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............................................................................ USS Kawishiwi AO-146 was primary logistics support and a secondary recovery ship on 17 April 1970 to recover APOLLO 13 The one that almost didn't make it home.  The 2002 Reunion was held in Hutchinson Kansas The Module is THERE |
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On 17 April 1970 at
12:07:44 p.m. Central Standard Time, the crew of Apollo 13 splashed
down only 4 miles from the prime recovery ship U.S.S Iwo Jima.
Reentry
required the unusual step of
undocking the lunar module, which had been retained for the flight back
to Earth, in addition to the separation of the damaged service module.
The lunar module had remained attached to the spacecraft to preserve
the maximum electrical power in the command module for entry. The
reentry was similar to previous flights and landing occurred at
142:54:41 at 21°38'24"S latitude and 165° 21'42"W longitude.
The landing was within sight of the recovery ship, Iwo Jima, and the
crew were on board within 45 minutes.
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The astronauts for the Apollo 13 mission were, Mission Commander, Capt. James A. Lovell, Jr.; Command Module Pilot, John Leonard Swigert, Jr.; Lunar Module Pilot, Fred W. Haise, Jr. After their recovery they headed to American Samoa for a brief stop before they flew to Hawaii. American Samoa is the
only U.S. Territory in the South Pacific. Ninety percent of the
population is Samoan. The Samoans still have their traditional social
structure and though most Samoans speak English the Samoan language is
still their first language. USS New DD-818 was
there with Kawishiwi and 5 others scattered around the globe: USS Benjamin
Stoddert DDG-22, USS Bordelon DD-881,
USS Forest
Royal DD-872, USS
Granville S. Hall YAG-40, USS William C.
Lawe DD-763.
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