page_title: USS Hanson (DD-832)
section_title: 1972 daily routine in the Gulf of Tonkin
hierarchical_section_title: USS Hanson (DD-832) / Service history / Vietnam, 1972 / 1972 daily routine in the Gulf of Tonkin
caption_attribution_description: English: 12.7 cm ammunition aboard the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Hanson (DD-832) in the Gulf of Tonkin, in 1972.
context_page_description: USS Hanson was a Gearing-class destroyer of the United States Navy, named for First Lieutenant Robert M. Hanson, United States Marine Corps of Marine Fighting Squadron Two Fifteen, a quintuple ace who was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously.
context_section_description: The raids continued from sunset to sunrise throughout May into June and sporadically at other times while Hanson took on fuel, supplies and ammunition during the day. Rearming and replenishment usually took from 2 to 4 hours every one and a half to two days. Nonetheless, ships routine had to continue; meals, cleanup, maintenance and repair of equipment subjected to long hours of continuous gun fire. The continual combat missions and replenishment kept her crew awake approximately 22 hours per day and the two hours of sleep the crew did get basically consisted of 5 or 10 minutes here and there. The ship remained on water hours during this long combat period in order to relieve the engineering department of making feed and drinking water. The only showers authorized were for those personnel working below decks in the engineering spaces. The rest of the ship's crew could only take "bird baths". Nightly, there were typically two to five General quarters periods usually lasting between one and two hours each usually under stress of possible or actual hostile fire. Every crew member was involved; Engineering department tending 4 steam boilers, powering Hanson's twin engines, gun crews loading heavy projectiles (55 lb) and gunpowder (15 lb) stored in magazines loading into hoists taking it up into the gun mounts where they are hand loaded into the gun breeches, ready to be fired. Gun director crews, plotters, navigators, CIC crews, and bridge lookouts straining their eyes watching for hostile surface or air contacts. Such times seemed to never end. At one point during Hanson's numerous firing engagements, her rear gun mount barrels had to be changed out in Da Nang by the repair ship USS Hector anchored in the harbor. Of course many other vessels of the fleet were present carrying out the same maintenance.
  From 22 to 28 May, Hanson on three occasions moved into position and fired upon an area 30 to 35 miles northwest of Qui Nhon in support of ARVN 2nd Division and was credited with destroying 2 enemy emplacements, damaging 15 other enemy emplacements and on one bombardment the inflicted damage was inconclusive. Bausell accompanied Hanson during at least one of these bombardments.
  On 24 May, as part of Operation Song Thanh (6-72), Hanson, along with other 7th Fleet ships took up position near US Navy amphibious assault ships, mainly Duluth, Cayuga near Wunder Beach southeast of Quảng Trị city. The two ships were part of the amphibious group which included Schenectady and Manitowoc. After an intense arc light raid by B-52s on the beach the ships launched amphibious tractors to land VNMC battalions. Duluth and Cayuga came under fire from a North Vietnamese shore battery. The battery was immediately fired upon by Hanson and other ships in the support group joined in to silence the batteries. Duluth then moved out of range under its own "black smoke".
  In June 1972 during night raids, Hanson dueled with North Vietnamese 152 millimeter coastal batteries near Hon La and Hon Mat islands. Hanson was struck twice during these duels on two separate occasions. The shells used by the North were anti-aircraft, so most of its battle damage was shrapnel punctures to the aluminum superstructure. Hanson took one such hit (night raid) which created at least 140-plus holes/breaks; on the starboard side from the after shower room (main deck level) forward up to the bridge on the 02 level. The hull technicians reported patching/repairing about 145 welds. During one early morning daylight raid Hanson was struck on the port side through the ASROC deck into a life jacket locker mounted in the overhead main deck by a 3-inch rocket, its armor-piercing warhead nearly hitting a damage control party in the main deck passageway. There were no injuries or loss of life aboard Hanson. During one tense night raid, Hanson was expecting trouble from small boats, and the .50 cal gun crews were put on the alert for any such threats.
  During the raid the port bridge wing gun crew opened up on Hanson's port side at what they thought was a small boat, but it turned out to
caption: Hanson high line unrep of ammunition 1972 Tonkin Gulf. Vertical unreps were much faster.
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