The Spring issue of the newsletter has been mailed to current members.  An email edition has been sent to everyone else.  Your membership must be current for 2009 to receive a hard copy.  Please complete the application form attached to the email edition.

Joining us in San Diego in October (hotel reservations confirmed, registration form or payment received):

     Woodie & Claire Stegall (63-65)
     RADM William & Edie Walsh (64-65)
     Dennis Hogan (73-75)
     Gerry & Janet Hines (64-69)
     Michael & Lorri Robertson (72-75), Treasurer
     John & Mitsuko Armstrong (82-85)
     Bill & Pat Sperberg (USNCSA Treasurer)
     Tommy & Janet Rottman (72-74)
     Ron Redfield (64-67)
     Tony & Tina Borba (70-71)
   
Others heard from so far:

     Tom Bailey (84-87), President
     Jeff Wofford (76-80), Vice-President
     Jack Stewart (64-69)
     Chuck Sauls (66-68)
     Cotton Sumner (65-69)
     Tom Lykens (64-66)
     Paul Van Tassel (70-73)

Keep track as shipmates sign up.  See reunion information from the latest newsletter or just check out the registration form.  And, hope to see you in San Diego.

Jack Stewart has sent a CD full of pics taken by Chuck Sauls in the period 1966-1968.  It's quite a mix of pics.  Click here to go directly to the album, or visit the Ship's Photos pages.

This Navy Photo was published in the Navy Times in 1985, and found in Jack Stewart's garage in 2009, I think - Jack didn't exactly say.

In Top Form

Aircraft carrier USS Midway (CV-41) and her battle group steam in formation in the Makassar Straits between Borneo and Sulawesi Celebes.  Leading the group, directly in front of the USS Midway, is USS Reeves (CG-24), and clockwise are: USS San Jose (AFS-7), USNS Mispillion (T-AOE-105), USS Oldendorf (DD-972), USS Kansas City (AOR-3), USNS Kilauea (T-AE-26), USS England (CG-22), USS Towers (DDG-9), USS Kirk (FF-1087), USS Knox (FF-1052) and USS Cochrane (DDG-21).

However,

According to DefenseImagery.com, this photograph was taken on 9/28/1987.  It is an aerial port bow view of Battle Group Alfa underway. The ships are: (clockwise from center front) the USS REEVES (CG-24) , USS SAN JOSE (AFS-7), USNS MISPILLION (T-AO-105), USS OLDENDORF (DD-972), USS KANSAS CITY (AOR-3), USNS KILAUEA (T-AE-26), USS ENGLAND (CG-22), USS TOWERS (DDG-9), USS KIRK (FF-1087), USS KNOX (FF-1052), USS COCHRANE (DDG-21), and USS MIDWAY (CV-41) (center).

Think they're the same photo?  Me to.

Editor:  In the 17 years that USS Midway was forward deployed to Yokosuka, Reeves spent more than just couple of years with her.  The Yokosuka carrier group was designated Battle Group Alfa in the mid-1980's.  The top photo seems to correlate with photo information on the USS Kirk website that is dated 9/28/1985.  The same photo can be found at the USS Knox website. It is probable that the Kirk, Knox and Reeves didn't steam together for two years.  The lower 1987 photo from DefenseImagery.com is probably misdated.  Even the year published on GlobalSecurity.com, 1987 (1985?) is openly questioned.  Meantime, we continue to pursue the evidence.  There are always a couple more sites to check...

Official U.S. Navy Photograph & Jack Stewart
Off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii, 5 July 1972 -    Entering Sydney Harbor, August 1968

(Note the differences between the two upper photographs - in particular, the right photo shows the Ironlady with two fire control directors, one each forward and aft.  In the left photo, there are four fire control directors, two each forward and aft)

Bruce Isaak
Underway from Pearl Harbor in 1975

Brian Donley
Distributed Enroute to Seattle 29 July 1992

There are a series of photographs provide by Brian in the Ship's Photo section of this website.  There is even two pictures of the ship on the day she was decommissioned.

About the USS Reeves

There have been two U.S. Navy ships to carry the Reeves name. The first USS Reeves was a 1400-ton Buckley class escort ship built at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia. She was named in honor of Chief Radioman Thomas James Reeves, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism during the 7 December 1941 Japanese air raid on Pearl Harbor.

After a year of Atlantic convoy escort duty (1943-1944) as DE-156, the Reeves was converted to a high speed transport. The USS Reeves (APD-52) reported to the Pacific Fleet early in 1945 and took part in the Ryukyus campaign. At the end of the War, she moved up to Japan to support the repatriation of prisoners of war and other occupation activities. Returning to the United States in late 1945, she was decommissioned in July 1946 and was laid up at Green Cove Springs, Florida. USS Reeves remained in the Atlantic reserve fleet until June 1960 and was then transferred to Ecuador for use as a floating electric power plant.

Further information for the first USS Reeves can be found at the Naval Historical Center and Wikipedia.com.

The second USS Reeves was Leahy-class guided missile frigate officially classified as a destroyer leader (DLG) (later reclassified as a cruiser - CG) that was named for Vice Adm. Joseph Mason "Bull" Reeves. Admiral Reeves is also known as the "father of carrier warfare." USS Reeves was built by the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA. Her keel was laid down on 1 July 1960. She was launched on 12 May 1962 and commissioned on 15 May 1964. With the exception of a period at Bath Iron Works for her first AAW upgrade, the Reeves served entirely in the Pacific fleet and was alternately homeported at Pearl Harbor or Yokosuka, Japan.

Throughout her nearly 30 years of service, the Reeves spent four tours off the coast of Vietnam in the 60s and 70s. She maintained a U.S. presence in the Western Pacific as part of Battle Group Alfa, homeported in Yokosuka, for most of the 1980s. USS Reeves returned to Pearl Harbor where she spent the last three years until decommissioning 12 November 1993. The Reeves remained at Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, Pearl Harbor until she was towed south on her final cruise to the Coral Sea. During Tandem Thrust 2001, a joint Naval exercise with the U.S. and Australian navies, Reeves was sunk on 31 May 2001 as a target ship for Australian Air Force precision training. She rests nearly three miles down at the bottom of the Coral Sea about 170 miles east of Fraser Island and the coast of Australian.

It is to the memory of the second USS Reeves and the 4,000+ shipmates that served in her that this site is dedicated.

Ship's Namesake

 Read the complete synopsis of this new book at the Namesake webpage.   Our thanks and great appreciation to Tom Wildenberg for speaking at our Crystal City reunion.

Ship's Shield

This is the original ship's plaque that was displayed (we believe) on the quarterdeck (1964-1969) prior to the decommissioning and modernization at Bath, Maine.  It has been donated to and is now the property of the Association.  Eventually, we hope to get the story behind it's survival.  Click on the image to the left to see a larger version.  See the Ship's Store about plans for producing a wall-mounted version of this plaque which can be seen on the photo image to the right.

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The Rest of the News...

We are also providing you with information about the Reeves crewmembers who are in contact with each other, wish to contact each other or just didn't know that such a thing was possible.  Check our crew roster or the deck logs to find your buddies.  Contact the webmaster for email or snail mail information.

Interested in joining our association? Are you a former crewmember, or a Leahy Class destroyer (cruiser) double-ender lover, or just like real Navy ships?  Then fill out the application and send it to Michael Robertson.  Two years ago, there wasn't any association.  We now have charter members that want an association with reunions and can be found on the member web page.  You need to check it out and join us...  Believe it or not, we are planning our third reunion.  Go the the Reunion page to find out all about it.

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