OT: This is what Wiki says about Avanti’s ship, Newport News CA-148(A Hvy Cruiser, as I surmised from the CA), and his actual time in ‘Nam…..doesn’t mention blowing Sampans:

1 September 1967, Commander Second Fleet shifted his flag to Springfield, and Newport News departed Norfolk 5 September for a six month deployment to Southeast Asia. Arriving Da Nang, South Vietnam, on the morning of 9 October, she became the flagship of ComCruDesFlot 3. That night, at 2300, under her new call sign “Thunder,” she fired her eight inch rifles for the first time in anger against shore targets in North Vietnam as part of Operation Sea Dragon. For years, her powerful guns had served as a major force to keep the peace. Now her strength served well in war during the following months in providing interdiction fire north of the Demilitarized Zone and naval gunfire support for American allied troops in South Vietnam.

Newport News spent some 50 days patrolling the coast of North Vietnam as part of Operation Sea Dragon – the Navy’s effort to destroy waterborne logistics craft as well as military supply routes ashore in North Vietnam. During this period, the ship conducted 156 strikes against enemy targets and, in the execution of these strikes, 325 North Vietnamese coastal defense sites were taken under fire. Combined, 7411 rounds of high explosive ammunition were expended by the ship during Operation Sea Dragon. According to spotters’ reports, Newport News sank 17 waterborne logistics craft, damaged another 14 and destroyed several enemy bunker and radar sites. In harassment and interdiction strike missions she all but halted the enemy’s rebuilding efforts as she damaged bridges, barges, trucks and roads and caused heavy ruin and raging fires in widespread areas. The ship was subjected to hostile fire on several occasions, but each time countered effectively and silenced the enemy batteries. On 19 December 1967, Newport News exchanged fire with 20-28 separate shore batteries, simultaneously, off the coast of North Vietnam. During the short period of this engagement, over 300 enemy rounds bracketed the cruiser’s position, but ship handling by Captain McCarty prevented any direct hits. This encounter led American forward observers to nickname Newport News “The Gray Ghost from the East Coast,” a moniker she retained throughout her three Vietnam deployments.[3].

Subsequent to the end of Operation Sea Dragon and for the remaining several months of this deployment, Newport News participated in Naval Gunfire Support operations near the DMZ (The Demilitarized Zone). In support of Third Marine Division forces on the beach, the ship fired around the clock for periods sometimes lasting several weeks in succession. On station near the DMZ, Newport News was normally in sight of land and crewmembers could frequently see and hear, first hand, the effect of their efforts on enemy positions.

During the total period of this deployment, Newport News expended a record 59,241 rounds of high-explosive ammunition, while conducting a total of 239 observed and 602 unobserved missions against the enemy. She came under fire of enemy coastal defense batteries on seventeen separate occasions, was frequently straffed with shrapnel, but never suffering a direct hit.

The cruiser departed Subic Bay on 21 April and arrived at her homeport of Norfolk, Virginia on 13 May 1968, via the Panama Canal.