USS Newport News CA-148 Naval Research - CONGA Combat Naval Gunfire Support File
"Thunder" USS Newport News CA-148 off North Vietnam October 1967 / image adapted from photo by John Glass  
 
USS Newport News CA-148 Research Pages
 
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USS Newport News CA-148 off North Vietnam
( image from photo by John Glass October 1967 )

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Combat Naval Gunfire Support File (CONGA) 3/1966 - 1/1973
Operation Lion's Den

On August 27,  1972,  USS Newport News CA-148 and three other ships  -  USS Rowan DD-782,  USS Providence CLG-6,  and USS Robison DDG-12  -  carried out a night time raid against heavily defended targets at the mouth of Haiphong Harbor.  As they were completing the mission,  North Vietnamese patrol boats closed at high speed.  Newport News,  the other ships, and Seventh Fleet aircraft attacked the patrol boats,  destroyed two, and sent a damaged third limping for cover.

Shipmate Bob Chase took his plot of Newport News Haiphong targets,  added the other ship's targets, and overlaid Captain Charles Farnham's  (aboard Providence)  chart of the Lion's Den operation.



Operation Lion's Den Chart

The data from Bob's scrubbed speadsheet of CONGA data for the four ships is at the bottom of this page.
Ship names are color coded to match targets and tracks in the chart.

There are at least three accounts of the Operation Lion's Den raid currently available on the Internet.

Captain C. G. Farnham's account and his chart of the operation are on the USS Newport News CA-148 website.
Captain Farnham was at the time a Commander serving as Operations Officer for CTF 75 embarked in USS Providence CLG-6.

( note  -  Other accounts report Captain Farnham as Commanding Officer of Providence.   On May 7,   )
(               2005,  Captain Farnham was gracious enough to contact me with the correct information.     )

Chuck Packer's account and those of shipmates are on the Tin Can Sailors of Texas website.
Chuck was an Electrician's Mate aboard USS Rowan DD-782 at the time.

Admiral James L. Holloway III's account and Captain Farnham's chart of the operation are on the Naval Institute website.
Admiral Holloway was Commander Seventh Fleet at the time and was aboard Newport News to observe the raid.

CONGA data with ship names color coded to match targets and tracks in the Operation Lion's Den chart.

Start Date (Local)Start Time (Local)End Time (Local)Elapsed TimeUICNavy ShipGRIDEastNorthSouthMRGS CoordinatesOPCODOPNAMFCSUPTCODayETGCODTarget TypeGunOrdinanceRounds ExpendedRANGERange (Miles)
08/27/72231923320h 13mN03582PROVIDENCE CLG-6XH88   XH875880SELINEBACKER NightDCD SITE5/38WP5 5.7
08/27/72231923320h 13mN03582PROVIDENCE CLG-6XH88   XH875880SELINEBACKER Night CD SITE6/47HC24 5.7
08/27/72231923320h 13mN03582PROVIDENCE CLG-6XH88   XH875880SELINEBACKER Night CD SITE5/38HEPD16 5.7
08/27/72231923320h 13mN03582PROVIDENCE CLG-6XH88   XH875880SELINEBACKER Night CD SITE5/38AAC28 5.7
08/27/72232023270h 07mN03882ROWAN DD-782XH88   XH875880SELINEBACKER NightDCD SITE5/38AAC20 8.5
08/27/72232023270h 07mN03882ROWAN DD-782XH88   XH875880SELINEBACKER Night CD SITE5/38HECVT5 8.5
08/27/72232023270h 07mN04678ROBISON DDG-12XH76   XH773675SELINEBACKER NightDCD SITE5/54HECVT45 8.5
08/27/72232123330h 12mN03648NEWPORT NEWS CA-148WJ70   WJ746000SELINEBACKER NightFRADAR SITE8/55HC18 11.4
08/27/72232123270h 06mN04678ROBISON DDG-12XH78   XH771842SELINEBACKER NightDCD SITE5/54HECVT48 11.4
08/27/72232223330h 11mN03648NEWPORT NEWS CA-148XH89   XH805916SELINEBACKER NightEMISSILE SITE8/55HC18 11.4
08/27/72232323330h 10mN03648NEWPORT NEWS CA-148XJ80   XJ804026SELINEBACKER NightLSUPPLY AREA8/55HC53 16.5
08/27/72232423330h 09mN03648NEWPORT NEWS CA-148XJ80   XJ804026SELINEBACKER NightLSUPPLY AREA8/55HC38 16.5
08/27/72232523330h 08mN03648NEWPORT NEWS CA-148XJ70   XJ786026SELINEBACKER NightQPOL8/55HC38 11.4
08/27/72232623330h 07mN03648NEWPORT NEWS CA-148XH78   XH788860SELINEBACKER NightDCD SITE5/38HC25 8.5
08/27/72232723330h 06mN03648NEWPORT NEWS CA-148XH88   XH840898SELINEBACKER NightDCD SITE5/38RAP102 11.4
08/27/72232823330h 05mN03648NEWPORT NEWS CA-148XH78   XH788879SELINEBACKER NightDCD SITE5/38HC64 9.7
08/27/72232823290h 01mN03582PROVIDENCE CLG-6XH88   XH857898SELINEBACKER NightDCD SITE6/47HC18 8.0
08/27/72232923330h 04mN03648NEWPORT NEWS CA-148YH19   YH135920SELINEBACKER NightKTRANSHIP AREA8/55HC60 10.8
08/27/72233023330h 03mN03648NEWPORT NEWS CA-148YH19   YH134975SELINEBACKER NightLSUPPLY AREA8/55HC60 13.1

Source:   Raw .csv CONGA data downloaded from NARA AAD and scrubbed by Bob Chase into a usable spreadsheet.




Carl W. Cole
James Island SC
(The Center of the Universe)
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Copyright 2004 - 2006 Carl W. Cole
www.carlwcole.com

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