Appreciation to Robert B. Hile’s son, Robert, for the following photographs related to his father’s service in the US Navy and while aboard the Calvert. In addition to the photographs below, here are additional photographs taken by Robert Hile during the early 1950s.

While aboard the Calvert, Robert a BM3 participated in exercises in Japan during the summer of 1951 (where the Calvert’s crew became known as “The Chigasaki Raiders” given the number of exercises that they participated in during the June to August time frame). He saved this patch:

Note: For more information on the Chigasaki exercises, held near Yokosuka, Japan during the summer of 1951, see pages 8 to 12 in the downloadable document located here: https://www.usscalvert.com/2020/05/05/august-1950-to-august-1954-historical-details/

When the Calvert then participated in exercises near Inchon, Korea in the winter of 1952, Robert’s father held on to the following map, which includes a notation indicating the Calvert’s location during the Marlex 12 exercise (more information on this exercise is found on pages 16 and 17 of the above reference document).

A full size image of the above map can be viewed here.

And here is an enlargement of the section of the map showing the Calvert’s position:

While aboard the Calvert in the summer of 1952, BM3 Hile, and other Calvert coxswains, earned the Assault Boat Coxswain insignia to wear on the right sleeve of their uniforms.

This was a brand new insignia to recognize coxswains who completed special training for boat handling and assault landing techniques at one of two Assault Boat Landing training schools, one on the west coast and one on the east coast. Additional details on the assault boat coxswain designation and training, including mention of the Calvert’s coxswains, is available here.

Here are additional items from BM3 Hile’s time aboard the Calvert:

Sadly Robert Burnon Hile passed away in late October of 2019. His obituary can be found here: https://thomas-littlefuneralservice.com/book-of-memories/4008150/Hile-Robert/index.php

Gratitude to Robert for his service as a crew member of the USS Calvert, and then as a Pennsylvania State Police Officer. Appreciation to his son, Robert, for providing these photographs for inclusion on the website. Information and artifacts as above truly help keep the the Calvert’s and her crew’s history alive and accessible to former crew members and their families.

The document available for download below is a draft of the historical details from the Calvert’s call back into service at the beginning of the Korean War through to December, 1953.

The 40-page document (a .pdf file) may be viewed or downloaded here: USS Calvert – Chronological Research Notes – 1950.06 to 19453.12.31 – v2023.04.24

and includes details on the following events and activities, among many other details:

• Calvert called out the mothball fleet in August of 1950 and recommissioning in October 1950 in Norfolk, VA
• Voyage from Norfolk to the West Coast in early 1951
• “First” Far East Cruise – April 1951 to August 1951
• Second Far East Cruise – October 1952 to April 1953
• Third Far East Cruise – August 1953 to September 1953
• Drydock and training – September 1953 to December 1953

Please leave comments below or email me directly if you have any corrections, questions, or details you would like to share.

This version represents a “working draft” and as such there may be formatting issues, grammatical errors, as well as historical inaccuracies, incomplete or conflicting details.

Document version history as follows:

• v2023.04.24 – Major updates to all sections.
• v2020.05.11 – Current published version. Corrected and re-aligned historical details for several operations; Added photos and maps for the Chigasaki exercises in summer, 1951 and for the Tokchock, Korea exercise in December, 1952.
• v2020.05.05 – Rough draft, first published.