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Years Served: 1960-1962…Great ship and crew. Loved my time aboard

Robert Lyons

Years Served: `57 & `58 RM3…Came aboard in `57 when she was in drydock at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard. Someone above listed a number of ports that we landed in during that WestPac tour but they forgot Moji, Japan where after receiving a new Captain we promptly rammed the USS Higbee’s stern while attempting to get underway. Put hole in her stern and damaged our bow. Anybody else remember that day? How about our role in the Quemoy/Matsu Island situation when we were patrolling the Taiwan Strait? We were strafed by MIG 13’s and I remember as Fire Control Director of the aft mount, the frustration of trying to move those cannons into position to fire back. Then, the following week we steamed down into the South China Sea to rescue the SS President Hayes, a freighter stranded on a coral reef from some Red Chinese gun boats. I finally managed to get a chance to fire those guns in anger…lol My nickname was Sputnick because I managed to pickup the Russian satellite’s signal on our new….top-secret radio gear that had just been installed in `57. It was called single-side band and now it’s so obsolete, it’s pathetic…my oh my, how quickly time flies… Zoud

Richard (Zoud) Danko

Years Served: 1954-1957…I spent a lot of sea sick time aboard the ‘jumpin jimmy’

Michael J Heiberger

Years Served: 1954-1957…what a great 3 years aboard the jumpin jimmy!!! i came aboard a etsn and left as a ET2….8

michael j heiberger

Years Served: 1957 -1958…I was ET3 when I made one WestPac cruise on the Jumpin’ Jimmy in 1957. We visited Hawaii, Western Samoa, Melbourne, Brisbane, Port Moresby, Subic Bay, Hong Kong, Kaoshiung, Keelung, Okinawa, Yokosuka, Kobe, Sasebo, and had adventures I will never forget. It was a great time to be a young swabbie! Then I transferred to USS Saint Paul CA-73 in 1958 and went back to Asia for 35 years.

Larry Houchens

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