Battle off Dong Hoi
By Philip Gardocki
This story was told to me by one of the “Talos”
radar men on the
Oklahoma City
. Other facts I looked up.
On
April 19th, 1972, during a major
North Vietnam offensive, a
task force of four
US ships
was sailing off the coast of
Vietnam
. They were the USS Higbee DD806, USS Oklahoma
City CG-5, USS Sterett CG-31, and the
Lloyd Thomas DD 764. They were
attacked by three North Vietnamese MiGs.
In an attempt to surprise the
task force, the MiGs came in low, described as getting their feet wet. Despite
the official stories, 
USS Sterett, CG-31, Cruising at Sea.
they did not surprise the task force, which had spotted them long before
engagement range and were ready to shoot. Two ships, the
Oklahoma City
, and the
Sterett, had
anti-aircraft missiles, while the
Higbee
and the
Lloyd Thomas were armed with
dual purpose 5” guns. All ships were at battle stations.
What was inexplicable were the orders to break
track on the MiGs issued to the “Talos” radars, and, presumably, to the Sterett’s “Terrier” radars. “Track” or
“Lock” means the radar is automatically following a target and updating the fire
control computer several hundred times a second. For reasons unknown, the
missile cruisers were ordered not to fire at the incoming aircraft, but the two
gun destroyers were given weapons free orders.
The radar men on the
Oklahoma City
obeyed orders and broke track, but they locked
back on immediately. When this was discovered, they were ordered to break track
again and stay that way. Once again, the radar men obeyed the letter of the
order but not the spirit, and, using their manual skills with the knobs and
wheels, followed the planes without the automatic tracking circuits. This was
also caught, and they were then ordered to place their radars in a centerline
position and not to move them until ordered.
So, with helpless horror, they got to watch as one
of those aircraft, dropped a 250lb bomb on the Higbee, destroying its aft 5” gun mount.
Luckily the gun mount was empty as it had a round jammed in the barrel. The
twelve-man gun crew had been ordered out while it was being hosed down to keep
it from exploding. Four men were wounded, some critically.
On the Sterett, someone had had enough, and
fired two “Terriers”, which downed a MiG. Later that day she targeted another
unidentified inbound aircraft and downed it as well.*
The official story is unchanged, that the four
ships were surprised but responded well. I have not found one “conspiracy” page
on this event, so mine is the first.
*The Sterett was having an eventful cruise,
as she also shot down two MiGs on March 30th - possibly a
post WWII record.
