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DD 872 (Gearing Class)
Subject: USS Forrest Royal (DD-872) Hello Mark, I joined the Forrest Royal in the Boston Naval Shipyard straight out of boot camp and Machinist Mate Service School in the late spring or early summer of 1948. After servicing, we went straight to Pensacola, Fla., escorting the USS Wright, training pilots in the Gulf of Mexico, Carribean and Guantanimo, Cuba areas. One of our associated duties was to ride out hurricanes to keep Pensacola and Mobile, Ala. informed of the storms destination so they would know where to move the planes out of it�s path. I have many stories of my experiences on the Royal. I am attaching a scanned copy of a 8 x10 photo of the �E� Division taken circa 1948. I have worked hard with the image I am sending to you to get it downsized to meet you criteria, but it is still oversized as per your specs. I hope you will forgive me and accept it anyway,-I want to be sure there is enough detail for anyone viewing it to be able to recognize the individuals. I would like for anyone recognizing one of them to e-mail me so I could make contact with them. Thanks a lot for this opportunity- there�s probably not many of us left.
Floyd Don Faulkner
Subject: Destroyers Online/DD872 Forrest Royal 872 Hello Mark, I was very pleased to see a page for the USS Forrest Royal. It was also nice to read the letters from people who served aboard her. I did not see any letters from crew members who served in the 50's. I was assigned to the Royal from 1951 to 1954 as a Torpedo men's Mate. I went aboard in her home port of New Port RI.We did the missions ships of our class were assigned such as ASW exercises with the subs out of New London plane guard duty and escort for carriers and went to the Caribbean for shore bombardment exercises. On 26 August 1952 we went to the Mediterranean for operations with the 6th Fleet. We spent Christmas in London,then sailed for Londonderry for joint NATO exercises with the British Navy in antisubmarine exercises. She returned to New Port. The Royal then sailed for duty with the 7th Fleet in the Japanese and Philippine waters. Her assignment in Korea was varied, she served as a flagship for minesweepers at Chinnampo,a port essential to supply operations for the 8th Army. She also engaged in the other duties as shore bombardment, blockade and escort all around the Korean coast, and other extensive operations with carrier task forces conducting air strikes. We returned to our home port,and at the end of the hostilities I was discharged from the Navy. I did however remain in contact with my ship mates who were still aboard. In the summer of 1957 the Forrest Royal took part in a midshipman cruise to South America as well as the International Naval Review in Hampton Roads. The following year NATO operations took her into European waters once more to take part in the task force operations and landing of marines in Beirut, Lebanon in response to the out break in the Middle East. A highlight of the Forrest Royal's schedule in 1959 was her participation in Operation "Inland Sea", this was the movement of a major task force into the Great Lakes in connection with the ceremonial opening of the St.Lawrence Seaway. She joined a naval review attend by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain. She returned to New Port where my last known contact left. She then sailed for the Med to join the 6th Fleet. In conclusion it should be noted that the Forrest Royal earned four battle stars for her Korean War service.
Fred W.Roberts
Subject: USS Forrest B. Royal (DD-872) Hi Robert, I reported to the Royal directly from service school in 1959 as an RDSA. I reported aboard at the Naval Shipyard in Boston, and then made a cruise to Guantanamo for refresher training. The Royal, at that time, was homeported in Newport RI. I made a deployment to the Mediterranean in 1960. I left the ship in Aranci Bay, Sardinia, because I had been appointed to the Naval Academy. The best thing that happened to me was the opportunity to serve on Royal prior to becoming a midshipman and an officer. It was an experience that I believe every midshipman should experience. Royal was a great ship, people with great sailors.
Ron Georgenson
Subject: Forrest B. Royal How would you like to have the 1960 cruise book of the Forrest B. Royal DD-872?
Eddie (Hollywood) Arnold
Subject: USS Forrest Royal (DD 872) Robert: I was fascinated to find the old Forrest Royal has its own page, and that the Gearing class DD's have a web page. I'll be glad to help some if I can, especially as it relates to the period around which I was aboard Royal. I reported aboard the Royal at Guantanamo in September of 1965. The ship was in refresher training preparing for an ORI. I was immediately turned around and sent to Dam Neck where I went through DASH school. I reported back to Royal in Mayport just before a Med deployment with Desron 28 (?). Boy, the memory fades. When I reported aboard the first time, the skipper was a Commander Beaubouef. When I got back to the ship after DASH school, there had been a change of command. The new captain was Bill Chattleton. XO was Dave Deutermann. Have you noticed the novels about the Navy by Pete Deutermann? He is Dave's brother, and a retired Captain...both sons of an admiral. The Med cruised included stops in Marseilles, Naples, Naturally, La Spezia, Bari, Brindisi, Rhodes (stood the deck watch New Years Eve, 1965), Palma de Majorca, Malta, etc. I think the cruise was about six months, which would have put us back in the States about April of '66. During '66, we knocked about the Carribean, went to New Orleans to help them prepare for Mardis Gras (does that mean we had to be back earlier than April?) where I met my future wife, went to help the Texas celebrate Texean Naval Day, etc. Then in January of "67, we departed for the Tokin Gulf. We passed through the Panama Canal, and the transited the Pacific with a Frigate...don't remember the name. I spent my 25th birthday at the O club at Pearl Harbor, drinking Maitais. Then, on to Sasebo for a week, and then to Subic. After Subic, we did a month out, a few days in for months, most on the gun-line and doing plane guard. We were actually engaged in a couple of bombardments in the North, one of which was a coordinated attack with air force. For the most part, though, we were in the south. On one cruise, we had the gun line commander on board as Commodore. I started as EMO and then became CIC officer. I was also GQ OD during Vietnam, so my ears aren't worth much now. I remember a few of the officers and crew. The Engineering Officer was Bob Burns. He was a good friend. I'd like to track him down (he was a tennis player from the University of South Carolina). The Ops Officer was Watson Lunt. He got passed over for LCDR just after...didn't get along well with the Captain...and got out and became a shipwright in California. The Weps Officer was Don Ayers. He went on to command one of those new coastal patrol vessels with the gas turbine engine and hydrofoils....seemed like a miracle then. There was an academy grad named Vince Lieggi. Can't remember any others right now, but if I come up with anything, I'll let you know. I would like to track down old shipmates? I hope to hear something. Ennis Parker P.S. My 23 year old son (Ennis III) has just graduated from OCS after finishing up at Amherst College and is in Surface Warfare Officer's School at Newport. He is assigned to DDG 57, the Mitscher, after he finishes at Newport.
Subject: USS Forrest Royal DD872 Robert, My Name is Jerry Johnson and I was a SM-3 on board the USS Navasota AO-106 in 1966-67 when I took this picture.It was taken in the Tonkin Gulf the ship was coming alongside for refueling , Seas were a little rough and the wind was blowing like hell and if I remember right in the next 5 or so seconds the only thing showing was the mast,If you guys want a good picture you should try to stay on top of the water at least half the time you are underway. Anyhow was surfing thru your links and though I would send this , Don't forget to say thank you when you run across a tanker swabbie for putting a tiger in your tank when you guys needed one. Regards, Jerry
Subject: DD872 Hello Robert, I served aboard the Royal '62-'63. Most memorable was a Med cruise summer of '63 and, of course, Cuban blockade during the missle crisis. I recall a very memorable occassion when smack in the middle of the Mediterranean the ship stopped for a swim call. The water was as warm and clear as a fish tank. A number of us swam like twelve year olds at the old "swimming hole". Funny how, in retrospect, I can think of my Royal experience in very nostalgic terms when back then my attitude was so very different. Jim McKinnon was Exec when I served so it sounds as if he spent quite a bit of time aboard. I hope some of my shipmates choose to write and share their experiences. John Baas, QMSN
Subject: DD872 Robert, I am the reunion coordinator for the Forrest B. Royal DD 872 and have photos, before and after Fram. I am not yet scanner capable but will be by years end. The Royal was commissioned in June of 1946 and was given to the Turkish Navy in 1971. More to follow. Tks Ron Larsen "[email protected]"
Subject: Hi Robert, I served on the USS Forrest Royal DD872 from 1966 through 1969 including the westpac cruise. I read the posted mail from Ennis Parker and remember most of it the same way. I believe the Frigate we crossed the pacific with was the USS Dahlgren and it supposedly had to turn around when it lost a man overboard. I'm not sure how accurate the information was at the time, but we were in some very rough weather. I still have my cruise book somewhere, and may have information you could use. If so please let me know. Keith (Limey) Aris EM2
Subject: Forrest Royal Sir: I served aboard Royal during the Vietnam deployment in 1967. Would like to contact shipmates from this time period.
Randolph R Smith
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