A Tin Can Sailors Destroyer History
USS MORTON DD-948
The Tin Can Sailor, October 1992
Saltiest Ship in the Fleet
By John Kieft, Former FT6-3, USS MORTON (DD-948)
The USS MORTON (DD-948) was launched May 23, 1958. Built in Pascagoula, Mississippi: she was designed as a Forrest Sherman class…with a few changes.
Being one of the last three ships to be built, she was designated a “Hull” class. The chief difference was the addition of a higher, hurricane bow, and the changing of gun directors. The Mark 68-Gun Fire Control System (G.F.C.S.), was reversed to above the bridge, and the MK-56- G.F.C.S. was mounted aft of the second stack.
The Forrest Shermans, known as the “Cadillacs of the fleet,” were among the most graceful and handsome vessels that ever went to sea. A Sea Classics article said, “With high raked bows and generous deck sheer, the sight of a Forrest Sherman, stately plowing through a heavy sea, seemed to epitomize all of the strength, beauty and grace of a modern MAN-OF-WAR.”
Habitability for the crew was obvious: air-conditioning, individual bunk lights, and an open-air, mid-ships main deck galley were features unknown to WWII tin can sailors.
I was a fire control technician, just out of “A” school in Great Lakes, Illinois, and a two-week “C” school in San Diego. My specialty was the MK-56-G.F.C.S., and I reported aboard the MORTON in October 1965.
The MORTON was home ported in San Diego as a part of DesRon 5. The ships in our squadron were the USS RICHARD EDWARDS (DD-950), the USS LYNDE McCORMICK (DDG-8), and the USS HOPEWELL (DD-681). The MORTON had returned in February 1966 from a WestPac cruise, that took part in the famous Gulf of Tonkin incident, which included her sister ship the USS TURNER JOY (DD-951), and the USS MADDOX (DD-731).
The MORTON was named after Cmdr. Dudley Morton, captain of the famed WWII submarine WAHOO that went down in the La Perouse Straits in Japan in 1943, with all hands lost.
Our WestPac journey began on March 1, 1966, and our commanding officer was Cmdr. Robt. Bodamer. The exec was L.C.D.R. Carl Nelson.
After a two-day stop in Hawaii and a refueling stop in Midway, MORTON traveled to Yokusaka, Japan. MORTON was “S.O.P.A.” in Hong Kong for 16 days, and then proceeded to Subic Bay, P.I. for upkeep.
On April 10, we lost a man overboard. He was a seaman apprentice, assigned to mess-cook. He had reported aboard just before our deployment, and had not had the benefit of training at sea. He must have been dumping garbage off the fantail in a heavy sea. Nobody missed him until the next day. We went back and went through an all-day grid search, but he was never found.
He lives in my memory today! Robert Jasper Childers, 19, 999-27-63, SA, from Gassville, Ark.
Our deployment to Vietnam started in IV Corps. The first shot from MORTON’s three 5″-54s, and her four 3″-50s was April 19, 1966. She shot 3,014 rounds at 111 targets until April 29. From May 1 to May 12, MORTON fired 1,328 rounds at 446 targets in 1 Corps area. Targets included Viet Cong structures, supply points, bunkers and encampments.
After a two-week R&R, and replenishment in Taiwan, we resumed our duty as naval gunfire support in mid-June. Now I quote from my Cruise Book of 1966:
Early one evening in June the USS MORTON (DD 948) learned, over static- laden radio circuits that U.S. troops had been attacked by the Viet Cong. While closing the beach at 27 knots an urgent call for fire support was received, and within seconds the first round was on the way. It was not until days later that MORTON learned fully what had happened on the beach that night, and it can best be told as written by a marine combat correspondent in a press release entitled “Naval gunfire costly to VC”:
Danang – Naval gunfire was used in support of marines here last month and it cost the Viet Cong six mortars and 250 rounds of mortar ammunition.
The marines of “G” Co., Ninth Marine Regiment 3rd Marine Division, were dug in to a position about 14 miles southwest of here when, early in the evening, the VC started lobbing mortar rounds into the area. But, as the insurgents soon found out, it was the wrong time and place for an attack.
The navy destroyer USS MORTON was in a bay about 8,000 yards from the company’s position. Less than 60 seconds after the first mortar round landed, the ship opened up with its five-inch guns. The barrage from the sea lasted for 15 minutes. The surprised communists fled the area as soon as the ship started its shelling, leaving behind the weapons they had brought with them.
This is but one of the many episodes that MORTON was involved with during her six-month deployment to the Eastern Pacific. She spent 53 days of her deployment as a part of the naval gunfire support unit firing 10,416 rounds of 3- inch and 5-inch ammunition in all four corps areas along the coast of South Vietnam.
Special notes of praise from Lt. General Valt, Vice Admiral Hyland and Commodore Allendorfer, as well as consistent comments from spotters such as, “Most rounds and best effects of any ship I’ve spotted for”, “Right on target, keep them coming”, “Beautiful!” and “That round landed jolly well where it should have!” attested to the deadly accuracy of her batteries.
One message the MORTON is particularly proud of resulted from a June mission in the first corps area, which lasted for a 24-hour period. Over 500 rounds of ammunition were fired at Viet Cong Structures, emplacements, bunkers and troops in an area south of Danang. The firing started in the evening when a junk base was taken under attack by the Viet Cong from dug in positions across a river from the base.
With the U.S. Navy advisor to the “Black Beret” junkmen spotting, MORTON’s main batteries soon broke up this attack and drove the Cong away. Within the hour the Viet Cong attacked again. This time their target was a company of marines from the Third Marine Division who were operating a short distance from the junk base. The marines’ urgent call for fire was answered with rapid volleys of fire in three areas which completely silenced the Viet Cong attack. Throughout the night the Cong continued to probe the marine and Republic of Vietnam army positions but were greeted each time with fire support from the sea. The next morning the Viet Cong tried once more to attack the junk base and again they were dispersed by MORTON’s guns. This time the fire was controlled by an airborne spotter who the ground troops nicknamed the “Red Baron.” Final assessments of damage included complete destruction of two bunkers with complex adjoining trenching networks and extensive damage to a third bunker, eight structures destroyed and four damaged, and thirty Viet Cong confirmed as killed in action. The following day MORTON received a message which read: “Your gunfire yesterday was one of the best advertisements for naval gunfire support that I have ever seen.” On June 22, Lt. Col. Donahue’s 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines, underwent an attack in the hamlet of La Hoa, east of the railroad and 4,000 meters north of Ky Lam. Once again the MORTON was called to silence the enemy.
During this deployment, the MORTON went to Da Nang to distribute salt to families who found it impossible to get this essential commodity. In July, we began harassment missions in III Corps. MORTON fired intermittent rounds into dense jungle areas, where the VC were known to be operating.
It was impossible to determine the effect of the rounds until the following day when it was found out from a recon of the area that 25 Viet Cong had been killed as a result of the harassment shelling.
One of MORTON’s most effective missions involved a well-organized and pre-planned mission while MORTON was working for Republic of Vietnam troops south of the Mekong Delta in July.
During a routine reconnaissance of an infiltration area a soldier got inadvertently separated from his RVN Company and was forced to make his way back to friendly territory by himself.
On his trip back he went through a Viet Cong base camp and spotted a full battalion of North Vietnamese troops.
Upon successfully evading the VC and returning to his company, his intelligence data supplied the coordinates for MORTON’s targets. Probable escape routes were plotted, and carefully timed barrages from MORTON’s main and secondary batteries, spewing over 900 rounds of ammunition into the area in a six-hour period, were credited with annihilating 50 percent of the North Vietnamese troops. This is an estimate of somewhere between 150 and 250 men killed in action as a result of a single incident of naval gunfire support.
This proud ship, the USS MORTON, that I feel fortunate to have served on, is now a part of the Taiwan Navy. But I can always visit my memories by taking part in the reunions of the USS TURNER JOY (DD-951). This ship is identical to mine, and now is a living memorial in Bremerton, Washington. Come visit her sometime!
