Station HYPO

By Ensign Jordan K. Bowman-Davis (U.S. Navy), a maritime cyber warfare officer.

In the summer of 1967, Midshipman First Class Joseph Glutting was put in charge of a 3-inch gun crew onboard the USS Worden (CG-18) during a search-and-rescue operation south of Hanoi. North Vietnamese shore batteries spotted their helicopter and fired off a volley so close that the explosions drenched Glutting and his men with seawater. As a destroyer came to their rescue, Glutting remarked, “That’s the kind of ship I want to be on—going forward and attacking, not heading out of harm’s way.” Fellow midshipmen that same year flew S-2 Trackers on antisubmarine warfare missions and were even sent ashore with Marine Corps Combined Action Platoons. A year later, Midshipman Richard Gano made course adjustments during an underway replenishment onboard the ammunition ship Mauna Kea. “I returned to the Academy with a letter designating me as an OOD, a Vietnam Service Ribbon and later a Meritorious Unit Commendation ribbon,” Gano said. “I was proud of my contributions to the war effort. The cruise ended up being a dream come true.”