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Regular Session, 2014
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTI ON NO. 135
BY SENATORS JOHNS, MORRISH AND JOHN SMITH AND REPRESENTATIVES
DANAHAY, FRANKLIN, GEYMANN, GUINN, HENSGENS AND
KLECKLEY
COMMENDATIONS. Commends the USS Orleck destroyer, docked in Lake Charles, and
designates the ship as the Official Vietnam Memorial Ship for Louisiana.
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTI ON1
To commend and recognize the distinguished military history of the USS Orleck, docked in2
Lake Charles, and to designate the USS Orleck as the Official Vietnam Memorial3
Museum Ship for the State of Louisiana.4
WHEREAS, the USS ORLECK DD 886 is a Gearing Class Destroyer commissioned5
as a United States warship on September 15, 1944, and decommissioned in 1982, when she6
was transferred to the Turkish Navy where she operated as TCG YUCETEPE D 345 for7
sixteen additional years, after providing thirty seven years of meritorious service in the8
United States Navy serving gallantly in Korea and in Vietnam, and being preserved as a9
Historic Museum Ship in Lake Charles, Louisiana; and 10
WHEREAS, the USS Orleck was named for Lieutenant Joseph Orleck, a Columbus,11
Ohio, native who enlisted in the Navy in 1924; assumed command of SS Nauset (AT-89)12
and went down with his ship after a Luftwaffe bomber attack in the Gulf of Salerno on13
September 9, 1943; was the recipient of the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for rescue work14
during the Casablanca invasion in 1942; and was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for15
his courageous firefighting and flood control efforts to prevent total loss of his ship during16
the Salerno assault; and17
WHEREAS, the USS Orleck joined the Seventh Fleet and served in the Pacific18 SCR NO. 135
SLS 14RS-3215 ORIGINAL
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participating in Atomic Energy Commission experiments at Eniwetok in 1946; and1
WHEREAS, in February 1951, the USS Orleck sailed for her first of many combat2
operations, joining United Nations forces off the east coast of Korea, providing carrier escort3
duties and shore bombardment missions as well as performing blockade and logistics4
interdiction missions and patrolling, becoming a charter member of the Train Busters Club;5
and6
WHEREAS, the USS Orleck earned four battle stars for action in the Korean Conflict7
as well as the United Nations Service Medal, Korean Service Medal, and China Service8
Medal from engagements in the First United Nations Counter Offensive in 1951, the9
Communist China Spring Offensive in 1951, the Korean Defense Summer to Fall in 1952,10
and the Third Korean Winter in 1952-1953; and 11
WHEREAS, after Korea, the Orleck operated primarily with fast carrier forces in the12
Pacific and in June 1964 moved to the South China Sea as American commitments to the13
Republic of South Vietnam escalated; escorting carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin and patrolling14
Taiwan Strait, and, while detached, joined in the recovery of the Gemini IV space capsule;15
and16
WHEREAS, in July 1965, she returned to Vietnam to provide escort and plane guard17
services to carrier USS Oriskany, where shore bombardment and gunfire support activities18
followed as the destroyer participated in operations "Starlight", a regimental attack involving19
amphibious, helo-borne and ground operations in the Chu Lai area, and "Pirania", a similar20
assault at Van Tuong; and21
WHEREAS, she provided support in the last "Dagger Thrust" operations at Lang Ke22
Ga and Phu Thun, before being engaged in January 1966 with surveillance operations23
followed by thirty days bombardment duty in the Chu Lai-Tam Ky area during operation24
"Double Eagle"; and 25
WHEREAS, in September 1967, she was assigned first to Yankee Station in the26
Tonkin Gulf, during which she alternated plane guard duties with surveillance of a Russian27
electronic intelligence "trawler", and at the end of January 1968, as the Tet offensive reached28
a climax, she shifted to gunfire support duty off Vung Tau and supported the 9th R.O.K.29
Infantry in the Cam Ranh Bay-Nha Trang area; and30 SCR NO. 135
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WHEREAS, the USS Orleck spent much of 1968 in roles which ranged from1
blockade and interdiction of Viet Cong logistic vessels to gunfire support south of Saigon2
and into the next decade of the 1970s she continued to conduct similar missions in support3
of Allied operations in and around Vietnam; and4
WHEREAS, she served throughout the entire Vietnam conflict and fought in fourteen5
of the seventeen official Vietnam campaigns, was present in enemy waters twenty times over6
those years, fired more rounds of 5" ammunition in support of ground troops than any other7
such ship, and in one campaign she fired over 11,000 rounds creating such intense heat that8
her gun mounts had to be replaced; and 9
WHEREAS, known by those who witnessed her presence in Vietnamese waters as10
"The Grey Ghost of the Vietnam Coast" the USS Orleck is the most decorated ship afloat11
in the United States Navy that served in Vietnam; and 12
WHEREAS, her presence in Lake Charles is a real monument to those who went,13
served, and gave such sacrifice for our country; is the last of her kind; and her epic service14
should be recognized by making her the Official Vietnam Memorial Museum Ship for the15
State of Louisiana.16
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby17
commend and recognize the distinguished military history of the USS Orleck, docked in18
Lake Charles, Louisiana.19
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby20
designate the USS Orleck as the Official Vietnam Memorial Museum Ship for the State of21
Louisiana.22
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to Ron23
Williams, executive director for the USS Orleck Naval Museum, Inc.24
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Jerry J. Guillot.
DIGEST
Johns SCR No. 135
Commends and recognizes the distinguished military history of the USS Orleck, docked in
Lake Charles, and designates the ship as the Official Vietnam Memorial Museum Ship for
the state.