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Shaun Thomas (Underdog), OSC
to remember
Chandler, Charles Richardson, CAPT.
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Contact Info
Home Town Washington D.C.
Last Address Fairfax, VA
Date of Passing Jun 14, 2005
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
Wall/Plot Coordinates 3 2558-LH
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Charles Richardson Chandler, 87, a retired Navy Captain, died of kidney failure, congestive heart disease and prostate cancer June 14, 2005, at The Fairfax, a military retirement home at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
Captain Chandler was a native Washingtonian and graduated from Annapolis High School. He was appointed to the Naval Academy and graduated in 1939. He served on USS California before going to submarine school. On Dec. 7, 1941, he was the assistant signal officer aboard USS Pompano, which arrived at Pearl Harbor shortly after the disastrous strike on the Navy's fleet.
His father was a commanding officer of USS Northampton, which was also just off Pearl Harbor at the time of the attack, while Capt. Chandler's mother awaited her husband and son on the island.
During World War II, Captain Chandler also served aboard USS Indiana, USS Drayton and USS Thatcher, surviving kamikaze attacks on two of those ships. He earned a Purple Heart and a Silver Star.
After the war, he served on the staff of the command for destroyers based in the Pacific. He spent 1950 to 1952 as an instructor at the Naval Academy in seamanship and navigation and wrote "The Watch Officer's Guide," a textbook used for years.
He took command of USS McDermut, assigned to picket duty off Korea, where his actions won him the Bronze Star for destroying enemy mines and providing gunfire support for minesweepers. When enemy shore batteries fired on the minesweepers, he placed his ship between them and the beach, and fire from his ship silenced three batteries.
He later served at the Fleet Training Group in San Diego, as commanding officer of USS Vega, commanding officer of the Fleet Training Group in Pearl Harbor and commanding officer of the U.S. Naval Station in Yokosuka, Japan. His last sea duty was as commander of the service squadron at Newport, R.I. He retired in 1969 after serving on the Navy's Board of Inspection and Survey in Washington.
In retirement, he was active in reunion organizations for the Drayton and Thatcher crews. He also patented a device to purify water.
His wife, Ann Yates Chandler, died in 1986.
Other Comments:
To view the Silver Star and Bronze Star citations, click on the corresponding ribbon in the Ribbon Bar.
Rigel Class Stores Ship: Laid down, 7 June 1954, as a Maritime Administration type (R3-S-4A) hull, under Maritime Administration contract (MA 37) at Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp., Pascagoula, MS.; Launched, 28 April 1955; Commissioned USS Vega (AF-59), 10 November 1955; Decommissioned, 29 April 1977, at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, CA.; Struck from the Naval Register, 29 April 1977; Returned to MARAD, disposed of by MARAD sale, 1 December 1977.
Vega earned 10 battle stars for her service to units of the 7th Fleet during the Vietnam War.
Specifications: Displacement 15,150 t(fl).; Length 502'; Beam 72'; Draft 29'; Speed 21kts; Armament four dual mount 3"/50 gun mounts; Propulsion: two boilers, oil fired with G.E reduction gear, 600psi cross compound steam turbine, single propeller; Complement 350.
Campaigns and Dates
Campaigns and Dates
Vietnamese Defense
25 July to 1 August 1965
12 to 20 August 1965
5 to 17 September 1965
Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase V
4 to 15 July 1968
21 July to 2 August 1968
Vietnamese Counteroffensive
20 to 27 February 1966
9 to 16 March 1966
1 to 6 April 1966
Tet/69 Counteroffensive
8 to 17 May 1969
Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase II
3 to 15 September 1966
23 September to 14 October 1966
20 to 24 October 1966
31 October to 10 November 1966
Vietnam Summer-Fall 1969
11 to 26 June 1969
7 to 18 July 1969
28 to 29 July 1969
Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase II
8 to 18 August 1967
26 August to 8 September 1967
26 September to 11 October 1967
Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase VI
9 to 22 October 1970
5 to 25 November 1970
30 November to 15 December 1970
31 December 1970 to 13 January 1971
26 January to 6 February 1971
13 to 14 February 1971
23 February to 7 March 1971
Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase IV
11 to 22 April 1968
8 to 27 May 1968
Vietnam Ceasefire
4 to 16 April 1972
22 April to 2 May 1972
6 to 16 May 1972
27 May to 3 July 1972
12 to 20 July 1972
10 August to 6 September 1972
