Acts of incredible bravery were not uncommon for sailors in Vietnam. Yet at times, their important contributions have been overshadowed by larger forces serving "in-country" during the war. Although 1972 saw the Vietnam War on the steady decline for U.S. forces, the U.S. Navy's role there was still paramount.
USS Higbee DD 806 became the first U.S. naval vessel attacked by enemy MiG-17s, one of which dropped a bomb on the destroyer's stern, wounding four sailors.
DA NANG, Vietnam (AP) - "MIG coming! MIG coming!" yelled the lookout and seconds later the after deck of the destroyer Higbee was aflame. The North Vietnamese jet dropped a 250 pound bomb onto the deck of the destroyer, wounding four seamen and destroying a gun mount that housed two 5 inch guns.
The U.S. Command said at least three enemy jets attacked an American task force in the Tonkin Gulf off the coast of North Vietnam late Wednesday afternoon. The command said one of the planes was shot down, two enemy torpedo boats were believed sunk and shrapnel from shore battery fire caused minor damage on the cruiser Oklahoma City, the flagship of the 7th Fleet.
Capt. Ronald Zuilkoski, skipper of the Higbee, said the MIG attacked his ship at least twice before the bomb hit the deck. "In the first two passes, bombs fell left and right of the ship," he said, "but on the third try one hit the deck and exploded under the mount. She flew so low over the deck that you could see everything."
Luckily the gun mount was empty, the 12 man gun crew having been ordered out while a round stuck in one of the barrels (hang fire) was being hosed down to keep it from exploding. But three men in the ammunition storage compartment under the mount were wounded. Other men pulled them out as the ammunition began to explode. The exploding ammunition ripped open a large section in the Higbee's left side. Flames and clouds of black smoke from leaking oil engulfed the deck as the crew fought the fire.
Another warning sounded: "Missile! Missile homing in!" "We heard the missile warning, but we had to stay with the fire or we would have lost the ship," said Hull Tender 2nd Class John J O'Brien, 40 of Camden, NJ "It was fantastic - everyone worked together. They did what they were trained to do even though too much happened at one time - flames were every where."
John T. Allardyce, 26, another Hull Tender 2nd Class, from Allentown, Pa., was up forward." I felt the bomb hit," he said. "It shook the boat forward and then I heard the call for help from O'Brien's section in the rear." Allardyce said the bomb explosion damaged the water (fire main) system, "but we managed some how to get the thing under control." "The guys really worked together," said Allardyce. "You'd call for one man to come and help and two would show up."
The Higbee entered DA Nang harbor early today. It's after deck looked like a junkyard floating in a pool of dirty oil. It tied up alongside the repair ship Hector and near the destroyer USS Buchanan DDG 14 which the U.S. Command said was damaged by shore fire Monday.
To see a map of the Battle Area click here
Photo's courtesey of Dan Garcia, Dan took these pictures when the ship he was on the USS Whipple DE 1062 was along side the Higbee at Da Nang Viet Nam, April 1972
THE BATTLE OF DONG HOI - VIET NAM - 19 APRIL 1972 A MIG 17 came out of the mountains, went "feet wet" and passed directly over the USS Sterett It then made a turn up the track of the strike force that included the USS Oklahoma City and Lloyd Thomas DD 764 and dropped two 250 pound iron bombs on the next ship in line the USS Higbee DD 806. Moments before this, the USS Higbee experienced a hot round in her after gun mount. This hang-fire condition forced evacuation of the mount as a precautionary measure. One of the MIG's bombs dropped on the vacated after mount and the other one dropped into the water along side her fantail. Just as the MIG pulled up from her bomb run and banked to starboard toward the safety of the mountains, The USS Sterett achieved a missile "lock-on" and fired two Terrier missiles, one of which downed the MIG. Higbee's steering gear had been damaged by the attack. She encountered no fatalities and damage control teams had the fires quickly under control. USS Sterett stood by, as Higbee fought her fires, completed her turn and proceeded out of the area, still with her rudder inoperative. USS Sterett continued to stand by Higbee. On her own power Higbee headed for DaNang, South Viet Nam, since DaNang was the closest friendly port.
For the more information about the USS Sterett actions on this April day visit the Sterett Home Page athttp://www.sterett.org/battle.htm
I was up in the LCCS on the ASROC deck on 19 April, 1972. I was ASROC Security during GQ. I got a REAL good look at the belly of a Mig-17 as it appeared to fly between the stacks. The bomb it dropped just missed the life lines. We all wondered why it didn't fire it's cannons and light up the ASROCs.
Michael Johnson STG3... USS Higbee 71 - 73
I was aboard the USS Sterett DDG 31 on 19th April 72 out on the signal bridge and happened to look up and see an unfamiliar looking jet passing overhead, maybe 2000 feet up. It was in a turning dive and passing astern of us and up our starboard side towards the Higbee. Suddenly a terrier missle roared off and GQ gonged me into CIC. There I heard the shouts of "We Missed" (and other things, unprintable). Within seconds another terrier rumbled away and instantly there was cheering about shooting down a MIG-17. That whole day seemed to bounce between GQ and condition III. We had a couple of gunboats shadowing us later in the day and made them disappear from radar with the 5 inch gun. It was a pretty hazy day; visibility only a couple of miles. Thanks for bringing back the memories with your web site.
Dave Bilak.... USS Sterett DDG 31
I was an FTGSN assigned to the gun fire control radar in the plotting room below decks during the battle of Dong Hoi. My biggest memory of that day comes from my duty station. The key to our success in sinking those gun boats that day rested with FTG2 "Ray" Raymond who was responsible for distinguishing and locking on the targets. Those green lines on the scope were all the same to me but Ray had a knack for telling the difference between the boats and the background chatter and reflections. The seas were choppy that day and he was having trouble maintaining a lock. The tension was unbelievable as we let the enemy close on us so that we could get a good target and be withing effective range with our 5"-54 Guns. Firing that salvo and getting those boats was an unbelievable relief especially since we knew about the missile intercept that occured earlier.
Al Woolum...... USS Sterett DDG 31
I was there on the Thomas on that day and have a very clear recollection of what I saw……..
I was OOD on L/T and the Ops officer at the time. I saw Higbee hit, the missile fired from the Sterret that downed the offending mig, and conned the ship up on the starbord quarter to provide assistence to the Higbee only to have the Higbee OOD or CO tell us that MT 52 still had a live round in it. The gun barrel was pointing directly at the Thomas at that moment. I did an emergency turn and we approached from the port quarter to provide assistence in the form of firepumps etc. (handybillies). The Lloyd Thomas escorted the Higbee into DaNang. The good part of it all was none of the US guys were killed. Not so for the MiG pilot and a bunch of guys on the torpoedo boats that also came after us. Thomas was given credit for sinking a couple of them and we painted little torpedos boats on our director. I was preoccupied with the Higbee on the Bridge more than the torpedo boats. Our XO, Lcdr. Mike Bickel ran that whole evolution from CIC. I do remember the contacts on the scope coming out at us, shooting at them and the contacts going away.
James R. Clark, Formerly Lt. USN.
USS Lloyd Thomas DD 764
USS Higbee,WestPacCruise1972
Wednesday, 15-Apr-98 21:09:13Message: From Billy Springs
I was on Her on April 19th, 1972. On duty in the upper handling room of the aft mount when she was hit. There were four of in there when the bomb exploded, Rick Rowe was mount Captain, Philip Garduno another SA , Butz and myself. We were not notified of a hang fire in the mount so had not evacuated yet.
When we were hit everything went into slow motion and the few minutes we trapped in the handling room was like an eternity. First I seen afire ball coming at me , then I heard an explosion , and then felt the concussion. It seemed like minutes between each one, although it was only a split second.
The blast caused the merrt-go-round (where we placed the projectiles and powder) to shift blocking the exit. I attempted to climb into the mount and that was when I first noticed that my left arm was shattered and unuseable. Rick had been cut across the back from shoulder to shoulder and unable to climb into the mount either. Philips(Flippy) hair was on fire and Rick and I patted it until it was out. As far as I know Butz did not recieve any injuries at this time, but was found on aft watch three days later in shock.
A secondary explosion blew a hole in the bulk head and we were able to escape through it. When we went up the ladder out from below deck the hatch had been dogged and we had to open the portal. As I threw the lid up Obie (Obrien) was swinging a axe to finish dogging the hatch down. I was first out and Rick was last and he informed Obie that the compartment was on fire. I made my way forward , almost making it to the barber shop which served as a medical station before passing out. I woke up to find "Doc" Brazelton kissing me and I remember asking "what the hell you doing". He told me that I had quit breathing and he was administering mouth to mouth. Then we heard that a heat seeking missle had been fired and the ship went cold(all power shut down).
After being stabilized Doc moved me to the ward room where the rest of them had been taken. When he laid me on the carpet I yelled because it felt like a million needles sticking in my back.
We were exvacted to the USS Tripoly where we were treated until being shipped to the 95th EVAC. in DaNang. From there I went to a burn unit at Camp Zama , Japan. Then to the Philliphines and finally on May 20th I landed at Travis Air Force Base in San Francisco. Eventually I was sent to Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego , where I was finally put on the Temp. Disability Retired list in 1973. In October of 1975 I was placed on permenant diability at 40 %.
I would really like to hear from any body else that was on board at this time. I can be contacted by E-Mail at BSpr1@aol.comBilly Springs.... USS Higbee DD 806 BSpr1@aol.com
I was at my GQ station in the ET shop, along with Petty Officer Mike Clawson and ET Chief Bernie Nuesbaum, when we heard over the sound powered phones that we were under attack from enemy MIG's. The ET shop on the Higbee was located on the main deck amidships, probably just below the ASROC launcher. My first thought was that we probably would experience strafing fire, so I crawled under one of the work benches against the inside bulkhead of the ship. To this day, I still don't understand why they did not strafe us. I remember the ship lurching as the bomb exploded under the after gun mount. One of ET gang GQ stations was in the after ECM station, which was located above the 'hilo' deck. The sailor at that station on that day was Petty Officer Tarnoski. We thought he had been killed because we lost all communication with him. He later told us that he witnessed the mount exploding. I remember hearing the screams of the wounded as they were taken to sick bay which was located just up from the ET shop. I can still see and smell the smoke that came up the main passageway. As I recall, the USS Sterett did not commence firing for a couple of minutes while it waited to get approval to launch its surface to air missiles. I'm not sure if this was true, but it is what I was later told. One of the Petty Officers who was stationed in the ASROC launcher control shack, later told us that on one of the MIG's first passes it dropped two bombs that tumbled between the ASROC launcher and the after stack. He said that they just cleared the railing and ended up in the ocean, just missing the ship. I remember the guys in the ET shop starting cheering when we heard that the Sterett was finally responding with vengeance. From that day on, I always held that ship and its crew in the highest regard. Those guys were heroes to me and the crew members I hung with. I recall going to evening chow call later that night and looking into the wardroom as I passed the wardroom door and looking at the officers that had gathered around the wardroom table. They all wore an expression of blank weariness, a look of what it is to be a survivor from a traumatic event. Somehow the experience of that moment had stripped away any barriers caused by rank between the crew and the guys who wore khaki.
Bravo Zulu to Petty Officer Tom Alardyce , Petty Officer O'Brien and the entire fire fighting crew. Looking back to that day, they, along with luck and fate, saved our ship. We almost lost her. Had any number of events unfolded in a different manner, the ship could have gone down with hundreds of the crew being lost. But we saw the thing through and fate, on this day, allowed us to carry on with our lives.
To finish this log entry, I want to say that I loved that ship and all of its crew and that Captain Zuilkoski was a fine skipper. I was both lucky and proud to have had him as the skipper on that day and that I had sailed with that particular crew. I salute him and all the crew of the haze gray ghost that was christened the USS Higbee.ETN2 Jon Daniels..... USS Higbee DD 806 Higbee806@aol.com
From: Gayle Martin
To: 'Steve Gardner' steve.gardner@worldnet.att.net
Date: Thursday, March 05, 1998 11:48 PM
Subject: RE: USS Higbee DD-806Yes we were at General Quarters. We, as I under stood, were going in to destroy an ammo bunker or fuel storage area that the Veit Cong had being building up. I remember going to GQ and had her all buttoned up. We brought her up to full power, throttles wide open and, Oh I suppose maybe fifteen minutes went by and I felt us turning, that's when I was making my rounds around the engine and Wade first called me over. Then the Hits and then the smoke and the lights went out except the emergency lights. Diesel came on the line. Down in the hole the first thing that went though our minds was a fire in the bilge's. But turned out the smoke was coming through the vents and I believe the repair party electrician left the inboard hatch open as he came down into the engine room to isolate the electrical power going back aft. To my knowledge all four boilers lost fires due to they were all hooked up to the fuel tanks back aft which were ruptured by the bomb. I also think we were on fire for about forty five minutes and under fire by four or five Veit Cong gun boats. I know this due to the only time our out board escape hatch came open was when the repair party came down it saying that they were receiving hostel fire from gun boats out side. If it hadn't been for the USS Sterett and The USS Thomas I think they would have sunk us. But the MIG's and the gun boats were did in by the missiles of the USS Sterett, USS Oklahoma City and the USS Thomas which circled us until we were able to get the boilers up and under way again. We couldn't go to fast due the handy billies, with their suction hoses hung over the side, to fast and the wake of the ship would throw the suction hose out of the water and then the pumps would lose suction. Once we had the power back up we used the electric pumps and even the emergency feed and bilge pump in the aft engine room to supply water to the fire main. I think we were flooded from the aft bulkhead of the dash deck to the forward bulkhead of the steering gear room. I do know that when you looked up at the hull when in dry dock you could see three or four holes in the bottom, about three feet in diameter. Our first stop after being hit was DA Nang were the UDT people came on board and defused the unspent projectiles and off loaded the ammo from the damage magazines. I know it was nip and tuck there for awhile but we all hung together. I think there was about five Sailors hurt in the deal but didn't hear of any one getting killed. I talked to the Mount Captain after the attack and he said he was blown out of the mount. I guess, if I under stood him right, that he was about ready to exit and remembered that he had to pull the pin's on the magazine flooding valves so as to flood the magazines. In which he did at about the same time the bomb went off and the pressure blew him into the life lines. He said all he could think of was to run, and then he realized that there wasn't any place to run. So went and helped his crew out. I think our Skippers name was Capt. Ronald Zuilkoski. He said the MIG attacked the ship twice before the bomb hit the ship. The first two passes, bombs fell left and right of the ship. One of the seamen that was manning one of the bridge wings 50 cal guns said that the skipper tried to shoot down one of the MIG's but it was moving to fast to track. Saw first two bombs tumble over the ASRock Launcher and stacks and going into the sea, one MIG turned about and made the third pass which was the one that hit mount 52.
Just one day's mission was that on 12 April of 1972 we hit a petroleum storage site and a SAM site. In just getting to this site we shot at the following targets: Coastal Defense Sites 18 rounds, Petroleum Storage Area 28 rounds, Torpedo Boats 32 rounds, Coastal Defense Site 8 rounds, Sam Site 20 rounds and 42 rounds on another Torpedo Boat. Not bad for a Higbee Day. Like I said this was in one of my wheel books for the 12th of April '72
Well this is all I have for now
Respectfully,
Gayle Martin MMC Retired......USS Higbee DD 806
Higbee just as she was exiting the Dong Hoi area and after the bomb hit the fantail. This picture was taken from the decks of the USS Sterett April 19, 1972. Photo By PNC George Elder
Damage Repair Far East Style: November 1972 "Our Navy" Magazine The USS Higbee (DD-806) was back in Tonkin action minus her aft gunmount, but with her structural damages repaired, thanks to fast work by the Ship Repair Facility at Subic Bay, Philippines.
Less than 35 days earlier, the Higbee had entered Subic Bay with significant battle damage. A 250 pound bomb dropped by the North Vietnamese MIG aircraft had completely destroyed her after gunmount, magazine and adjacent berthing compartments.
SRF put the Higbee in the AFDM-6 floating dry-dock and set to work. Nearly 45,000 gallons of fuel oil, from two ruptured fuel tanks, was pumped out of the ship, and approximately 1200 rounds of 5 inch projectiles and power cases were removed. The destroyed 5 inch gunmount and all the twisted, charred metal that supported it was cut away; the warped bulkheads, decks, everything, until the aft portion of the ship was an empty shell.
Using the efforts of 271 men, on day and night shifts, SRF rebuilt the hollow aft end of the Higbee. Following blueprints, and with the aid of photographs taken of a sister ship, 80,000 pounds of steel was used to construct Higbee sections in the SRF shops. These prefabricated sections were transported to the ship, trimmed and arc-welded into place.
The biggest problem was that of how to replace the gunmount. The Ship Repair Facility had no spare 5 inch gunmount on hand, and there was no indication when one would be available. With this in mind, the decision was made to build the foundation for the new mount, complete the interior repairs, and install the new mount at a later date.
Upon completion of repairs, Higbee set sail for a one day sea trial. The renovated crews quarters had bunks, lockers, lights, and the tile-covered decks. The bulkheads were covered with insulation, paint, and myriad lengths of piping and electrical wiring needed to operate the ship. The water-tight doors were in place. The foundation for the new gunmount was ready. Though the mount couldn't be installed, sections of heavy anchor chain filled the foundation to compensate for the weight of the missing mount. All the parts were in place. More importantly, all the parts worked. DD-806 was ready to resume her mission at sea. -- Story by PH-2 Doug Cunningham, USN.
The Damage to the After Gun Mount 52 Being repaired at Subic Bay U.S. Naval Shipyard April 1972
Click on the Pictures to see a full size one
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Photo was taken in DaNang from the deck of the USS Buchanan DDG 14 | Photo by Robert E. Fane GMMC, USN, Retired USS Buchanan |
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Photo was taken in DaNang from the deck of the USS Buchanan DDG 14 | Photo by Robert E. Fane GMMC, USN, Retired USS Buchanan |
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Inside shot of Mount 52 and the damage, you can see a 5" 38 cal. shell in the photo | Photo by Rick Spencer ETN3 USS Higbee 72-73 |
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Ring of Fire: After Gun mount 52 firing before the MiG 17 attack |
Photo by Rick Spencer ETN3 USS Higbee 72-73 |
Thanks go's to Gayle Martin for the information that he has provided about that day in April 1972
Thanks also go's to Dan Garcia for the pictures of the damage to the Higbee
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