text:
British Rail Class 52

The British Rail Class 52 is a class of 74 Type 4 diesel-hydraulic locomotives built for the Western Region of British Railways between 1961 and 1964. All were given two-word names, the first word being "Western" and thus the type became known as Westerns. They were also known as Wizzos and Thousands. The final Class 52 locomotives were withdrawn from service in 1977.

Historical context
When switching to diesel traction as part of the Modernisation Plan of the 1950s, British Railways (BR) designed, and commissioned designs for, a large number of locomotive types. At this time BR's regions had a high degree of autonomy, which extended as far as classes of locomotives ordered and even the design criteria for those locomotives. Whilst almost all other diesel locomotives were diesel-electric, the Western Region employed a policy of using diesel-hydraulic traction, originally commissioning three classes of main line locomotives: a type 2 and two type 4s (later designations Class 22, Class 41 and Class 42). With pressure to increase the speed of the transition from steam to diesel, volume orders for the Class 22 and Class 42 (along with a similar design Class 43) followed in 1957, a mere two years after the original orders and well before any idea of performance or reliability could be gained.

At the same time it was realised that all the existing orders (diesel-electric and diesel-hydraulic) were for types 1, 2 and 4; thus orders were placed for 101 Type 3 diesel-hydraulics (later Class 35). However the increasing demands for more powerful locomotives prompted a further order, in 1961, for 74 diesel-hydraulics of 2700 hp; so when the first locomotive was outshopped from Swindon Works in December 1961, less than a year after the order was placed, the Westerns were born.

The theoretical advantage of diesel-hydraulic was simple: it resulted in a lighter locomotive than equivalent diesel-electric transmission. This provided a better power/weight ratio and decreased track wear. Unfortunately, it had several key disadvantages:

 * The technology was proven in continental Europe, particularly Germany, but was new to the UK. At the time, it was considered politically unacceptable for the UK government to order railway rolling stock from foreign companies, especially German companies so soon after the Second World War. This resulted in most of the engines and transmissions being manufactured in the United Kingdom under licence from the German manufacturers.
 * The most robust hydraulic transmissions were only capable of handling engines with power output of around 1,500 hp (1,120 kW); building a more powerful locomotive would involve two diesel engines and two transmissions.
 * The transmission had significantly higher power losses than diesel-electric, negating some of the benefits and resulting in considerably higher fuel consumption.

Experience showed that the Bristol-Siddeley-Maybach engines were superior to those made by North British Locomotive Company-MAN and although the use of twin engines in the same locomotive was new, the design did not produce any insurmountable problems. In the end the diesel-hydraulic experiment foundered on low fleet numbers, poor maintenance conditions and design issues; not on its German heritage or development of a novel configuration. BR's Swindon Works maintained all the diesel-hydraulic locomotives, and their early demise resulted in a much reduced workload and hastened its eventual closure in 1986.

The Western
With the Hymeks and Warships already in service but proving underpowered for top-link services, BR Western Region needed a high-powered locomotive for these trains – the Western therefore needed two diesel engines to achieve the required power output. In keeping with their policy, a new locomotive with a hydraulic transmission was envisaged. Experience had shown that the Maybach engines in the Hymeks were superior to the earlier Maybach and MAN engines used in the Warships, particularly in power output. Also Maybach were able to offer their 12 MD engines rated at 1350 bhp allied to a Voith transmission; a Mekydro transmission designed to handle such power could not be fitted into the British loading gauge.

Prototypes sited the engines behind the driving cabs but drivers found this too noisy; moving the engines centrally meant making the locomotive heavier, removing some of the design's advantage. In operational use, the dual-engine arrangement turned out to have some advantages: in particular, the Westerns were able to continue operating with a single engine running in situations where more conventional single-engine designs would require rescue by another locomotive.

The most serious continual problem with the class was a mismatch between the Maybach MD655 engines and the Voith L630rV three speed hydraulic transmissions, a design fault. The top gear ratio in the transmission was too high for the torque characteristics of the engine: the result was that a single locomotive could struggle to reach its claimed 90 mi/h top speed in the absence of down grades, more so when work-weary and due for overhaul. This factor, the South Devon Banks (a major part of their running grounds) and the deleterious effect on worn-out engines, all contributed against the Westerns continuing in top-line service. With fifty Class 50 locomotives becoming available following completion of the West Coast Main Line electrification, and new High Speed Trains, the speed and comfort increases the Western Region sought could be achieved and the Westerns dispensed with. Towards the end of their careers, the Westerns were all allocated to Laira (Plymouth).

Competition and comfort
Whilst the design was largely successful, the working life of the class was relatively short. Its non-standard design added to its maintenance costs at a time when national British Rail policy was moving away from diesel-hydraulics. When the Westerns were introduced in 1962, the Western Region had 226 diesel-hydraulics and 10 diesel-electrics (excluding shunters); by 1966, the numbers were 345 and 269 respectively. As a result, the early 1970s saw the decision taken to retire all the diesel-hydraulic types. Class 46s and Class 47s took over passengers and heavy freight, Class 31s and Class 37s took over light passengers and freight, and  Class 25s covered the lighter duties. Following completion of the electrification of the West Coast Main Line throughout from London to Glasgow, the Class 50s were reallocated to the Western Region; the introduction of High Speed Trains three years later was the final nail in the coffin for the Class 52 Westerns.

In 1968–69, the Westerns received train air brake equipment in addition to their vacuum exhausters, thus significantly extending their working lives, unlike the similar but lower-powered, Warship class. Four of the class (D1017–D1020) did not receive dual brakes, with these locomotives being among the first withdrawals. The vacuum brake equipment was retained and to fit the additional equipment, it was necessary to remove one of the fuel tanks. However, as with the Warships, it proved impossible to equip them with electric train heating (ETH, or head-end power in US terminology). The Western Region faced particularly stiff competition for its prime inter-city services in the mid to late 1970s from the M4 motorway and it was generally felt within BR that significant speed and comfort improvements on the prime London Paddington-Bristol route were necessary. The lack of ETH meant the Westerns could not power the newly introduced air-conditioned BR Mark 2d/e/f coaches – a shortcoming that classes 47 and 50, equipped with ETH (the latter from new), did not share.

Performance
The highest recorded speed with a Western that O. S. Nock was aware of was 102 mph when D1068 hauled nine coaches (305 tons gross) down 1 in 1,320 (i.e. virtually level) at Southall. The train averaged exactly 100 mph for 12.8 mi between Slough and Ealing whilst hauling a service from Reading to Paddington.

However, when it came to drawbar horsepower the Westerns in some respects were less capable than the equivalent diesel electric locomotives. Nock states "whilst the Westerns took their rightful place as fast and powerful locomotives it became evident that they were showing the same deficiency in actual power put forth at the drawbar as the [diesel-hydraulic] Warships had done. The highest output that came to my notice was a sustained 85 mph hauling 560 tons descending 1 in 1,320, which equates to 1,500 edhp (equivalent drawbar horsepower)". A similar result was obtained when Clough & Beckett compared the performance of type 4 diesel locomotives (Classes 45/46/47/50/52) hauling trains up the ascent to Whiteball summit. They deliberately chose data to show each class in their best light and included a Western run which produced 1,775 edhp but they still concluded that "without doubt the Westerns get the wooden spoon; certainly not what one would expect from units of 2,700 bhp". The best performer was the Class 50, a 2700 hp diesel-electric locomotive: on one run this achieved 2,115 edhp.

Despite this apparent limitation, the BR Western Region load-limit book gave the same 550 ton loading figure for both the Class 52 and Class 47 diesels over the South Devon banks between Newton Abbot and Plymouth. The reason for this is that, while the diesel-electric classes could produce high maximum tractive effort for limited periods, diesel hydraulics could produce significantly higher continuous tractive effort.

Fleet list
While the first Western was under construction, proposals for livery and names were prepared by the BR design panel. The D1000 series locomotives were to be named after famous West of England place names; the illustration from the portfolio shows D1000 bearing the name Cheddar Gorge. This was not followed in production, however, and the Westerns were named with general heraldic and regimental terms prefixed with the word "Western" as per the following table.

Of the 74 locomotives built, 7 have survived to preservation.

Although designated Class 52 under the TOPS scheme and all were still in service when TOPS was introduced in 1973, no Western ever carried its "52 0xx" TOPS number. As withdrawal was already planned when the scheme was introduced and because of the cast number plates, it was not considered cost effective to renumber the locomotives. Some class members did run with the "D" of their number painted over – TOPS classification removed the need for locomotives to indicate their energy type in the running number (D = Diesel, E = Electric).

When the display of destination headcodes on the front of trains was dropped in 1976, the instruction was given for them all to be set to "0000". On many Westerns, the headcode was set to display the locomotive's number in contravention of this directive and most surviving members of the class ran like this until they were scrapped. If used for routing, such reporting numbers would be interpreted as a passenger express terminating on the Southern Region.

Early liveries
When the initial batch of Westerns was being built in 1961–2, British Rail was considering a new unified corporate colour scheme but had not yet made a final decision on what it would be. As a result, some of the early locomotives were painted in experimental liveries: D1000 was rolled out of Swindon Works in November 1961 painted in a light brown livery which became known as Desert Sand. Initially the numbers, borne on the left hand cab when viewed from the side, were painted in white but soon individual numbers and letters, looking like they were cast but apparently made of wood, were fitted. This was in turn replaced by the final design of cast nameplate and numberplate; metal with a black background. This livery was later altered by the addition of a small yellow warning panel at each end and a black roof.

The second locomotive, D1001 was delivered in an all-over maroon livery with yellow buffer beams and further locomotives D1002-D1004 in all-over green with small yellow warning panels. Remaining deliveries carried the all-over maroon livery, initially without yellow warning panels, but the latter were applied from new after D1010 of the Swindon-built, and D1043 of the Crewe-built locomotives. Exceptions were the first four locomotives built at Crewe, D1035–D1038, which were delivered in green livery with red backgrounds to the nameplates, and D1015, which was outshopped from Swindon in an experimental "golden ochre" livery with small yellow warning panels at each end. On one end of this locomotive, the yellow panel was embellished by the addition of a yellow band which extended sideways from each of the top corners round onto the cabside for a short distance, resembling a T shape. The locomotive is not believed to have run in this condition, but was released to traffic in the golden ochre livery with standard small yellow panels.

Corporate scheme
After the adoption of Rail Blue with full yellow ends in 1966 (D1048 was the first of the class painted in this livery in 1966), for some unexplained reason a small batch of locomotives (D1017, D1030, D1036, D1037, D1043, D1047 and D1057) received this variant married to small yellow warning panels; D1030 carried red buffer beams for a short while. All other repaints were with full yellow ends which extended from the body line above the buffer beam up to the base of the window frames, along the sill of the cab-side windows onto the vertical end reveal. The valance above the cab windows on the front was also painted yellow, leaving the window frames in their base aluminium. The drive to repaint the locomotives in Rail Blue was outstripped by the safety directive dictating full yellow ends for all powered vehicles and some locomotives ran for a time with their original maroon bodies and full yellow ends.

The last locomotive to be repainted into Rail Blue was D1046, outshopped from Swindon in May 1971. Some early photographs of the blue livery give it a more metallic shade which is even more evident on the locomotives with small yellow panels. This however is possibly a photographic anomaly with colour film or due to printing techniques.

It is commonly accepted amongst Western enthusiasts in recent years that none of the class or any other British Rail locomotive of the period were ever painted with a metallic paint. However, several publications refer to initial painting in blue as being "chromatic blue" and published images do show a metallic sheen and lighter shade of blue than the standard Rail Blue.

Incidents

 * 15 August 1963. Knowle and Dorridge rail crash. D1040 Western Queen collided with a freight train, crushing the cab and killing the three traincrew. The locomotive was repaired and returned to service.
 * 11 January 1967. St Annes Bristol rail crash. No. 1071 Western Renown in charge of the diverted 12:00 Paddington to Swansea collided with the rear of the 11:45 Paddington to Bristol hauled by No. 1067 Western Druid. The collision resulted in very severe damage being caused to the leading cab of locomotive No. 1071, but the three men in the cab escaped injury by moving into the centre of the locomotive. Nineteen passengers required first aid or medical treatment but there were no fatalities or serious injuries. The locomotive was repaired and returned to service.
 * 19 December 1973. Ealing rail crash.  No. 1007 Western Talisman derailed while hauling an express passenger train, after an unlocked battery box door fell open, broke off and changed points under the locomotive. Ten people were killed. The locomotive did not return to service.
 * 29 January 1975 (Oxford). No. 1023 Western Fusilier derailed with a London Paddington to Birmingham train whilst approaching the platform. This was due to a failed axle which had split due to the growth of a previously undetected crack. There were no reported injuries and the locomotive was later preserved.
 * 3 January 1976 (Worcester Tunnel). No. 1055 Western Advocate crashed into a stationary parcels train killing the driver and guard of the Western. The locomotive did not return to service.

Withdrawal
Withdrawal of the class began in May 1973 with D1019 Western Challenger and D1032 Western Marksman becoming the first members of the class to be withdrawn. The final five engines in service were withdrawn in February 1977, these five engines would also survive into preservation with D1023 being donated to the National Collection.

Preservation
Seven locomotives have survived into preservation at heritage railways, four Swindon built & three Crewe built. Two have run on the mainline in preservation with D1015 being passed to operate on the mainline since 2002. D1062 made a brief appearance in 1980 during the Rocket 150 parade at Rainhill.

D1022 Western Sentinel was a candidate for preservation and was planned to be purchased by the DTG (Diesel Traction Group), but it was scrapped. D1015 Western Champion was purchased for preservation.

Model railways
The first model of a Class 52 was produced by Trix (company) to its unusual compromise scale of 3.8mm to 1ft with OO gauge/HO gauge (16.5mm) track. This model, however, was quite crude.

In 1979 Hornby Railways launched its first version of the BR Class 52 (type 4) Western in OO gauge.

Lima (models) also produced a model to OO gauge.

An N gauge model was produced by Graham Farish.

Since then, OO gauge models have been produced by both Heljan, and most recently Dapol, whilst an O gauge model has been produced by Heljan. Dapol have also produced a model in N gauge.

title: British Rail Class 52


text:
Alan Ladd

Alan Walbridge Ladd (September 3, 1913 – January 29, 1964) was an American actor and film producer. Ladd found success in film in the 1940s and early 1950s, particularly in films noir and Westerns. He was often paired with Veronica Lake in films noir, such as This Gun for Hire (1942), The Glass Key (1942), and The Blue Dahlia (1946). Whispering Smith (1948) was his first Western and color film, and Shane (1953) was noted for its contributions to the genre. Ladd also appeared in ten films with William Bendix.

His other notable credits include Two Years Before the Mast (1946) and The Great Gatsby (1949). His popularity diminished in the mid-1950s, though he continued to appear in numerous films, including his first supporting role since This Gun for Hire in the smash hit The Carpetbaggers released in 1964.

Biography
Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas, on September 3, 1913. He was the only child of Ina Raleigh (also known as Selina Rowley) (1888–1937), and Alan Ladd (1874–1917), a freelance accountant. His mother was English, from County Durham, and had migrated to the U.S. in 1907 when she was 19. His father died of a heart attack when Ladd was four. On July 3, 1918, young Alan accidentally burned down the family home while playing with matches. His mother moved to Oklahoma City, where she married Jim Beavers, a house painter (d. 1936).

In the early 1920s an economic downturn led to Ladd's family moving to California, which took four months. They lived in a migrant camp in Pasadena, California, at first and then moved to the San Fernando Valley, where Beavers went to work at FBO Studios as a painter.

Ladd enrolled in North Hollywood High School on February 18, 1930. He became a high-school swimming and diving champion and participated in high school dramatics in his senior year, including the role of Ko-Ko in The Mikado. His diving skills led to his appearance in the aquatic show Marinella in July 1933.

Early career
Ladd's performance in The Mikado was seen by a talent scout. In August 1933 Ladd was one of a group of young "discoveries" signed to a long-term contract with Universal Pictures. The contract had options that could continue for seven years, but they were all in the studio's favor. Ladd appeared unbilled in Once in a Lifetime (1932), but the studio eventually decided Ladd was too blond and too short, and it dropped him after six months. (All of Ladd's fellow "discoveries" eventually were dropped, including a young Tyrone Power.)

At 20, Ladd graduated from high school on February 1, 1934. He worked in the advertising department of the San Fernando Sun Valley Record, becoming the newspaper's advertising manager. When the paper changed hands, Ladd lost his job. He sold cash registers and borrowed $150 to open his own hamburger and malt shop, across from his previous high school, which he called Tiny's Patio (his nickname at high school was Tiny), but he was unable to make a success of the shop.

In another attempt to break into the film industry, Ladd went to work at Warner Bros. as a grip and stayed two years. He was injured falling off a scaffold and decided to quit.

Ladd managed to save and borrow enough money to attend an acting school run by Ben Bard, who had taught him when he was under contract at Universal. Ladd appeared in several stage productions for Bard. Bard later claimed Ladd "was such a shy guy he just wouldn't speak up loud and strong. I had to get him to lower his voice too; it was too high. I also insisted that he get himself a decent set of dentures."

In 1936, Ladd played an unbilled role in Pigskin Parade. He had short-term stints at MGM and RKO and got regular professional acting work only when he turned to radio. Ladd had worked to develop a rich, deep voice ideal for that medium, and in 1936 he was signed by station KFWB as its sole radio actor. He stayed for three years at KFWB, working as many as 20 shows per week.

Earning an agent
One night Ladd was playing the roles of a father and son on radio when he was heard by the agent Sue Carol. She was impressed and called the station to talk to the actors and was told it was one person. She arranged to meet him and, impressed by his looks, she signed him to her books and enthusiastically promoted her new client in films as well as on radio. Ladd's first notable part under Carol's management was the 1939 film Rulers of the Sea, in which he played a character named Colin Farrell, at $250 per week. He also received attention for a small part in Hitler – Beast of Berlin (1939).

Ladd tested unsuccessfully for the lead in Golden Boy (1939) but obtained many other small roles in films such as the serial The Green Hornet (1940), Her First Romance (1940), The Black Cat (1941), and the Disney film The Reluctant Dragon (1941). Most notably, he had a small uncredited part in Citizen Kane, playing a newspaper reporter toward the end of the film.

Ladd's career gained extra momentum when he was cast in a featured role in Joan of Paris (1942), a wartime drama made at RKO. It was only a small part, but it involved a touching death scene that brought him attention within the industry. RKO eventually offered Ladd a contract at $400 per week. However, he soon received a better offer from Paramount.

This Gun for Hire and stardom
Paramount had owned the film rights to A Gun for Sale, a novel by Graham Greene, since 1936 but waited until 1941 before making a movie out of it, changing the title to This Gun for Hire. Director Frank Tuttle was struggling to find a new actor to play the role of Raven, a hit man with a conscience. Ladd auditioned successfully, and Paramount signed him to a long-term contract in September 1941 for $300 per week. The New York Times wrote that:

"Tuttle and the studio are showing more than a passing enthusiasm for Ladd. He has been trying to get a foothold in pictures for eight years, but received no encouragement, although he tried every angle known to town—extra work, bit parts, stock contracts, dramatic schools, assault of the casting offices. Sue Carol, the former silent star who is now an agent, undertook to advance the youth's career two years ago, and only recently could she locate an attentive ear. Then, the breaks began."

According to author David Thomson in 1975, "Once Ladd had acquired an unsmiling hardness, he was transformed from an extra to a phenomenon. Ladd's calm slender ferocity make it clear that he was the first American actor to show the killer as a cold angel." John Houseman later wrote that Ladd played "a professional killer with a poignant and desolate ferocity that made him unique, for a time, among the male heroes of his day."

Both the film and Ladd's performance played an important role in the development of the gangster genre: "That the old-fashioned motion picture gangster with his ugly face, gaudy cars, and flashy clothes was replaced by a smoother, better looking, and better dressed bad man was largely the work of Mr. Ladd." – The New York Times obituary (January 30, 1964).

Though the romantic lead went to established star Robert Preston, Ladd's teaming in support with female lead Veronica Lake captured the public's imagination. Their overnight sensation pairing continued in three more films and included three more in guest spots in wartime all-star Hollywood musical revues.

The Glass Key
Even during the filming of This Gun for Hire, Paramount knew it had a potential star and announced Ladd's next film, an adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's story, The Glass Key (1942). This had been a successful vehicle for George Raft several years earlier, and Paramount wanted "a sure-fire narrative to carry him on his way." There had also been talk Ladd would appear in Red Harvest, another story by Hammett, but this was never produced.

The movie was Ladd's second pairing with Lake, with Ladd offering confident support of Brian Donlevy—so confident he even ended up with Donlevy's girl. Ladd's cool, unsmiling, understated persona proved popular with wartime audiences, and he was voted by the Motion Picture Herald as one of the 10 "stars of tomorrow" for 1942. His salary was raised to $750 per week. According to critic David Shipman: "Paramount of course was delighted. The majority of stars were earmarked as such when they appeared on the horizon—from Broadway or from wherever they came; if it seemed unlikely that public acceptance would come with one film they were trained and built up: The incubation period was usually between two and five years. As far as Ladd was concerned, he was a small-part actor given a fat part faute de mieux, and after his second film for them, he had not merely hit the leading-men category, but had gone beyond it to films which were constructed around his personality."

Ladd then appeared in Lucky Jordan (1943), a lighter vehicle with Helen Walker, playing a gangster who tries to get out of war service and tangles with Nazis. His new status was reflected by the fact he was the only actor billed above the title. He had a cameo spoofing his tough guy image in Star Spangled Rhythm, which featured most of Paramount's stars, and then starred in China (1943) with Loretta Young for director John Farrow, with whom Ladd made a number of movies. Young did not like working with Ladd:

"I found him petulant... I don't remember hearing him laugh, or ever seeing him laugh. Everything that concerned him was very serious... He had a certain screen personality... but as an actor... I never made any contact with him. He wouldn't look at me. He'd say 'I love you...', and he'd be looking out there some place. Finally, I said 'Alan, I'm he-ere!!'... I think he was very conscious of his looks. Alan would not look beyond a certain point in the camera because he didn't think he looked good... Jimmy Cagney was not tall but somehow Jimmy was at terms with himself, always. I don't think Alan Ladd ever came to terms with himself." Ladd's next film was meant to be Incendiary Blonde, opposite Betty Hutton, but he was inducted into the army on January 18, after reprising his performance in This Gun for Hire on radio for Lux Radio Theatre.

Army service
Ladd briefly served in the U.S. Army Air Forces' First Motion Picture Unit. Initially, he was classified 4-Funfit for military service because of stomach problemsbut he later enlisted for military service on January 19, 1943. He was posted to the Walla Walla Army Air Base at Walla Walla, Washington, attaining the rank of corporal. He attended the Oscars in March 1943, and in September he appeared in a trailer promoting a war loan drive titled Letter from a Friend.

While Ladd was in the armed services, a number of films that had been announced for him were postponed and/or made with different actors, including Incendiary Blonde, The Story of Dr. Wassell, Ministry of Fear, and The Man in Half Moon Street. Paramount started promoting Ladd replacements, such as Sonny Tufts and Barry Sullivan. Old Ladd films were reissued with his being given more prominent billing, such as Hitler, Beast of Berlin. He was reportedly receiving 20,000 fan letters per week. The New York Times reported that "Ladd in the brief period of a year and with only four starring pictures to his credit... had built up a following unmatched in film history since Rudolph Valentino skyrocketed to fame." In December 1943, he was listed as the 15th most popular star in the U.S.

Ladd fell ill and went to the military hospital in Santa Barbara for several weeks in October. On October 28, he was given an honorable medical discharge because of a stomach disorder complicated by influenza.

Return to filmmaking
When Ladd returned from the army, Paramount announced a series of vehicles for him, including And Now Tomorrow and Two Years Before the Mast. And Now Tomorrow was a melodrama, starring Loretta Young as a wealthy deaf woman who is treated (and loved) by her doctor, played by Ladd; Raymond Chandler co-wrote the screenplay, and it was filmed in late 1943 and early 1944. According to Shipman: "It was a pitch to sell Ladd to women filmgoers, though he had not changed one iota and he did not have a noticeable romantic aura. But Paramount hoped that women might feel that beneath the rock-like expression there smouldered fires of passion, or something like. His black-lashed eyes, however, gave nothing away; it was 'take me as I am' or 'I'm the boss around here'. He never flirted nor even seemed interested (which is one of the reasons he and Lake were so effective together)." In March 1944, Ladd took another physical and was reclassified 1A. He would have to be reinducted into the army, but a deferment was given to enable Ladd to make Two Years Before the Mast (the release of which was postponed two years). He was meant to be re-inducted on September 4, 1944, but Paramount succeeded in getting this pushed back again to make Salty O'Rourke. He also found time to make a cameo in a big-screen version of Duffy's Tavern.

Ladd's reinduction was then set for May 1945. Paramount commissioned Raymond Chandler to write an original screenplay for him titled The Blue Dahlia, made relatively quickly in case the studio lost Ladd to the military once again. However, in May 1945, the U.S. Army released all men 30 or over from induction, and Ladd was finally free from the draft. Along with several other film stars likewise spared, Ladd promptly enlisted with the Hollywood Victory Committee for the entertainment industry's overseas arm, volunteering to tour for USO shows.

Ladd next made Calcutta (1947), which reteamed him with John Farrow and William Bendix. Release for this film was delayed.

Suspension
Ladd was meant to make California with Betty Hutton, but he refused to report for work in August 1945. "It wasn't on account of the picture", said Ladd. "There were other issues." Ladd wanted more money, and Paramount responded by suspending him. The two parties reconciled in November with Ladd getting a salary increase to $75,000 per film, but without story approval or the right to do outside films, which he had wanted. Exhibitors voted him the 15th-most popular star in the country.

"When a star's off the screen, he's 'dead'", Ladd later reflected. "I like my home and my security and I don't intend to jeopardize them by being difficult at work."

Ladd's next film was O.S.S, a wartime thriller, produced by Richard Maibaum. He then convinced Ladd that he should play the title role in an adaptation of The Great Gatsby, to which Paramount held the film rights; Ladd became enthusiastic at the chance to change his image, but the project was delayed by a combination of censorship wrangles and studio reluctance.

Eventually, The Blue Dahlia was released to great acclaim (Raymond Chandler was nominated for an Oscar for the screenplay), quickly followed by O.S.S., and finally, Two Years Before the Mast. The first two films were solid hits, each earning over $2 million in rentals in the U.S. and Canada; Two Years Before the Mast was a blockbuster, earning over $4 million and ranking among the top 10 most popular films of the year. Ladd's roles in This Gun for Hire, The Glass Key, and The Blue Dahlia, firmly established him as a no-nonsense tough guy in a popular genre of crime films later to become known as film noir.

Ladd earned a reported $88,909 for the 12 months up to June 1946. (The following year, he earned $107,000.) In 1947, he was ranked among the top 10 popular stars in the U.S. That year finally had the release of Calcutta, along with Wild Harvest, where he reteamed with Robert Preston.

Ladd made a cameo appearance as a detective in the Bob Hope comedy, My Favorite Brunette (1947), and he made another cameo in an all-star Paramount film, titled, Variety Girl, singing Frank Loesser's "Tallahassee" with Dorothy Lamour. He was reteamed with Lake for the final time in Saigon (1948), then made Whispering Smith (1948), his first Western since he became a star (and his first movie in color). He followed this with Beyond Glory (1948), a melodrama with Farrow, which featured Audie Murphy in his film debut (and was released before Whispering Smith).

Radio and comic books
Since he had become a star, Ladd continued to appear in radio, usually in dramatizations of feature films for such shows as Lux Radio Theatre and Screen Directors Playhouse. He created roles played both by himself, but also other actors, including the part of Rick Blaine in an adaptation of Casablanca. In 1948, he starred and produced Box 13, a regular weekly series for syndication, which ran for 52 episodes.

From 1949–1951, he appeared in a nine-issue series of comic books published by DC Comics, portraying Ladd in a variety of adventurous situations; the first six issues had photos of him on the covers.

The Great Gatsby
Ladd's next role was a significant change of pace, playing Jay Gatsby in the 1949 version of The Great Gatsby, written and produced by Richard Maibaum. This film had been planned since 1946, but production was delayed due to a combination of difficulties with the censor, and Paramount's reluctance for Ladd to play such a challenging part. It was not a big success at the box office, and its mixed critical and commercial reception caused Ladd to avoid serious dramatic roles.

His next films were standard fare: Chicago Deadline, playing a tough reporter; Captain Carey, U.S.A., as a vengeful ex-OSS agent, for Maibaum; and Appointment with Danger, as a postal inspector investigating a murder with the help of nun Phyllis Calvert (shot in 1949, but not released until 1951).

Paramount purchased the screen rights to the play Detective Story as a possible vehicle for Ladd, and he was keen to do it, but the role went to Kirk Douglas. Ladd was cast, instead, in Branded, a Western. In February 1950, Paramount announced that Ladd would star in a film version of the novel Shane. Before he made this film, he appeared in Red Mountain, produced by Hal Wallis.

In 1950, the Hollywood Women's Press Club voted Ladd the easiest male star to deal with in Hollywood. The following year, a poll from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association listed Ladd as the second most popular male film star in the world, after Gregory Peck.

Shane
In 1951, Ladd's contract had only one more year to run. "Paramount is like a home to me", he said, "and I'd like to remain on the lot for one picture a year. But I want to be free to take pictures at other studios if offered to me." The main studio Ladd was in discussion with was Warner Bros. He also received a six-year offer to make Adventure Limited, a TV series.

In May 1951, Ladd announced he had formed Ladd Enterprises, his own production company, to produce films, radio, and TV, when his Paramount contract ended in November 1952. He optioned the novel Shadow Riders of the Yellowstone by Les Savage. The next month, his deal with Warner Bros. was announced: one film per year for five years. However, he expressed a desire to continue to work with Paramount.

Ladd's final three movies for Paramount were Thunder in the East, Shane, and Botany Bay. Once Ladd finished Botany Bay in February 1952, it was announced Ladd's contract with Paramount would end early and be amended, so that he would make two more movies for the studio, at a later date. (In the end, Ladd did not make another film at Paramount until The Carpetbaggers.)

Paramount staggered the release of Ladd's final films for the company, with Shane and Botany Bay not being released until 1953. Ladd later said that leaving Paramount was "a big upset" for him and that he only left for "business reasons...future security for the children and ourselves".

Shane, in which he played a strong, silent, courageous title character, was particularly popular. It premiered at Radio City Music Hall in New York City in April 1953, grossing over $114,000 in its four weeks there (a large sum at the time), and earning $8 million in North America over its initial run. This led to Ladd's being voted one of the 10 most popular stars in the U.S. in 1953.

Freelance star: Warner Bros., Universal, Warwick
Ladd's deal with Warner Bros. was for one film per year for 10 years, starting from when his contract with Paramount expired. Warner guaranteed him $150,000 per film against 10% of the gross, making Ladd one of the better paid stars in Hollywood. His first film for Warner Bros. was The Iron Mistress (1952), in which Ladd played Jim Bowie.

The arrangement with Warner was not exclusive, enabling Ladd to work for other studios. He made Desert Legion, a film at Universal Studios (1953), playing a member of the French Foreign Legion. Ladd was paid a fee and a percentage of the profits.

Ladd signed an arrangement with Warwick Films to make three films in Britain, where the actor was very popular: a wartime saga titled The Red Beret (1953), with Ladd masquerading as a Canadian soldier in the Parachute Regiment, and a whaling story titled Hell Below Zero (1954), based on the Hammond Innes book The White South. Both movies were co-written by Richard Maibaum, with whom Ladd had worked at Paramount. Ladd played a mountie in Saskatchewan for Universal in Canada and returned to Britain for his final film with Warwick, The Black Knight (1954), a medieval swashbuckler (a genre then in vogue), wherein Ladd played the title role. This meant Ladd spent 19 months out of the U.S. and did not have to pay tax on his income for this period. It also caused his plans to enter independent production to be deferred. Ladd's fee for his Warwick films was $200,000 against 10% of the profits, plus living expenses.

Jaguar Productions
When Ladd returned to Hollywood in 1954, he formed Jaguar Productions, a new production company that released movies through Warner Bros. This was in addition to the films he made with Warner, solely as an actor.

His first film for Jaguar was Drum Beat (1954), a Western directed by Delmer Daves, which was reasonably successful at the box office. For Warners, he then made The McConnell Story (1955), co-starring June Allyson, which also proved popular. He signed to appear in some episodes of General Electric Theater on TV. The first of these, "Committed", was based on an old episode of Box 13, which Ladd was considering turning into a TV series. However, despite Ladd's presence, a series did not result.

Ladd next made Hell on Frisco Bay (1955), a film for Jaguar also starring second-billed Edward G. Robinson and Joanne Dru, co-written by Martin Rackin and directed by Frank Tuttle, his old This Gun for Hire associate. Rackin wrote and produced Ladd's subsequent film, titled Santiago, which he made for Warner Bros. For Jaguar, Ladd produced, but did not appear in, A Cry in the Night.

Ladd's instincts for choosing material was proving increasingly poor: George Stevens offered him the role of Jett Rink in Giant (1956), which he turned down because it was not the lead; James Dean took the part, and the film became one of the big hits of the decade. He was meant to return to Paramount to make The Sons of Katie Elder, but he bought himself out of his Paramount contract for $135,000; the film was made a decade later, with John Wayne and Dean Martin, and was a big hit.

Instead, Ladd signed a new four-year contract between Jaguar and Warner Bros., with his company having a budget of $6.5 million. The first film made under it was The Big Land (1957), a Western. He made Farewell to Kennedy, another TV film for General Electric Theater; he hoped this would lead to a series, but that did not happen.

Ladd then received an offer to star in Boy on a Dolphin (1957), a film being made in Greece for 20th Century Fox. In March 1957, it was announced that WarnerBros. and Jaguar had renegotiated their agreement and that Jaguar would now make 10 films for the studio, of which Ladd was to appear in at least six, starting with The Deep Six (1958). Warner Bros. provided all the financing and split profits with Jaguar 50/50. The second film under the contract was Island of Lost Women, which Ladd produced but did not appear in.

Ladd's next film as an actor saw him co-star with his son David in The Proud Rebel, made independently for Samuel Goldwyn Jr. According to Shipman, Ladd's "performance is his best work, sincere and likable (due perhaps to an odd resemblance in long shot to Buster Keaton), but the film did not have the success it deserved; Ladd's own fans missed the bang-bang and [co star] Olivia de Havilland's fans were not persuaded that any film she did with Ladd could be that good." He announced a six-picture deal with Warwick Productions but ultimately did not work for Warwick again. MGM hired Ladd to make The Badlanders, a Western remake of The Asphalt Jungle, but like many of Ladd's films around this time it was a box-office disappointment.

Ladd was considered to play the lead in The Angry Hills, but Robert Mitchum eventually was cast. Mitchum later told a journalist that the producers met Ladd at his home after "he'd just crawled out of his swimming pool and was all shrunken up like a dishwasher's hand. They decided he wouldn't do for the big war correspondent."

Later films
For Walter Mirisch at United Artists, Ladd appeared in The Man in the Net. He produced a pilot for a TV series, starring William Bendix, called Ivy League. That did not go to series; neither did The Third Platoon, another pilot Ladd produced for Paramount, written by a young Aaron Spelling where Ladd only did a voiceover. Spelling also wrote Guns of the Timberland for Jaguar and Warners, in which Ladd appeared; it was his last movie for Warners.

As an actor, he made All the Young Men with Sidney Poitier, that was released through Columbia. One Foot in Hell (1960), over at 20th Century Fox, had Ladd play an out-and-out villain for the first time, since the beginning of his career, but the result was not popular with audiences.

"I'd like to retire from acting", he said in 1960. "I'd produce." Ladd kept busy developing projects, some of which were vehicles for his son, David.

Ladd also kept acting, following the path of many Hollywood stars made Duel of Champions (1961), a peplum in Italy. Back in Hollywood, he made 13 West Street, as a star and producer, for Ladd Enterprises.

"I'll go to work again when the right story comes along", said Ladd. He joined the board of 38 Inc., a new film producing company, which announced plans to make a movie out of a Ben Hecht script.

In 1963, Ladd's career looked set to make a comeback, when he took a supporting role in The Carpetbaggers, based on the best-selling novel. This was a co-production between Embassy and Paramount, meaning Ladd was filming on the Paramount back lot for the first time in over a decade. He also announced plans to turn Box 13 into a feature-film script, and was hoping for cameos from old friends, such as Veronica Lake and William Bendix.

Personal life
On November 29, 1937, Ladd's mother, who was staying with him following the breakup of a relationship, asked Ladd for some money to buy something at a local store. Ladd gave her the money, thinking it was for alcohol. She purchased some arsenic-based ant paste from a grocer and died by suicide by drinking it in the back seat of Ladd's car.

On November 2, 1962, Ladd was found lying unconscious in a pool of blood with a bullet wound near his heart. The bullet penetrated Ladd's chest around the third and fourth rib, through the lungs, and bounced off the rib cage. At the time, Ladd said he thought he heard a prowler, grabbed a gun, and tripped over, accidentally shooting himself. This was accepted by the police investigating.

Ladd has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1601 Vine Street. His handprint appears in the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. In 1995, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.

Family and relationships
Ladd married Marjorie Jane "Midge" Harrold, a high school sweetheart, in October 1936. Their only child, Alan Ladd, Jr., was born on October 22, 1937. They divorced in July 1941 and she died in 1957, having remarried.

On March 15, 1942, Ladd married his agent and manager, former film actress Sue Carol in Mexico City. They intended to be remarried in the U.S. in July because Ladd's divorce from his first wife was not final. Carol had a daughter from a previous marriage, Carol Lee (b. July 18, 1932), whom Alan and Sue raised. In addition, they had two children of their own, Alana (born April 21, 1943, when Ladd was in the army ) and David Ladd (1947).

Alan Ladd, Jr., was a film executive and producer and founder of the Ladd Company. Actress Alana Ladd, who co-starred with her father in Guns of the Timberland and Duel of Champions, was married to the veteran talk radio broadcaster Michael Jackson. Alana died on November 23, 2014. Actor David Ladd, who co-starred with his father as a child in The Proud Rebel, was married (1973–1980) to Charlie's Angels star Cheryl Ladd (née Stoppelmoor). Their daughter is actress Jordan Ladd.

Ladd's name was linked romantically with June Allyson when they made The McConnell Story together.

Height
Reports of Ladd's height vary from 5 ft to 5 ft, with 5 ft being cited most often in unofficial sources. His 1940 draft registration lists him as 5 ft. His 1943 U.S. Army enlistment record, however, lists him as 5 ft, a measurement generally deemed to be the most reliable.

Ladd and Veronica Lake became a particularly popular pairing because, at 4 ft, she was one of the few Hollywood actresses substantially shorter than he was. In his memoirs, actor/producer John Houseman wrote of Ladd: "Since he himself was extremely short, he had only one standard by which he judged his fellow players: their height." To compensate for Ladd's height, during the filming of Boy on a Dolphin, co-starring the 5 ft Sophia Loren, the cinematographer used special low stands to light Ladd and the crew built a ramp system of heavy planks to enable the two actors to stand at equal eye level. In outdoor scenes, trenches were dug for Loren to stand in. For the film Saskatchewan, director Raoul Walsh had a hole dug for 6 ft co-star Hugh O'Brian to stand in, while using the excavated dirt to build a mound for Ladd to stand, thereby overcoming the disparity in height.

Death
In January 1964, after injuring his knees, Ladd hoped to recuperate at his house in Palm Springs. On January 29, 1964, his butler said that he saw Ladd on his bed at 10 am; when he returned at 3:30 pm, he found Ladd dead on his bed.

His death, due to cerebral edema caused by an acute overdose of alcohol, a barbiturate, and two tranquilizers containing at least two depressants, was ruled accidental. Ladd suffered from chronic insomnia and regularly used sleeping pills and alcohol to induce sleep. While he had not taken a lethal amount of any one drug, the combination apparently caused fatal interaction.

Ladd's funeral was held on February 1, with Edmond O'Brien giving the eulogy. Fans were allowed to see his coffin. He was buried with his wedding ring and a letter that his son David had written to him.

Ladd died a wealthy man, with his holdings including a 5,000-acre ranch at Hidden Valley and a hardware store in Palm Springs. After he died, The Carpetbaggers was released and became a financial success.

Select radio credits

 * Lux Radio Theatre – Ep 206 "The Return of Peter Grimm" (February 13, 1939)
 * Lux Radio Theatre – Ep 221 "Only Angels Have Wings" (May 29, 1939)
 * Lux Radio Theatre – Ep 280 "White Banners" (June 12, 1939)
 * Lincoln Highway (May 1942)
 * Guest on Kate Smith's radio show – 1942
 * Lux Radio Theatre – Ep 380 "This Gun for Hire" (January 25, 1943) – with Joan Blondell and Laird Cregar
 * Wings to Victory (March 25, 1943)
 * "Musically Inclined" for Silver Theater (December 12, 1943) – with Judy Garland
 * Lux Radio Theatre – Ep 415 China (November 22, 1943)
 * Suspense – "One Way Ride to Nowhere" (January 6, 1944)
 * Suspense – "The Defence Rests" (March 9, 1944)
 * Cavalcade of America – "Ambulance Driver Middle East" (April 3, 1944)
 * Lux Radio Theatre – Ep 435 Coney Island (April 17, 1944)
 * Burns and Allen – special guest star (January 15, 1945)
 * Lux Radio Theatre – Ep 473 "Disputed Passage" (March 5, 1945)
 * Jack Benny Program – "Murder Mystery" (March 25, 1945)
 * Lux Radio Theatre – Ep 484 "And Now Tomorrow" (May 21, 1945)
 * The Dinah Shore Show – Guest star (May 31, 1945)
 * Command Performance – guest star with Bob Hope, Ann Rutherford (June 14, 1945)
 * Lux Radio Theatre – Ep 503 "Salty O'Rourke" (November 26, 1945)
 * Duffy's Tavern – guest star (January 4, 1946)
 * Lux Radio Theatre – Ep 523 "Whistle Stop" (April 15, 1946)
 * Hollywood Star Time – "Double Indemnity" (June 22, 1946)
 * Lux Radio Theatre – Ep 546 "OSS" (November 18, 1946)
 * Lux Radio Theatre – Ep 582 "Two Years Before the Mast" (September 22, 1947)
 * The Screen Guild Theater – "The Blue Dahlia" (April 21, 1949)
 * Screen Directors Playhouse – "Saigon" (July 29, 1949)
 * Screen Directors Playhouse – "Whispering Smith" (September 16, 1949)
 * Suspense – "Motive for Murder" (March 16, 1950)
 * Screen Directors Playhouse – "Chicago Deadline" (March 24, 1950)
 * Suspense – "A Killing in Abilene" (December 14, 1950)
 * Screen Directors Playhouse – "Lucky Jordan" (February 8, 1951)
 * Lux Radio Theatre – Ep 911 "Shane" (February 22, 1955)

Regular series

 * Box 13 : 52 episodes (August 22, 1948 – August 14, 1949)

Awards

 * Photoplay 1953 Gold Medal for his performance in Shane

Box office ranking
For a number of years, film exhibitors voted him amongst the top stars at the box office.
 * In 1948 a survey was taken of the film-going habits of 4,500 teenagers in Lakewood, Ohio. Their "overwhelming first choice" as film star was Alan Ladd.

Theatre

 * The Mikado (May 1933) – as Koko – at North Hollywood high School
 * Marinella (July 19, 1933) – an aquatic pageant in North Hollywood
 * Grey Zone by Martin Mooney (Oct 1936) at Ben Bard Playhouse
 * Susanne by Eloisse Keller (Jan 1937) at Ben Bard Playhouse
 * Between Two Women by Carey Wilson (April 1937) at Ben Bard Playhouse – with Jack Carson
 * Maniacs in Monocles by Robert Riley Crutcher (July 1937) at Ben Bard Playhouse

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Alan Ladd


text:
White City railway station

White City was a railway station on the Sunbury railway line (then the St Albans line) of the Melbourne suburban rail system in Melbourne, Australia. It was located approximately 700 metres west of Tottenham railway station. The next station down the line was Sunshine.

History
The station was opened on 10 December 1927, to serve the new White City greyhound racing track, named after the site of the 1908 London Olympics. The station was originally called Coursing Platform and was renamed White City on 25 August 1929.

Workmen's trains from the city began stopping at the station on 10 June 1940, serving employees at local industries, such as the Olympic Tyres factory, but it was not until 28 June 1948, that trains returning to the city stopped at the station, when an afternoon "up" service was provided from the station's single platform, using the crossover at the up end of the platform. White City was made a regular suburban station in December 1949. The station only ever had one platform, on the westbound track, even though fifty services a week stopped there at its peak. Due to its proximity to Tottenham station, White City's signals were operated from there.

In the early 1980s, Tottenham station and its area underwent extensive alterations. The line was raised in order to eliminate the level crossing at Ashley Street, and a new high-level island platform was provided. As a consequence, it was decided to remove the nearby White City station. On 4 October 1981, White City was officially closed. It was later demolished, and no trace of its existence remains.

title: White City railway station


text:
Cooperative distributed problem solving

In computing cooperative distributed problem solving is a network of semi-autonomous processing nodes working together to solve a problem, typically in a multi-agent system. That is concerned with the investigation of problem subdivision, sub-problem distribution, results synthesis, optimisation of problem solver coherence and co-ordination. It is closely related to distributed constraint programming and distributed constraint optimization; see the links below.

Aspects of CDPS

 * Neither global control or global data storage – no individual CDPS problem solver (agent) has sufficient information to solve the entire problem.
 * Control and data are distributed
 * Communication is slower than computation, therefore:
 * Loose coupling between problem solvers
 * Efficient protocols (not too much communication overhead)
 * problems should be modular, coarse grained
 * Any unique node is a potential bottleneck
 * Organised behaviour is hard to guarantee since no one node has the complete picture

Some relevant books

 * A chapter in an edited book.
 * See Chapters 1 and 2; downloadable free online.
 * See Chapters 1 and 2; downloadable free online.

title: Cooperative distributed problem solving


text:
USS Towers

USS Towers (DD-959/DDG-9) was a Charles F. Adams-class destroyer guided missile destroyer of the United States Navy notable for action in the Vietnam War. The ship was named in honor of Admiral John Henry Towers.

Construction and career
Towers keel was laid down on 1 April 1958 at Seattle, Washington, by the Todd Pacific Shipyards; launched on 23 April 1959; sponsored by Mrs. Nathaniel Rotoreau, Jr.; and commissioned on 6 June 1961 at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington.

1960s
Homeported at San Diego, California, Towers carried out trials and local operations off the southern California coast into September 1961. She then conducted her shakedown cruise to Callao and Lima, Peru; Balboa, Panama Canal Zone; and Acapulco, Mexico, before she deployed to the Western Pacific (WestPac) for the first time in the early spring of 1962.

She arrived at Sydney, Australia, on 30 April to represent the United States during the 20th observance of the anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea and shifted to Melbourne a week later. She then continued her WestPac deployment with visits to Yokosuka and Sasebo, Japan; Buckner Bay, Okinawa; Subic Bay, Philippines; Keeling, Taiwan; and Bangkok, Thailand. She then returned home via Guam and Hawaii.

Following a routine schedule of local operations out of San Diego from 1 January to 17 May 1963, Towers departed her home port on 18 May, bound for the Far East. En route, she stopped at Pearl Harbor and Midway and later took part in exercises and operations off Japan and in the Philippines. She returned to San Diego on 28 November 1963 and operated along the southern California coast. May '64 Towers entered dry dock at Hunters Point, San Francisco for a five-month overhaul. Returning to duty in early October she went through weeks of shakedown exercises prior to returning to her home port of San Diego.

Towers departed San Diego on 5 January 1965, bound for her third WestPac tour. As American forces became increasingly involved in the Vietnam War, escalating from an advisory capacity to active combat, the Navy's role in Vietnamese coastal waters expanded. Towers participated in three main facets of the U.S. 7th Fleet's operations in the Gulf of Tonkin and the South China Sea. She performed screening and plane-guard duties for fast carrier task forces on Yankee Station, providing protection with her missiles and her rapid-fire 5-inch battery. In addition, she conducted search and rescue (SAR) patrols on the northern station; and made interdiction patrols in conjunction with Operation Market Time. Upon the conclusion of this tour, the guided missile destroyer sailed for home on 10 May. En route to the Hawaiian Islands, she participated in Operation Sailor Hat, a special blast test to determine deficiencies in modern ship construction, and arrived home at San Diego on 26 June.

From 31 January to 6 February 1966, Towers participated in Operation Buttonhook, a joint United States and Canadian exercise off the west coast of Canada and the United States which emphasized antisubmarine warfare (ASW) techniques. Following availability at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard during March, Towers took part in Operation Gray Ghost from 12 to 22 April. This exercise dealt with air control intercept tactics and antiaircraft warfare (AAA) measures to prepare the ship for her upcoming deployment to the Gulf of Tonkin, off Vietnam. In addition, the ship trained to become proficient in tactics to utilize against possible motor torpedo (PT) boat attacks.

Departing San Diego on 4 June 1966, Towers steamed west, via Pearl Harbor, Guam, and Subic Bay, to Vietnam. She expended some 3,266 rounds of 5-inch ammunition between 2 and 17 July, off target areas which included the "Rung Sat Special Zone." Her target assessment included the destruction of 17 enemy buildings and damage to 118 more, the sinking of three sampans, the killing of 11 Viet Cong soldiers, and the destruction of a bridge. The guided missile destroyer returned to Subic Bay for upkeep and further training in PT-boat countermeasures before she returned to the Gulf of Tonkin to take up her position on the northern SAR station on 1 August. For the next month, under the command of Stanley Thomas Counts, she deployed with USS Wiltsie (DD-716), keeping on the alert to spot downed pilots and to direct friendly helicopters to the rescue.

On 6 August 1966, Towers directed an HU-16 helicopter to the site of a downed aviator some 69 miles from the ship. The next day, Towers directed another HU-16 to a spot behind the enemy-held island of Cac Ba, where two Air Force men had bailed out. The helicopter successfully rescued them from behind communist lines. In the next two weeks, the ship participated in two more rescues—picking up two more Air Force pilots in one and a Navy flyer in the other.

Towers '  most daring rescue came on the last day of her tour on the SARA station. On 31 August 1966, a Navy plane was hit by antiaircraft fire over Haiphong, and the pilot bailed out of his doomed aircraft directly over the enemy harbor. As he floated down under his parachute to face what seemed certain capture, Towers and USS King (DLG-10) closed to within visual range of Haiphong harbor. Then King's helicopter sped in under the guidance of Towers experienced controllers and picked up the pilot, whisking him out of danger from beneath the enemy's very nose.

After a brief rest and recreation period, Towers returned to the SAR station again on 1 October 1966. However, flying weather turned out to be poorer at this time of year, and air operations were sharply curtailed. Hence, Towers spent much of her time patrolling the Gulf of Tonkin.

Sailing for home on 21 November 1966, Towers departed Yokosuka and ran into heavy seas while en route to the west coast, suffering minor storm damage before she arrived at her home port on 3 December. After operations at sea from January 1967 to mid-March, Towers underwent a major overhaul at Hunters' Point Naval Shipyard from 14 April to 19 October. The guided missile destroyer then operated out of San Diego through the spring of 1968.

Towers then readied herself for her next WestPac deployment. Her preparation included screening and shore bombardment exercises with USS New Jersey (BB-62), the world's only active battleship. Departing San Diego on 5 September 1968, Towers made stops at Pearl Harbor and Subic Bay before arriving off the I Corps tactical zone to commence "Sea Dragon" operations. While escorting and screening New Jersey, Towers knocked out two artillery and three antiaircraft gun sites; destroyed 55 meters of trenches; sank two logistics craft; set off 19 secondary explosions; and killed an estimated 10 enemy soldiers. On 1 October 1968, the ship rescued two downed airmen just south of the demilitarized zone (DMZ). The flyers, Capt. James Spaith, USMC, and his observer, 1st Lt. U.S. Grant, USMC, had been shot down when their Douglas A4F "Skyhawk" had been hit while spotting gunfire for New Jersey.

Following upkeep at Subic Bay, she planeguarded on "Yankee Station" for USS Constellation (CV-64) and returned to the I Corps operating zone for urgent gunfire support duties. She provided support for Operation Daring Endeavor launched to destroy enemy troop concentrations south of Da Nang. Commended for her part in this action, Towers remained on the scene from 17 to 30 November. She again provided anti-rocket support out of Da Nang from the 21st through the 25th. In addition, she provided gunfire for Korean marines: and the Army's 101st Airborne Division.

Towers then sailed north to the Philippines for up keep at Subic Bay before proceeding to Singapore for rest and recreation. She arrived back on "Yankee Station" three days before Christmas, to assume the role of escort commander for USS Intrepid (CV-11). After two days of this duty, however, the guided missile destroyer was back in the IV Corps operating area on night-harassment fire duties against the communist ground forces.

New Year's Day 1969 found the ship still engaging the enemy in the IV Corps' zone, supporting Vietnamese ranger battalions. During this period, Towers 5-inch rifles wreaked havoc upon Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troop concentrations, bunkers, sampans, and footbridges. The ship then spent a few days at Hong Kong before she returned to the "gunline", once more at Da Nang. She supported the U.S. 3rd Marine Division, operating north and south of Da Nang, blasting enemy troops and structures, again in support of Korean marines and the 101st Airborne.

Towers furnished gunfire support for South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) units in January 1969 and shelled shore targets for the 3rd Marine Division and the 101st Airborne Division, both north and south of Da Nang. From her anchorage inside Da Nang harbor, the guided missile destroyer fired frequent night harassment and counter-rocket site fire against communist positions in the surrounding countryside. Her damage assessments for this duty included destruction of targets such as troop concentrations, bunkers, footbridges, and supply-carrying sampans.

Shifting again to "Yankee Station", Towers joined the screen of USS Hancock (CV-19) on station with TG 77.5 until 7 February. She then sailed for Subic Bay for three days of upkeep before proceeding on to Yokosuka. Departing Japanese waters on 21 February, Towers soon headed east and brought this WestPac deployment to a close when she sailed into San Diego harbor on 4 March 1969.

1970s
Towers spent much of the year 1970 on routine local operations in the vicinity of her home port in preparation for future WestPac deployments. On 4 September, while conducting refresher training out of San Diego, the ship directed a helicopter to rescue the pilot from an F-8 Crusader that had crashed nearby. The embarked evaluation team from the Fleet Training Group gave the ship a grade of "outstanding" during this "unscheduled evolution."

Deploying again to WestPac on 7 January 1971, Towers proceeded to Vietnamese waters, via Pearl Harbor and Midway. While she proceeded west on 20 January, one of the other ships in her convoy, USS Roark (FF-1053), suffered a major engine room fire which stopped her dead in the water. Towers turned-to and lent a hand. After the fire was extinguished, the guided missile destroyer took Roark in tow until USS Quapaw (ATF-110) arrived and took over the towing.

Towers arrived back on the gunline on 8 February and provided gunfire support until the 21st, when she moved to "Yankee Station" to provide plane-guard service for USS Ranger (CV-61). On 6 March, a member of the carrier's flight deck force was blown over the side during launching operations. Towers quickly sped to the scene, rescued the sailor, and returned him to his ship.

A short visit to Subic Bay followed, as did another tour on the gunline and the northern SAR station. The ship then returned to Subic Bay for upkeep and then made still another tour as plane guard and screen for USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63). She departed WestPac on 1 July. Arriving at San Diego on the 15th, Towers operated out of her home base into the early spring of 1972. Gunnery exercises, underway training evolutions (with emphasis on ASW and AAW tactics); plane-guarding for USS Midway (CV-41); and an upkeep and inport period all followed as the ship prepared for her upcoming WestPac deployment.

Events in Vietnam, however, forced a change in plan for Towers and rapidly accelerated her return to the war zone. Although not scheduled for deployment until September, she departed the west coast on 20 June, bound once more for-the gunline. A massive Viet Cong and North Vietnamese assault had battered South Vietnamese forces in key Quang Tri Province and resulted in emergency measures for the supporting naval forces offshore. During the voyage from the west coast to the South China Sea, the ship assisted in the rescue of six crewmen from a downed B-52 Stratofortress near Guam and received a commendation from the United States Secretary of the Navy.

A curtailed two-day upkeep period at Subic Bay preceded the ship's sailing on 13 July for the gunline. Heavy commitments and long hours of gunfire support duty in support of ARVN troops followed from 17 to 28 July as Towers participated in Operation Lamson 72. From 29 July to 5 August, the ship operated on "Linebacker" strikes against targets to the northward of the DMZ, in North Vietnam, as part of Task Unit 77.1.2. On several occasions during this time, she came under fire from communist shore batteries.

The intense gunfire support duties assigned to the ship soon wore out the linings of her two 5-inch guns, so the ship sailed for Sasebo, where she spent the week from 9 to 15 August undergoing a re-gunning. She soon returned to the "gunline" and supported ARVN troops off Huế. The destroyer also fired night "Linebacker" strikes on 24 and 25 September, rounding out the month with gunfire support missions fired for the 1st ARVN division.

A visit to Hong Kong for needed rest and recreation for her crew soon followed, and an upkeep period at Subic Bay preceded the ship's return to Vietnamese waters on 21 October. She supported the ARVN 22d Division near Qui Nhon and around Quang Tri. She then again visited Subic Bay and Kaohsiung, Taiwan, before returning to the gunline again from 3 to 8 December. For the rest of the month, Towers fired gunfire support missions against North Vietnamese troop concentrations near Quang Tri. Spirited exchanges of gunfire with enemy shore batteries took place on numerous occasions during this period.

She finished the year 1972 again serving as plane guard for Constellation on "Yankee Station" and closed out her grueling seven-month deployment on the last day of the year, when she sailed for Yokosuka. From there, she returned home via Midway and Pearl Harbor. This deployment turned out to be the destroyer's last in support of the Vietnam War. The "Vietnamization" plan placed the burden of self-defense on the shoulders of the South Vietnamese, as American land, sea, and air forces were withdrawn from combat in January and February 1973. Towers returned to San Diego and soon under-went refurbishment at Long Bach shipyards. Towers then operated out of San Diego from 1973 through 1976, pursuing a regular schedule of local operations, routine upkeep and overhaul periods, and underway training evolutions. Towers departed San Diego on 30 July 1976 for her first extended overseas deployment in three years. She conducted exercises and local operations in the western Pacific (WESTPAC) while stationed at Subic Bay Naval Station, Philippines. Towers participated in Exercise "Sharkhunt XVII" with the Taiwanese Navy and made a port call in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

Towers then performed an extended cruise through the busy Strait of Malacca into the Indian Ocean, with port calls to Singapore, Colombo, Sri Lanka and Karachi, Pakistan. While in Columbo the crew of the USS Towers were honored as guests of the European diplomatic community and the U.S. Marines embassy detachment at the coastal European diplomatic recreation center, overlooking the Indian Ocean.

While in the Indian Ocean Towers took part in "Midlink 76" with units of the Iranian, Pakistani, British, and American Navies in mid-November.

Towers then returned to the South China Sea where she participated in "Multiplex/Missilex-76" with other United States 7th Fleet units.

Following port visits to Hong Kong from 6 to 12 January and Bangkok, Thailand from 29 January to 4 February 1977, Towers engaged in a coordinated ASW (Anti-Submarine-Warfare) exercise, "Sharkhunt XX", with the Taiwanese Navy from 22 to 25 February and made a second port call in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

She returned to San Diego via Hawaii on 21 March to complete her seven-month, three-week WESTPAC deployment. Post-deployment operations off the west coast were highlighted by port visits to San Francisco, California and Vancouver, British Columbia, from 9 to 17 July for Vancouver's annual Sea Festival. Towers last significant operations at sea for the year occurred during the period 12 to 16 September when she conducted naval gunfire support exercises on the range at San Clemente Island. On 23 September, the guided missile destroyer commenced a four-month availability at San Diego which took her into the new year.

Post-availability trials commenced on 26 January 1978, and Towers spent the next nine months evaluating her radar detection and tracking system during numerous at-sea operations for that purpose. On 14 November, the ship got underway for Long Beach where she entered the Naval Shipyard on the 15th for commencement of a regular overhaul which took her into 1979.

1980s
In January 1980, Towers' ships' company received news that the ship's home port would change to Yokosuka, Japan, in October. The crew spent the next nine months preparing for the homeport change, which required passing a series of service inspections, repairing engineering casualties and preparing for overseas deployment. In July, Towers underwent a special availability at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, arriving on the 13th for repairs to her missile launcher system. The repairs only took two weeks since replacement parts were obtained from the decommissioned guided missile cruiser USS Chicago (CG-11). Departing San Diego on 14 October, Towers sailed for Japan, arriving in Yokosuka via Pearl Harbor on 10 November. Following an upkeep period through 12 December, the warship conducted a short familiarization cruise in Japanese waters until the 19th whereupon she began a holiday leave and upkeep period.

After a series of local operations and exercises, including an ASW exercise with Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) warships, Towers sailed to the Middle East in mid-April to relieve guided missile cruiser USS Reeves (CG-24) as radar picket ship in the Persian Gulf. Concluding operations on 14 May, she slowly made her way home, visiting Thailand, Singapore, and Subic Bay, as well as rescuing 138 Vietnamese refugees from three small craft in the South China Sea before putting into Yokosuka on 11 June. Less than a month later, Towers was on hand for another rescue on 4 July, this time picking up 26 survivors from a South Korean freighter that had gone down in bad weather 25 miles east of Hong Kong. A planned restricted availability at Yokosuka followed, during which the yard replaced both propellers as well as the sandblasted and repainted the hull. Maintenance problems hampered the warship over the next few months, but the guided missile destroyer managed to conduct multiple training evolutions with two aircraft carrier battle groups as they transited the area.

Towers resumed local operations in early February 1982 with an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) exercise off Sasebo with JMSDF ships Kurama and Sagami. During the exercise, the warship successfully fired practice torpedoes at submarine USS Blueback (SS-581). After a cruise to Okinawa and Hong Kong later in the month, Towers joined carrier Midway and the rest of Battle Group Alpha for an operational "tune-up" prior to Exercise Team Spirit '82 in mid-March. Operations with the battle group continued off and on until 5 May, when the guided missile destroyer shifted to the carrier Ranger Battle Group. Over the next three days she conducted close-in AAW defense and plane guard duties for Ranger during "war-at-sea" exercises. In company with Reeves, Towers successfully fired two SM-1 missiles before steaming to Subic Bay on 22 May for a two-week upkeep period. Following Naval Gunfire Support (NGFS) qualifications, the guided missile destroyer returned to Yokosuka on 18 June.

Following a restricted availability through July 1982, Towers resumed the familiar pattern of operations out of Yokosuka. These included battle group training evolutions with Midway, ASW exercises with Japanese warships as well as investigating and shadowing Soviet warships in the northern Pacific, a regimen that lasted through September. On 12 October, she got underway with Battle Group Alpha for a voyage to the Indian Ocean, stopping at Subic Bay the next day and then sailing for Singapore. While en route, the warship rescued 65 Vietnamese refugees from a small craft in the South China Sea and transferred them to Midway for further processing. The warships then conducted exercises with Singapore naval and air units in late October, visited Pattaya beach, Thailand, in early November, and conducted battle group operations while en route to Japan, arriving at Yokosuka via Hong Kong on 10 December.

In mid-January 1983, Towers commenced Team Spirit '83, a joint exercise off South Korea, followed by the periodic Nuclear Weapons Certification inspection. After a short period at Yokosuka (10–27 February 1983), the warship conducted another set of battle group operations. Unfortunately, during the afternoon watch on 2 March, while en route to Chinhae, Korea, a ruptured steam line in number one fire room inflicted serious injuries on FNs Pino and Jones and BT2 Dyer; all were med-evaced by helicopter to Midway. FN Pino died from his injuries. Towers subsequently returned to Sasebo for repairs between 2–19 March. Following more battle group operations, the ship returned to Chinhae for a Nuclear Technical Proficiency Inspection (23–27 March), thereafter participating in FleetEx 83-1, a major northern Pacific exercise involving carriers USS Enterprise (CVN-65), USS Coral Sea (CV-43) and Midway. Gunnery exercises in April, a joint midshipmen cruise with the JMSDF out of Kure and Valiant Usher 83, a combined amphibious assault exercise off the coast of Korea, rounded out the summer. After a maintenance availability in Yokosuka (13–25 August), Towers sailed south with DesRon 15, bound for the Indian Ocean. During the transit, the guided missile destroyer helped track a Soviet Echo II-class submarine guided missile submarine and her escorts through the Malacca Straits. On 20 September, she arrived at Diego Garcia to refuel, subsequently transiting to Phuket, Thailand, for a five-day visit. After a stop at Subic Bay on 11 October, the warship supported the final salvage stages of salvage work at the Korean Air Lines Flight 007 crash site (22 October – 6 November) before reaching Yokosuka on 9 November.

Towers underwent a major overhaul at Yokosuka during most of 1984, receiving the Harpoon anti-ship missile system, improved electronics equipment and major work on boiler tubes and brickwork. Conducting her first sea trials after the overhaul (4–7 September), she departed Yokosuka ahead of schedule on 17 October for two months of combat systems certification in the Hawaiian operating areas.

Following a series of service inspections in January and February 1985, Towers conducted refresher training off South Korea and out of Subic Bay before sailing south for Cobra Gold '85, a joint training exercise with the Thai military held 7–16 July. During her transit south, Towers rescued another group of Vietnamese refugees, her fourth such humanitarian rescue in her career. Subsequent to Cobra Gold, the guided missile destroyer steamed to the North Arabian Sea via Singapore and Diego Garcia, arriving on station on 4 August. Battle group operations remained fairly quiet, with the warship tasked to track Soviet or Indian aircraft on a periodic basis. Tragedy struck on the night of 7 August, however, when Liberty 603, an E-2C from VAW-115, impacted the water off Midway's flight deck. The search and rescue effort, in which Towers participated, yielded three of the five crew members; Lt.(j.g.) Kevin R. Kuhnigk, USNR, and Ens. Christopher Mims, USNR, however, perished in the mishap. After a "war-at-sea" exercise in the Indian Ocean, Battle Group Alpha steamed southeast to western Australia, where Towers enjoyed five days of liberty in Geraldton, Australia (13–19 September). Thereafter, she participated in Valiant Usher '85, a joint exercise with Australian forces, and AnnualEx 85, a joint U.S.-Japanese operation, before reaching Yokosuka on 15 October.

After a series of local operations and individual ship exercises, Towers participated in Exercise Team Spirit 86 off Korea in late February and early March 1986. Upon her return home on 3 April 1986, the guided missile destroyer underwent and passed four major inspections; a command security inspection, (24 April) a combat systems readiness test (14–19 April), a Board of Inspection and Survey visit (5–9 May) and a boiler inspection (12 May). After celebrating her 25th anniversary on 29 May, Towers hosted a celebration in her home port for crew and their families, as well as local dignitaries. She then returned to certifications, service exams and inspections, tasks that kept the crew busy until mid-September when she sailed for Guam. After participation in multinational exercise CrowEater '86, the guided missile destroyer sailed south for a series of port visits in eastern Australia, stopping at Cairns, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane before returning home on 15 November via Cairns and Guam.

The new year got off to a good start with the crew receiving "outstanding" in all areas during the 5–8 January 1987 command inspection. Local operations followed, including training for the annual March–April Exercise Team Spirit '87. On 15–19 May Towers took part in the Shimoda Black Ship Festival, celebrating the visit of Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry's squadron to Japan in July 1853. She spent the rest of the summer in preparation for another Indian Ocean deployment, upon which she embarked on 15 October. After a stop at Subic Bay in November, the warship sailed to the Persian Gulf, beginning the new year moored alongside the destroyer tender USS Cape Cod (AD-43) for availability at Masirah, Oman.

Upon completion, Towers, in company with frigate USS Francis Hammond (FF-1067), sailed to Karachi, Pakistan, for a five-day port visit (14–18 January 1988) during which the commanding officer called upon the CNO of the Pakistan Navy. The guided missile destroyer subsequently made her way to the Republic of the Maldives for a four-day port visit and then to Diego Garcia for five days. After a stop at Pattaya Beach, Thailand, in mid-February, Towers accomplished her fifth rescue of Vietnamese refugees on 29 February, picking up 126 survivors of a "grossly overloaded" boat with a broken-down engine and no food or water. Continuing on home, the guided missile destroyer stopped at Subic Bay and Hong Kong before participating in the annual bilateral exercise Team Spirit 87 off South Korea (16 March – 3 April). Following local exercises, Towers participated in a joint exercise with the Japanese in the Philippine Sea (13–19 May), an ASW exercise in the Sea of Japan (11–14 June), before putting to sea on the 23rd for Exercise Mekar 88 alongside ships of the Royal Malaysian Navy (7–13 July). She combined that operation with Exercise Cobra Gold 88 off Thailand (24 July – 1 August), upon completion of which she returned to Yokosuka for a 90-day restricted availability.

Upon completion of repairs, which included replacing both 5-inch gun mounts, the warship conducted sea trials and gunnery drills starting on 9 November 1988. During those evolutions, however, some shells fell both within Japanese territorial waters and near a cutter of the Japanese Maritime Safety Agency (JMSA), Uraga (PLH-04). The U.S. Navy report stated that "no vessel or object was used as a target" and that the place of impact was 1,900 meters away from the cutter, but the JMSA investigation said that the shells fell continuously at a distance of 300 to 500 meters from the cutter, and Japanese Diet members pointed out the possibility that the shells were aimed at the cutter. The Japan government protested the incident and the Navy relieved Towers' commanding officer "for cause without relief." Despite the embarrassing incident, the warship resumed local operations soon after.

Departing Yokosuka on 6 January 1989, Towers sailed south for refresher training out of Subic Bay. Engineering trouble hampered these evolutions, however, and the guided missile destroyer put into the Ship Repair Facility (SRF) there for repairs in late January. Detailed inspections quickly determined that the guided missile destroyer had suffered damage to turbine blades as well as both propellers. "It was amazing", one technician commented later, "that the whole turbine did not disintegrate." The guided missile destroyer finally put to sea for exercises with the Midway Battle Group in June. After a month-long stay at Yokosuka starting on 15 July, Towers sailed south for more exercises with the battle group. While in transit to Pattaya Beach in late August, however, the warship received the news that Lt. Col. William R. Higgins, USMC, kidnapped by Iranian-supported terrorists in Beirut, Lebanon, the previous February, had been murdered. Ordered to the Indian Ocean for contingency operations, as well as to oversee the end of tanker convoy operations in the Persian Gulf, Towers patrolled those waters until early October. She then sailed south for a port visit to Mombasa, Kenya, 18–21 October, before arriving in Subic Bay on 27 November. Although Towers departed 1 December, an attempted coup d'état in the Philippines kept her there for a week of contingency operations before she arrived home on 11 December.

Although the guided missile destroyer continued intermittent local operations in early 1990, Towers received word of future decommissioning and began inactivation inspections in April. She got underway for the last time on 18 June, to serve as plane guard for Midway, and visited Pusan, South Korea, before returning to Yokosuka on the 30th.

Decommissioning and disposal
On 17 July 1990, Towers moved to drydock for inactivation procedures, and she was decommissioned at Yokosuka on 1 October 1990. She later was towed to the Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility at Pearl Harbor and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 26 May 1992. Plans to convert her into a barge were cancelled, and ultimately the guided-missile frigate USS Sides (FFG-14) sank her as a target in a fleet training exercise (SinkEx) off the coast of California on 9 October 2002.

Honors and awards

 * U.S. Navy Unit Commendation ribbon.svg Navy Unit Commendation
 * Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation ribbon.svg Meritorious Unit Commendation
 * Vietnam Service Medal with fourbattle stars

Towers received one Navy Unit Commendation, one Meritorious Unit Commendation, and four battle stars for her service during the Vietnam War.

Commemoration
Tower′s captain's gig is on display at Freedom Park in Omaha, Nebraska.

title: USS Towers


text:
Bahadur Shah

Bahadur Shah may refer to:
 * Bahadur Shah of Gujarat (died 1537)
 * Bahadur Shah I (1643–1712), Mughal Emperor
 * Bahadur Shah II (1775–1862), the last Mughal Emperor and final ruler of the Timurid house
 * Bahadur Nizam Shah, ruler of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate from 1596 to 1600
 * Bahadur Shah, last ruler of Khandesh Sultanate
 * Bahadur Shah of Nepal, second son of Prithvi Narayan Shah, regent of his minor nephew king of Nepal and de facto ruler of Nepal until 1794

title: Bahadur Shah


text:
CDPS

CDPS may refer to:

 * Cirencester Deer Park School
 * Cooperative distributed problem solving

title: CDPS