Ron reported in 1974 and took over as First Lieutenant, serving until 1976. The previous 1st Lieutenant was Spence Page; but Spence became Chief Engineer when Bill Hollon had a heart attack. Ron made the 1975 deployment and left after the Bicentennial in 1976 as a LCDR. LT Jim Barton came aboard in February 1975 and relieved Spence. Ron and Jim served together for about 1 ½ years. He was relieved by Joe Coffer. There was no 1975 cruise book for some reason so Ron didn’t get his picture in.