I was a Signalman 3rd Class on USS Sterett DLG-31 during the battle of Dong Hoi! My station was on the highest manned deck of the USS Sterett! Had a great view of most of what occurred during that battle! We were part of a Naval Gunfire Support Group led by USS Oklahoma City a Cruiser, we were a Guided Missile Destroyer DLG-31, also with the group was a DD USS Lloyd Thomas and another DD USS Higbee! The Sterett was there to watch for air attacks on the 3 other ships that were doing shore bombardment as we had Terrier Guide Missile launchers to protect against MIGs! After the bombardment of the land we were all pulling away and a Mig came out! It dropped a bomb on Higbee resulting in an explosion in the Aft 5" Gun Mount as said above luckily no one was killed but some were injured who were working in the emptied mount! A Terrier was fired at it by us but do to how close it was the Terrier system could not lock on it! A second Terrier was then launched and blew up the Mig which we could see visually from the Sterett! A second Mig came out but turned around and went back to shore a Terrier was fired at it and as it disappeared into the Mountains the Missile and the Mig disappeared off the radar screens so it was thought to have been blown up also! The 4 ships then were leaving the area with OK City and the Thomas providing assistance to Higbee! At that time a Couple of Patrol Boats were picked up on radar moving at a fast pace towards us! The Steretts 5" 50 Gun Mounts open fired and the radar blips disappeared again showing they had been destroyed but a Styx Missile was believed to have been fired by one of the Patrol Boats and headed in our direction it was picked up on radar and another Terrier Missile was fired at it and it to disappeared along with our Terrier Missile ! Some so-called experts believe some of the radar blips were caused by other things then what I mentioned here! But we were there they were not! The North Vietnamese say both Migs returned safely to base which I believe from what we saw that day was just your usual communist propaganda! Thanks for Mr. Webbs version of events from a different vantage in CIC manning the Radar! When we all got back to the Subic Bay in the Philippines we couldn't buy a beer if Higbee Sailors were around!
I was a Signalman 3rd Class on USS Sterett DLG-31 during the battle of Dong Hoi! My station was on the highest manned deck of the USS Sterett! Had a great view of most of what occurred during that battle! We were part of a Naval Gunfire Support Group led by USS Oklahoma City a Cruiser, we were a Guided Missile Destroyer DLG-31, also with the group was a DD USS Lloyd Thomas and another DD USS Higbee! The Sterett was there to watch for air attacks on the 3 other ships that were doing shore bombardment as we had Terrier Guide Missile launchers to protect against MIGs! After the bombardment of the land we were all pulling away and a Mig came out! It dropped a bomb on Higbee resulting in an explosion in the Aft 5" Gun Mount as said above luckily no one was killed but some were injured who were working in the emptied mount! A Terrier was fired at it by us but do to how close it was the Terrier system could not lock on it! A second Terrier was then launched and blew up the Mig which we could see visually from the Sterett! A second Mig came out but turned around and went back to shore a Terrier was fired at it and as it disappeared into the Mountains the Missile and the Mig disappeared off the radar screens so it was thought to have been blown up also! The 4 ships then were leaving the area with OK City and the Thomas providing assistance to Higbee! At that time a Couple of Patrol Boats were picked up on radar moving at a fast pace towards us! The Steretts 5" 50 Gun Mounts open fired and the radar blips disappeared again showing they had been destroyed but a Styx Missile was believed to have been fired by one of the Patrol Boats and headed in our direction it was picked up on radar and another Terrier Missile was fired at it and it to disappeared along with our Terrier Missile ! Some so-called experts believe some of the radar blips were caused by other things then what I mentioned here! But we were there they were not! The North Vietnamese say both Migs returned safely to base which I believe from what we saw that day was just your usual communist propaganda! Thanks for Mr. Webbs version of events from a different vantage in CIC manning the Radar! When we all got back to the Subic Bay in the Philippines we couldn't buy a beer if Higbee Sailors were around!
Thank You for this.