Page 1 of 3
Regular Session, 2014 ENROLLED
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTI ON NO. 135
BY SENATORS JOHNS, MORRISH AND JOHN SMITH AND REPRESENTATIVES
DANAHAY, FRANKLIN, GEYMANN, GUINN, HENSGENS, HILL
AND KLECKLEY
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTI ON
To commend and recognize the distinguished military history of the USS Orleck, docked in
Lake Charles, and to designate the USS Orleck as the Official Vietnam Memorial
Museum Ship for the State of Louisiana.
WHEREAS, the USS ORLECK DD 886 is a Gearing Class Destroyer commissioned
as a United States warship on September 15, 1945, and decommissioned on October 1, 1982,
when she was transferred to the Turkish Navy where she operated as TCG YUCETEPE D
345 for sixteen additional years, after providing thirty seven years of meritorious service in
the United States Navy serving gallantly in Korea and in Vietnam, and being preserved as
a Historic Museum Ship in Lake Charles, Louisiana; and
WHEREAS, the USS Orleck was named for Lieutenant Joseph Orleck, a Columbus,
Ohio, native who enlisted in the Navy in 1924; assumed command of the USS Nauset
(AT-89) and went down with his ship after a Luftwaffe bomber attack in the Gulf of Salerno
on September 9, 1943; was the recipient of the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for rescue
work during the Casablanca invasion in 1942; and was posthumously awarded the Navy
Cross for his courageous firefighting and flood control efforts to prevent total loss of his ship
during the Salerno assault; and
WHEREAS, the USS Orleck joined the Seventh Fleet and served in the Pacific
participating in Atomic Energy Commission experiments at Eniwetok in 1948 and 1958; and
WHEREAS, in February 1951, the USS Orleck sailed for her first of many combat
operations, joining United Nations forces off the east coast of Korea, providing carrier escort
duties and shore bombardment missions as well as performing blockade and logistics
interdiction missions and patrolling, becoming a charter member of the "Train Busters Club"
as the first Destroyer to destroy a North Korean supply train; and
WHEREAS, the USS Orleck earned four battle stars for action in the Korean Conflict
as well as the United Nations Service Medal, Korean Service Medal, and China Service
Medal from engagements in the First United Nations Counter Offensive in 1951, the SCR NO. 135 ENROLLED
Page 2 of 3
Communist China Spring Offensive in 1951, the Korean Defense Summer to Fall in 1952,
and the Third Korean Winter in 1952-1953; and
WHEREAS, after Korea, the Orleck operated primarily with fast carrier forces in the
Pacific and in June 1964 moved to the South China Sea as American commitments to the
Republic of South Vietnam escalated; escorting carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin and patrolling
Taiwan Strait, and, while detached, joined in the recovery of the Gemini IV space capsule;
and
WHEREAS, in July 1965, she returned to Vietnam to provide escort and plane guard
services to carrier USS Oriskany, where shore bombardment and gunfire support activities
followed as the destroyer participated in operations "Starlight", a regimental attack involving
amphibious, helo-borne and ground operations in the Chu Lai area, and "Pirania", a similar
assault at Van Tuong; and
WHEREAS, she provided support in the last "Dagger Thrust" operations at Lang Ke
Ga and Phu Thun, before being engaged in January 1966 with surveillance operations
followed by thirty days bombardment duty in the Chu Lai-Tam Ky area during operation
"Double Eagle"; and
WHEREAS, in September 1967, she was assigned first to Yankee Station in the
Tonkin Gulf, during which she alternated plane guard duties with surveillance of a Russian
electronic intelligence "trawler", and at the end of January 1968, as the Tet offensive reached
a climax, she shifted to gunfire support duty off Vung Tau and supported the 9th R.O.K.
Infantry in the Cam Ranh Bay-Nha Trang area; and
WHEREAS, the USS Orleck spent much of 1968 in roles which ranged from
blockade and interdiction of Viet Cong logistic vessels to gunfire support south of Saigon
and into the next decade of the 1970s she continued to conduct similar missions in support
of Allied operations in and around Vietnam; and
WHEREAS, she served throughout the entire Vietnam conflict and fought in fourteen
of the seventeen official Vietnam campaigns, was present in enemy waters twenty-nine times
over those years, fired more rounds of 5" ammunition in support of ground troops than any
other such ship, and in one campaign she fired over 11,000 rounds creating such intense heat
that her gun mounts had to be replaced; and SCR NO. 135 ENROLLED
Page 3 of 3
WHEREAS, known by those who witnessed her presence in Vietnamese waters as
"The Grey Ghost of the Vietnam Coast" and recognized as "Top Gun" of the Seventh Fleet
in Vietnam, the USS Orleck is the most decorated ship afloat in the United States Navy that
served in Vietnam; and
WHEREAS, her presence in Lake Charles is a real monument to those who went,
served, and gave such sacrifice for our country; is the last of her kind; and her epic service
should be recognized by making her the Official Vietnam Memorial Museum Ship for the
State of Louisiana.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
commend and recognize the distinguished military history of the USS Orleck, docked in
Lake Charles, Louisiana.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
designate the USS Orleck as the Official Vietnam Memorial Museum Ship for the State of
Louisiana.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to Ron
Williams, executive director for the USS Orleck Naval Museum, Inc.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES