1950.06.28 KOREAN WAR!-& personal account
"[pre-June28 1950 USS Taussig] Flight operations and anti-submarine training exercises were conducted in the Subic area to maintain a state of readiness for immediate action if called upon. The only problem that most of the ships had was that we were operating with only 50% or less of our normal wartime complement of officers and men. The Taussig had 10 officers, when normal complement was 21, and 155 men, compared to 360 in a war time environment. This limited the capability to man all stations in an emergency.
1950 June 25 -
On Sunday afternoon, 25 June 1950, most of the Skippers were gathered at the Officers' Club in Subic for a little relaxation. A messenger came to the Club and informed us that Adm. Hoskins wanted all Skippers aboard the Flagship immediately. A boat was standing by and took us to the Valley Forge where we were ushered to the Admiral's quarters. When all had arrived the Admiral came out of his stateroom into the cabin and stated, "Gentlemen, we are at war. The North Koreans have crossed the 38th parallel and are approaching Seoul. We will get underway the first thing tomorrow morning. We do not know what the Chinese Communist are going to do. Meyer, get Taussig underway as soon as you can and proceed to Manila to pick up the Rochester with Com7thFleet, joining the Task Force en route to Formosa."
I left immediately and returned to Taussig. We sent a party ashore to gather our shipmates who were on liberty. Actually, the Shore Patrol in Olangopo had already been alerted and were sending all personnel back to their respective ships. We were underway withing 3 hours of my receiving the order from Adm. Hoskins, en route to Manila. The Rochester was underway as we approached Manila Harbor the next morning. We joined up immediately and set course to join the Task Force.
The trip north to Formosa area was made at a speed of 25 knots. We stayed to the east of the island in view of uncertainty of reaction from the Chinese. Whenever guard mail was to be passed within the Task Force, Com7thFleet always called on the Taussig. We did not have helicopters to perform such tasks as passing guard mail or plane guard duty. With a SOA of 25 knots, this became a little tricky to maneuver either alongside or from bow to stern. Plus we had to use speeds up to 30 knows between ships. I do not recall whether we entered Buckner Bay in Okinawa to replenish, or replenished at sea, but we did head for the Yellow Sea and on 4 July the Valley Forge launched the first-ever carrier-based jets to attack the North Koreans. A British carrier that was in the Far East joined us for this attack. All flight operations required two destroyers to occupy plane guard stations -- one forward and one aft-- at all times. Taussig seemed to get more than her share of these assignments. We were always ready and fulfilled our assignments. "
-- Comdr. William C. Meyer, Commanding Officer USS Taussig
1950.06.28 KOREAN WAR!-& personal account
"[pre-June28 1950 USS Taussig] Flight operations and anti-submarine training exercises were conducted in the Subic area to maintain a state of readiness for immediate action if called upon. The only problem that most of the ships had was that we were operating with only 50% or less of our normal wartime complement of officers and men. The Taussig had 10 officers, when normal complement was 21, and 155 men, compared to 360 in a war time environment. This limited the capability to man all stations in an emergency.
1950 June 25 -
On Sunday afternoon, 25 June 1950, most of the Skippers were gathered at the Officers' Club in Subic for a little relaxation. A messenger came to the Club and informed us that Adm. Hoskins wanted all Skippers aboard the Flagship immediately. A boat was standing by and took us to the Valley Forge where we were ushered to the Admiral's quarters. When all had arrived the Admiral came out of his stateroom into the cabin and stated, "Gentlemen, we are at war. The North Koreans have crossed the 38th parallel and are approaching Seoul. We will get underway the first thing tomorrow morning. We do not know what the Chinese Communist are going to do. Meyer, get Taussig underway as soon as you can and proceed to Manila to pick up the Rochester with Com7thFleet, joining the Task Force en route to Formosa."
I left immediately and returned to Taussig. We sent a party ashore to gather our shipmates who were on liberty. Actually, the Shore Patrol in Olangopo had already been alerted and were sending all personnel back to their respective ships. We were underway withing 3 hours of my receiving the order from Adm. Hoskins, en route to Manila. The Rochester was underway as we approached Manila Harbor the next morning. We joined up immediately and set course to join the Task Force.
The trip north to Formosa area was made at a speed of 25 knots. We stayed to the east of the island in view of uncertainty of reaction from the Chinese. Whenever guard mail was to be passed within the Task Force, Com7thFleet always called on the Taussig. We did not have helicopters to perform such tasks as passing guard mail or plane guard duty. With a SOA of 25 knots, this became a little tricky to maneuver either alongside or from bow to stern. Plus we had to use speeds up to 30 knows between ships. I do not recall whether we entered Buckner Bay in Okinawa to replenish, or replenished at sea, but we did head for the Yellow Sea and on 4 July the Valley Forge launched the first-ever carrier-based jets to attack the North Koreans. A British carrier that was in the Far East joined us for this attack. All flight operations required two destroyers to occupy plane guard stations -- one forward and one aft-- at all times. Taussig seemed to get more than her share of these assignments. We were always ready and fulfilled our assignments. "
-- Comdr. William C. Meyer, Commanding Officer USS Taussig