FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
NOT TO BE REMOVED FROM THE SHIP

						    21 April 1967 

From:  Commanding Officer, USS CHARLES P. CECIL (DD-835) 
To:    All CECIL Personnel 

Subj: Viet Nem Operations., discussion of 

1. As we near Newport, the time has come when we must again become 
security conscious. Since many questions will be asked about our oper-
ations in Viet Nam by relatives, friends, and maybe even members of the 
press, the following are guidelines on which our operations may be discussed. 
All hands will read and adhere to these guidelines. 

2. Do not discuss any classified matter or the involvement of the United 
States in Viet Nam or Southeast Asia. All Task Designators and code names 
for particular ships are classified. The code word for any and all operat-
ions that the ship participated in or was witness to are also classified. 
The CONCEPT of operations, INTENTIONS of U.S. Naval Units, future opera-
tions, any official view towards the war effort, information concerning 
communications of any kind, specific operating instructions for units,
 standard doctrine of any kind and details of the employment of Naval forces 
are all considered classified information and should not be discussed. 

3. The subjects which can be discussed are unclassified aspects of any 
individual's job, personal experiences, and observations made during the 
cruise which are not related to politics, military strategy or controvers-
ial views on employment or performance of specific equipment. 

4. The following is an outline of CECIL's deployment containing material 
which may be discussed:     

    During the cruise, CECIL was employed as an escort for fast, attack 
carrier groups on Yankee Station. This included rescue services, air 
defense, antisubmarine screening, surface surveillance, communications 
relay, overload/emergency air control, and emergency helicopter refueling 
and landing platform duties. CECIL also participated in Naval gunfire 
support operations for frindly forces in the II Corps Area including 
harassment and interdiction fire, and landing zone preparation fire. The 
ship expended 1,842 rounds of 5" ammunition during gunfire support. CECIL 
was not deployed north of the De-militarized Zone or for surface attacks 
on logistics craft.     

    Seventy-five percent of our deployment was spent at sea. We were in 
the combat zone four months with one and a half months of transit on either 
and of the cruise. We traveled twice the distance around the world at an 
average speed of 17.0 miles per hour. Sixteen ports of call were visited 
including Panama, Hawaii, Japan, Philippines, Taiwan, Singapore, India, 
Aden, Greece, Spain, Italy, Gibraltar and the Azores. CECIL was station 
ship for two weeks in Hong Kong aiding in the preparation for "Rest and 
Relaxation" visits of other units.

Our cruise was long and hard but we were fortunate in that most of 
the action in the combat zone usually took place a few days after we had 
moved on to a new agent 

5. Any officer or enlisted man who is contacted personally by any press 
media for the purpose of "getting A little information" or for a formal 
interview should contact his immediate superior prior to answering any 
questions. The service of a qualified PAO will be obtained for the 
protection of the interviewee during the interview.

	
							W. D. BRIGGS


						FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY 
						NOT TO BE REMOVED FROM THE SHIP