Yokosuka Based Destroyer Top Gun of Seventh Fleet

Seahawk Newspaper, Yokosuka Japan, September 14, 1962

Destroyermen of the USS DeHaven have joined the elite corps of Navy marksmen.

In firing their twin-mount five-inch guns the DeHaven gunners have succeeded in winning all possible gunnery awards for excellence.

Gunnery awards are not new to DeHaven. Some of her equipment has been decorated with the Gunnery ‘E" in the past. Now, all the destroyer’s gun mounts and her directors are considered outstanding by the Navy and wear at least one "E" to attest this status.

DeHaven sharpshooters load and fire their mounts in competition with other ships of the Cruiser-Destroyer Force, Pacific Fleet to determine award winners. The crews are aided in their tracking and fire control by an electronic array located in the ship’s Fire Control Director. DeHaven director crews have maintained a sharp eye for the past three years winning three consecutive Director "E" awards.

When DeHaven is not engaged in perfecting her gunnery excellence or performing any of the many tasks as a Seventh Fleet Destroyer, she is searching for the elusive submarine in antisubmarine warfare operations. To prove her hunter/killer abilities DeHaven has won the Navy’s Anti-Submarine "A" for excellence two years in succession.

DeHaven’s Gunnery Department is not only outstanding when it comes to scoring hits with their guns. A perfect score has also been achieved in advancement in rate. The men in the department have had 100 per cent success in passing the Navy Service Wide Competitive examinations for advancement in gunnery rates during the past year.

Outstanding departments make an outstanding ship. DeHaven earned the Cruiser-Destroyer Force Pacific Battle Efficiency Award Within Destroyer Squadron NINE for the competitive year just completed. The award to the ship was made after she achieved the highest overall marks including administration, gunnery, engineering, damage control, air defense, communications, operations, and anti-submarine warfare. DeHaven crewmen now join the ranks of Navymen who are authorized to wear the coveted Navy ‘E"-the symbol of operational excellence. Approximately I out of every 13 Navymen are distinguished by the black letter "E" worn on their uniforms.

DeHaven’s record of excellence has followed the ship throughout its 18 year naval career. The ship was commissioned in 1944 and in 18 months of service in World War II she traveled better than 150,000 miles accounting for three enemy aircraft, three assists and the sinking of two ships. She also participated in the Korean Conflict.

In 1960 the ship completed a face lifting by undergoing the Navy’s FRAM II modernization process after which she joined the Seventh Fleet in October 1961 as a member of Destroyer Flotilla ONE, homeported in Yokosuka, Japan.

DeHaven, commanded by Commander J. W. Montgomery. stands as a tribute to the versatility of the destroyer type, and as one of the outstanding ships in the Pacific Fleet.