Military Service

Notes and Photos of past and present times

The Caldwell Family Musings

My military service consisted of a four year hitch in the United States Navy, from 1965 to 1969. Following boot camp and Electronics “A” school in Great Lakes Illinois, I was stationed aboard the USS Saint Paul, CA-73 in San Diego CA. The St Paul was a heavy cruiser with nine 8” guns, ten 5” guns and eight 3” guns. While assigned to the “Fighting Saint”, I attended three additional “C” schools, progressed from the rank of FTG Seaman (E-3) to FTG-2 Gunfire Control Tech (E-5). My primary jobs were to maintain the MK1A Computer for the 5” Guns and then on to the MK 8 Target Designation System. During my time overseas, I visited Hawaii, Guam, Japan, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore.

During the years 1966, 1967 and 1968, the St Paul provided gunfire support for the troops primarily in the DMZ area of Vietnam, however also as far south as Da Nang and north to Vinh. As the conflict escalated, we fired 10,000+ rounds in 1966, 34,000+ rounds in 1967, and 64,000+ rounds in 1968. We were fortunate in that only one man received wounds, however we did lose one man overboard in the night. The ship was hit once, in the bow area, by 100 mm artillery fire on 1 Sept 1967 when we received 500+ rounds of counter battery fire off the coast of N. Vietnam. Fortunately, we were able to quickly repair the damage and return to duty.

For Cruise Book views of the USS St Paul, click the pictures left & below (offsite).

USS Saint paul - ca 73