

Tony D’Angelo, USS St. Paul, details the satisfaction of rounds on target and the danger of swapping fuses on the ship’s guns.

Tony D’Angelo, USS St. Paul, remembers conducting harassment and interdiction fire, along with supporting the Marines near the DMZ, during his deployment to Vietnam.