ANOTHER MISSILE EXPERT JOINS
SHIP AS EXECUTIVE OFFICER
CDR L. R. OLSEN.

TOPEKA's Executive Officer is well grounded in missile lore, having participated in early experimentation carried on by the Navy in this future mode of warfare. CDR L. R. OLSEN, who assumed the duties of executive Officer of the USS TOPEKA today, was Technical Officer of the U. S. Guided Missile Unit, 22A, at the Bendix Aviation Corporation, Mishawaka, Indiana. This was the Navy's first TALOS missile unit and the first Navy crew to fire a TALOS missile successfully. Before detachment from this assignment in 1953, CDR OLSEN, prepared the first TALOS missile descriptive and training manual.

During his eighteen years of active duty, CDR OLSEN has served about nine years at sea aboard seven different ships. Upon graduation from the Naval Academy in December 1941, he served aboard the USS PORTER (DD 356), from January 1942 until October 1942, at which time the PORTER wax torpedoed and sunk in the Battle of Santa Cruz. His primary duties aboard the PORTER included AA Control Officer, Asst. First Lieutenant, and Asst. Gunnery Officer. Asst. Personnel Officer, COMSERVRON, South Pacific, in Noumea, New Caledonia, CDR OLSEN was ordered to duty in San Francisco as Navigator, First Lieutenant, and CIC Officer aboard the USS MILLER, DD535, which he helped place in commission during the late summer of 1943. In the months that followed, the MILLER participated in various actions in the Pacific including the assaults on the Gilbert Islands, Marshalls and the Mariannas. He was detached late in 1944 and ordered to Post-graduate school at Annapolis where he was enrolled in the Ordnance Engineering Course.

From September 1945 to June 1946, CDR OLSEN earned a professional degree in Aeronautical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology at Pasadena. He worked in Ordnance Engineering and jet propulsion, specializing' in torpedo propulsion. Upon completion of his studies, he was appointed Bureau of Ordnance and Office of Naval Research Project Officer and also Technical Officer for the Bureau of Aeronautics in Pasadena. In June 1947 he was made the Bureau of Ordnance Technical Liaison Officer of the Southern California. area, serving in that capacity until June 1948.

CDR OLSEN went to his first cruiser assignment aboard the USS FRESNO, CLAA 119, as Gunnery Officer in July 1948, serving aboard her for a year. In August 1949 he was ordered as Prospective Executive Officer to the USS WALKER,DDE-517, to place her back into commission. From October 1949 until April 1951 he served as Executive Officer aboard the USS T. E. CHANDLER DD 717, participating in support actions in the Korean War Zone. Following the two years spent in pioneering the TALOS missile development, he was assigned as Gunnery Officer aboard the USS MISSISSIPPI, EAG 128. During this duty he participated in development of fire control and radar directed guidance systems presently in use in the fleet. The technical evolution of the TERRIER missile, presently installed aboard the TOPEKA, was advanced on the MISSISSIPPI.

CDR OLSEN was given command of the USS JENKINS, DDE-447, in September 1954 and took her into the Western Pacific, where she was deployed with Anti-Submarine Warfare units. In February 1956 he was relieved as Commanding Officer and ordered to the Guided Missile Desk in the Surface Warfare Division of the Office at the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, DC

For a two week period during these three and one-halt years with CNO, he served as Head of the Atomic and Weapons Readiness Branch, Strike Warfare Division. On 1 February 1960 he was ordered to duty as Prospective Executive Officer of the USS TOPEKA.

CDR OLSEN was born November 6, 1919, in Brigham City, Utah. He attended public school at South High School, Salt Lake City, and from 1936 to 1938 he was enrolled at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. He received an appointment to the U. S. Naval Academy in 1938. He was married to Cecily E. Petre in July 1942 at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard. The Olsen's have six children: Leslie Ann, age 15 1/2; Coralie Bea, age 14 1/2 Richard John, age 13; Annalie Marie, age 10 1/2 Christopher Anthony, age 3; and Alexandra Deane, age 18 months. The Olsen's permanent home address is Elko, Nevada.

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