Getting the lead ship of the Atlantic Fleet activated ... "Robby" Robinson, his significant contribution:

Unfortunately, Captain Robinson passed away in 1988 and his story comes from Bob Leverone who was the second commanding officer.

The lead ship of a class is the prototype vessel with lessons learned the hard way. The follow-on ships of the class are usually the benefactors of these lessons. "Robby" did a tremendous job getting Avondale to meet most of the design specifications. During the period of January 1969 until commissioning in August, he had to build a ship and a cohesive crew. They were the lead team for this new class and significant effort was required to simply get underway safely. Many hours were devoted to sea trials, the initial testing of the ship's systems and correction of malfunctions. USS Connole spent a large part of her first year in service in a repair/prepare mode. However, the tenacity of Robby and his crew prevailed and the ship began normal operating schedules in the middle of 1970.

The following is an excerpt from Robby's "Connole cable #2" dated January 1970 to the Connole Families:

"From the Commander, Naval Shipyard Charleston: The Commanding Officer of the USS Connole and his entire crew demonstrated a superb "can do" attitude as well as a high level of training and morale for recently formed crew. The willing manner in which the entire crew cooperated with, and assisted, the Shipyard personnel, made a significant contribution to the success of the overhaul." "From the Naval Ships System Command: Commander, Naval Ships Systems wishes to commend USS Connole officers and men for their outstanding cooperation and efficient ship operations during the recent acoustic trials. Despite the minimum preparatory time prior to the trials the Ship was fully responsible to the stringent demands imposed."