I would appreciate any errors in ship name spelling and hull numbers being brought to my attention.
A very unique experience
While a Seaman or Third Class ET, I wintered over at Neah Bay, WA on independent duty. I lived in a little shack behind the Coast Guard Lifeboat Station with no running water or bathroom facilities. The only furnishings were a pot belly stove for heating and cooking, a picnick table and two bunks... and a single bare bulb. The water was provided by a garden hose run from the Coast Guard facility. I used the restroom facilities at the Crown Zellerbach logging barracks which were close by (they were closed during the winter but left a wing open for me to use).
My duties were to make a daily "Muster" radio check at 0800 each morning to the base (Harbor Defense Unit, Port Townsend) and to make rounds of the small craft, barges anchored in the bay and quanset huts with our equipment on the little island at the end of the breakwater, Waada Island.
I purchased my own food and cooked on the pot belly stove. Things that needed to be kept cold were set on a shelf outside the building. More on this in the section on Harbor Defense Unit, Port Townsend.
Check out the interesting story of how a Correspondence Course saved my life... literally! The whole story is on the HDU Port Townsend page. Sometimes it really does pay to study!
The objective of this website
It is not my intention to make myself look like a super hero who saved the Navy and the world. I made mistakes, some of which will be included in this site. In spite of the mistakes I made through the years of service, and I like to think they were not too many or too great, I had a very successful career. I started out in the summer of 1954 as a Seaman Recruit and retired in the Spring of 1975 a Lieutenant Commander having "hit" all the levels in between except for E-8 and E-9. In other words, I am a Mustang and proud of it.
I was helped along the way by some of those above me but particularly by those who worked for me. I would like to thank all those who I had the honor to serve with who did so much to make my career whatever success it became. I know they were not doing what they did with the intent of furthering my career. they were just doing their jobs with the dedication and high personal standards that they would give whoever they worked for.
My leadership style may not be what the Navy would teach at the Academy. I learned early on that most of those in the Navy with whom I worked really wanted to do a good job. I would watch the men under me until I knew what they were capable of and how they worked then I would get out of their way. They were working for themselves instead of me and took "ownership" of their jobs seriously.
Typical of that attitude was a note for supplies one of my shop leaders sent to the desk of the one who placed the orders for the division. The list contained all the tools and parts he needed and the last item on the list was - "Time... time.. time...". With that attitude he was bound to succeed and the job he did reflected credit to me as his Division Officer in the eyes of my superiors. But all I had done was trust him to do a good job. stay out of his way and let him run his shop and he did a superb job of it. More on this in the section on the USS Everglades.
Since you are reading this you are among the ones I hope to contact. If you served on any of the ships or stations, either at the time I was there or not, I think we might have some interesting sessions of "swapping lies" better known as "sea stories" to share. Much of the details of my service will be revealed in this website so I will be interested in hearing about your experience
Many of the photos included in the Website are edited to add color. Below is a Slide Show illustrating the process.
Photo Editing Slide Show
Click on Icon to view a slide show of Photo Editing
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| USS Firedrake AE-14 |
| USS Force MSO-445 |
| USS Gannet MSC-290 |
| USS Gregory DD-802 |
| USS Guadalupe AD-32 |
| USS Gunston Hall LSD-5 |
| USS Haleakala AE-25 |
| USS Hancock CVA-19 |
| USS Henderson DD-785 |
| USS Henry County LST-824 |
| USS Holmes County LST-836 |
| USS Hopewell DD-681 |
| USS Impervous MSO-449 |
| USS Ingersol DD-652 |
| USS Interceptor AGR-8 |
| USS Interdictor AGR-13 |
| USS Isbel DD-869 |
| USS Iwo Jima LHP-2 |
| USS Jason AR-8 |
| USS Jerome County LST-848 |
| USS Kearsarge CVA-33 |
| USS Kitty Hawk CVA-63 |
| USS Kram |
| USS Laws DD-558 |
| USS Lowe DD-325 |
| USS Manatee AO-58 |
| USS Marsh DD-699 |
| USS Marshall DD-676 |
| USS Mathews AKA-96 |
| USS Mattaponi AO-41 |
| USS McMorris DE-1036 |
| USS Merrick AKA-97 |
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USS Mispilolion AO-105 |
| USS Molala ATF-106 |
| USS Montrail APA-213 |
| USS Mullany DD-528 |
| USS Munsee ATF-107 |
| USS Navarro ADA-215 |
| USS Navasota AO-106 |
| USS Neches AO-47 |
| USS North Wind WAGB-28 |
| USS Oak Hill LST-7 |
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USS Oknagan APA-220 |
| USS Oriskany CVA-34 |
| USS Ozbourne DD-846 |
| USS Paracutin AE-18 |
| USS Parsons DD-949 |
| USS Paul Revere APA-248 |
| USS Pickaway LPA-222 |
| USS Pictor AF-54 |
| USS Pine Island AV-12 |
| USS Platte AO-186 |
| USS Point Defience LSD-31 |
| USS Ponchartran WPG-70 |
| USS Powell DD-686 |
| USS Procyon AF-61 |
| USS Providence CL-82 |
| USS Rehoboth AGS-50 |
| USS Renville APA-227 |
| USS Salsbury Sound AV-13 |
| USS Shelton DD-796 |
| USS Siminole AKA-104 |
| USS Sioux ATF-75 |
| USS Sirus AFS-8 |
| USS Skagit AKA-195 |
| USS Small DDR-838 |
| USS Somers DD-947 |
| USS St. Clair County LST-1096 |
| USS Staton Island AGB-5 |
| USS Stone County LST-141 |
| USS Summit County LST-1146 |
| USS Sumner County LST-11448 |
| USS Talladega APA-208 |
| USS Taney WPG-37 |
| USS Tangeteer YV-3 |
| USS Thomaston LSD-28 |
| USS Ticonderoga CVA-14 |
| USS Tingey DD-539 |
| USS Tolovany AO-64 |
| USS Towers DDG-9 |
| USS Tulare AKA-112 |
| USS Turner Joy DD-951 |
| USS Twining DD-540 |
| USS Uhlman DD-687 |
| USS Uvalde AKA-88 |
| USS Vega AF-59 |
| USS Wachusett WPG-44 |
| USS Walke DD-723 |
| USS Watts DD-567 |
| USS Weiss APD-135 |
| USS Wexford County LST-1168 |
| USS Whetstone LSD-27 |
| USS Wilkinson DL-5 |
| USS Winston AKA-94 |
| USS Wisman DE-667 |
| USS Yancy AKA-93 |
| USS Zelima AF-49 |
ENS Leroy Jones, LDO Class Newport, RI 1965
|
Nav
Com Station, Subic, Bay
Philippines |
|
Officer
In Charge NTF, Capas
Philippines |
|
Nav
Com Sta, San Miguel
Philippines |
Summary of US Navy Service
Advancements
E-1 through E-7 (enlisted in 1954 and made CPO 1963)
O-1 through O-4 (Commissioned ENS in 1965 advanced to LCDR)
Awards earned
Navy Achievement Medal (for tour as Officer in Charge Navy Transmitting Facility, Capas, Tarlac, Philippines)
Navy Unit Commendation
Meritorious Unit Commendation
Good Conduct (2 stars)
National Defense Korea / Vietnam (two deployments to Vietnam) (1 star)
Vietnam Service (1 star)
Vietnam Campaign
Special Qualifications
Qualified for succession to command at sea
Officer of the Deck underway and in port
CIC Officer
Command Duty Officer moored or at anchor in US and foreign ports
Surface Warfare Officer
Ships I served a tour of duty aboard
USS Teaberry AN-34 home port - San Francisco, CA from July 1960 to July 1961 when she went out of commission
USS Everglades AD-24 home port - Charleston, SC from June 1965 to December 1967
USS Long Beach CGN-9 home port - Long Beach, CA from June 1971 to April 1975 at which time I retired from the Navy
Special Project
The USS Teaberry had an old SHORAN navigation unit aboard however the SHORAN system had been de-activated years before I reported aboard. The USS George Washington SSBN-598 was completing construction and preparing for duty at sea but first the inertial navigation system had to be initialized while the ship was at a precisely know location. It was decided that the SHORAN unit aboard the Teaberry would be used for that purpose and three SHORAN shore installations were temporarily activated to support the project.
Engineers from Mare Island Naval Shipyard came aboard to help calibrate our unit. I had just graduated from Advanced Electronics School and we worked together on the project. One of the things we ended up doing was making a very precise range ring on our SPS-21 radar by using a signal from the IFF equipment located in my ET workshop in the forward hold by running cables up over the wing of the bridge to the SPS-21 console. But, we needed a peaking circuit to form a sharp peak to make a very small width range ring. I designed and built the peaking circuit which did the job beautifully.
Once the unit was properly calibrated we had to cut the equipment in half so it would fit through the hatch in the USS George Washington, take it aboard the submarine and install it for them to use for the brief period they needed. Later, they took it back apart, removed it and disposed of it.
Ships I was aboard for one or more training / Operation Readiness Inspection (ORI) day trips while at Fleet Traning Group, San Diego, CA during the period July 1961 to August 1962
I will be especially interested in sharing photographs.
My email address is:
Click on my email address to send
me an email with your comment
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Leroy Jones
PO Box 140
Woolwine, VA 24185
276-930-4571
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