Naval Gunfire Support missions were important and vital for support to troops ashore. Spotters were on land and in the air and would visually sight and radio the position of enemy troop movements to the ship.. It was a dangerous duty but needed to be done. They were our eyes ashore. The information was taken in CIC by the RT talker and then plotted on charts and sent to fire control for computing and positioning the guns for the right elevation and direction to the target. We had practiced this in mock up schools and at small shooting ranges but this was for real and there were shore batteries to fire back.

Night Fire

Two Guns, One Salvo The night lites up for an instant

SN Jardine and an unidentified SN load the 5"

Gun crew posed by Mt 52

Above Sn Jensen and Walston wait and watch. Left Sn Paulus

Left SN Al Jardine ponders a restful moment. Above is SN Grey

Under ASROC is RD's Palmer and Boatman, SN Wallace, others unidentified. As full ones were hauled over the empties were crated and sent back to the AE.

BM 1 Beard strikes a pose while waiting

shell powder casings and projectiles were uncrated and passed hand to hand across the decks and down thru the compartments to the ammo sotrage hold.

BM1 Moon Mt 52 Gun Captain

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SN Burk loading a powder case in the handling room.