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USS Harold E. Holt (FF-1074)The image above was sent to me by Michael Donegan for use on this webpage. The picture is of a painting which Michael created for the ship's Commissioning (The Commissioning Pennant is positioned on the upper portion of the painting). Michael has created many pieces of art which can be viewed at his web site; to visit his website, click here. |
My Tour~I reported aboard the USS Harold E. Holt, as Chief Petty Officer for one of her divisions, in March of 1982. She had just returned to Pearl Harbor from a Western Pacific deployment and was scheduled for an overhaul within a month or so; something I wasn't looking forward to because of the noise and mess that's associated with a ship's overhaul. At any rate, the overhaul was completed as scheduled and we also completed refresher training without a hitch. I had learned a lot in a short period of time; both militarily and within my rating (not to mention being a big brother for about twenty sailors).We operated in local Hawaiian waters for a few months, then deployed for a three month Eastern Pacific operation; visiting the ports of San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and Anchorage. Within a month after returning to homeport, we deployed for the Western Pacific and the Indian Ocean. We visited the ports of Subic Bay, Philippines; Chinhae, Korea; Geraldton and Exmouth, Australia; and Singapore. We had also anchored off the coast of Masirah, Oman a couple of times for R&R (yeah, right!!! *Grin* at least the fishing was great!!!). I even earned my "Shellback" status during this deployment (as a Senior Chief Petty Officer nevertheless). For the uninformed, that means we crossed the equator and had a "Grand" time being "initiated" (by choice, mind you)... After returning to homeport and spending several months operating in local Hawaiian waters, the ship was scheduled for another overhaul. It was time for this "Salty Dog" to pack his bags... In January of 1986, with Permanent Change of Station orders in hand, I disembarked the Harold E. Holt for the last time. |
The United States Ship Harold E. Holt (FF-1074) was the 23rd escort ship designed primarily for locating and destroying enemy submarines. She was also capable of escorting convoys, conducting missions of search, patrol, rescue, evacuation, blockade, visit and search or surveillance. She was commissioned on the 21st of March 1971, and was named after the Honorable Harold E. Holt, former Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia, who mysteriously disappeared while skin diving on the 17th of December 1967. She was decommissioned on the 2nd of July 1992, and was in Reserve status at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii until she was used as a target for RIMPAC 2002 SINKEX and was sunk in waters off the coast of Kauai on the 10th of July 2002. |
The principle theme of Harold E. Holt's insignia is to denote the unity that exists between the nations of Australia and the United States. This was accomplished by using, with their kind permission, the coat of arms of the Australian state of Victoria emblazoned on the breast of an American Eagle. The coat of arms of Victoria was chosen because it depicts the southern cross constellation, which is also symbolized on the Australian national ensign, and Victoria is the state where the late Prime Minister Holt lived throughout most of his life and which he represented in the National Parliament. The two crossed tridents in the grasp of the eagle symbolize sea power. The anchor is an ancient nautical symbol. |
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