Deployment and a Battle "E"

Serge Yonov, the most "internationally" oriented of the commanding officers, was born in Riga, Latvia. As a youth immigrated with his parents to the United States. He Speaks fluent Russian. In addition to shipboard duty, he has served in Vietnam, Palestine, Iran, Malaysia and Russia. Prior to commanding USS Connole, Serge attended the Senior International Officer course at the Naval War College and had many classmates who were senior naval officers from over 20 different allied countries. Serge's international contacts were of great benefit both professionally and socially. In subsequent trips to foreign countries, Serge's classmates would assure that the USS Connole and crew were properly received and appropriately indoctrinated to local customs.

Serge's change of command from Ted Fijak occurred in Catania, Sicily. He continued thedeployment which had begun in Newport on November 27, 1979 and ended on May 5, 1980. USS Connole was involved in an eighty day international exercise with the Ita and British navies that was designed to test naval warfare techniques in a multi-threat air, surface, submarine and task force environment.

The trip was highlighted by a visit from the Secretary of the Navy. The Newport NAVALOG newspaper reported, "While steaming as an element of Battle Force One of the Sixth Fleet, the Connole received a message at I a.m. April 1 detailing a visit by SECNAV to the ship later that day. Sound like an April Fool's joke? It wasn't. The Honorable Edward Hidalgo, Secretary of the Navy accompanied by RADM J.T. Sanderson, Commander, Task Force 60, arrived on Connole's flight deck later that day. After he greeted and briefed on the ship's mission and capabilities, Secretary Hidalgo met with the crew and answered questions and discuss some of the Navy's new policies and programs.

In January, 1981, the ship left Newport for a voyage to the shipyard in Quincy, MA where updated Electronic Counter Measure equipment would be installed. The trip was memorable since the ship's route took her around Cape Cod where a winter storm was in process. The ship faced 14 foot seas in 45 mph winds and experienced 25 degree rolls. The next morning found the ship coated in ice which made line handling extremely difficult and dangerous. The dedicated deck crew were quite frozen as they chopped through inches of deck ice. As the ship entered Quincy Bay, the harbor ice flows thickened to a solid pack slowing the ship to a crawl. ship became an "icebreaker" for her tugs to create proper maneuvering room.

The ship's sixth "Med" deployment occurred from June to November 1981. In summary, she participated as plane guard during operations off Libya when 2 Libyan jets were shot down by aircraft from the USS Nimitz. The USS Connole was part of the contingency operations fleet off Egypt for 45 days after the Sadat assassination. She tracked a Russian submarine to its endurance limit where upon the sub surfaced. A picture of the USS Connole adjacent to the submarine was published internationally. She also had a memorable, liberty in Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia. Here are some interesting statistics from this cruise:

28,000 miles cruised 1.4 million gallons of fuel used 400 gallons of paint applied 280 helo day landings 15,000 messages received $60,000 worth of ship store sales

150 days underway 2.4 million gallons of fresh water made 140 tons of cargo received 90 helo night landings 32,000 pounds of laundry cleaned 1500 haircuts

28 days in port 350 rounds of ammunition 120 small boat trips 550 helo flight hours $500,000 payroll

To describe the ship's achievements, Serge's letter to the Connole families follows:

"As I begin my final two weeks as Commanding Officer, I would like to share with you some of CONNOLE's fine achievements since returning from the Mediterranean last November, and speak briefly about what lies ahead.

Returning from the Mediterranean, CONNOLE was in every respect "ON TOP", having completed one of the most successful deployments in the recent past. We did it all, from Freedom of Navigation Operations off the Libyan coast, to the highly successful visit to Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia. CONNOLE again and again proved that "Nobody Does It Better." Our embarked LAMPS helicopter detachment, HSL-34 Det 4, achieved over 500 hours of flight time, a record for our relatively short deployment.

After the leave and upkeep period in November and December, we headed south for three weeks of operations at the Acoustic Undersea Test and Evaluation Range (AUTEC) off Andros Island, Bahamas. There CONNOLE participated in important evaluations of new passive ASW equipment(s) as well as exercise weapons firings.

CONNOLE spent virtually the entire Spring in homeport, undergoing a maintenance availability and an important two month Selected Restricted Availability (SRA). We achieved the unique distinction of being the first ship to undergo an SRA in homeport, and did so with exceptional results. During the SRA, we completed many important repairs and overhauls of equipment, which will enable CONNOLE to continue to perform her mission.

During the Spring, we also received word that CONNOLE has been nominated by the Group Commander for several awards. Among these were the Ney Award for excellence in Food Service; the Golden Drop Award for Engineering Fuel Economy; the Atlantic Fleet ASW Award for excellence in ASW; and the Battenburg Cup Award for the most battle-ready ship in the Atlantic fleet. Then, in early June, we received the news that everyone had been waiting for Eighteen months of hard working long hours had paid off as CONNOLE was awarded the Naval Surface Group FOUR Battle Efficiency Award ("B") as the best all around ship in the group. We also won nine of a possible ten departmental awards in Communications (Fourth award); Damage Control (Third); Engineering (Second); Operations (Second); ASW (Second); Surface to Air Missile (Second); Electronic Warfare (Second); Gunnery, and Harpoon. Total awards exceeded all other ships in Newport and placed us in a select group of ships in the Atlantic Fleet Each one of you can take great pride in these achievements. Your unwavering support was as important to winning as was the hard work and long hours put in by the crew.

As some of you may know, I will be relieved as CONNOLE's Commanding Officer on 20 August 1982 by Commander Edwin R Nicholson, U.S. Navy. Commander Nicholson comes to CONNOLE having served as Commanding Officer, USS VOGELGESANG (DD-862). He is looking forward to furthering CONNOLE's already outstanding record. He and his wife, Leslie, have lived in the Newport area and are fully attuned to the special problems of navy life in Newport. Please continue to give him the same fine support you have given me for the last two and one-half years.

As for what lies ahead for CONNOLE, I can only say that our schedule is reasonably firm through November As I see it, we will be spending much of our time in homeport having only the following underway periods scheduled: two short underway periods in September and a two-week exercise in October. As of this writing, CONNOLE will deploy to the Mediterranean in late November Though our schedule for the Med has not yet been released, the extremely shortened pre-deployment work-up period will require hard work by all of us to ensure we are again ready for the rigors of an operational deployment. But, hard work has never been a stranger to this exceptional crew. I am certain that CONNOLE will be more than a match for the tasks that lie ahead.

In closing, I would like to thank each and everyone of you for the magnificent support you have given this command. You in CONNOLE have much going for you. Be proud of your accomplishments and continue to excel. You are the best!