CAPTAIN WILLIAM CONRAD ABHAU
COMMANDING OFFICER, U. S. S. HELENA
Captain Abhau, the commanding Officer, USS HELENA, has just completed a tour in the Bureau of Naval Weapons. For the past two years he has been responsible for that Bureau's research and development efforts in anti-submarine warfare.
After graduating from the United States Naval Academy in 1935, he served for six years in the cruisers ASTORIA and QUNICY, and the destroyer TRIPPE. During World War II he was Gunnery Officer of the battleship NEW JERSEY. Captain Abhau participated in nine campaigns in the Pacific and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with combat "V" for his services in repelling over thirty air attacks. In the initial occupation of Japan, he was attached to the Headquarters Sixth Army at Kyoto. Later he commanded USS EUGENE A GREENA, a destroyer that supported the Allied Forces in Trieste, and Escort Squadron Sixteen, the first group of radar pickets assigned to operate with the U. S. Air Force in defense of the Continental United States. His most recent command was the Fleet Oiler, USS WACCAMAW, which supported the landings in Lebanon during 1958.
Since 1946 Captain Abhau has specialized in the development and evaluation of weapons systems. An unusual aspect of his career is his having twice attended the U. S. Naval Postgraduate School, where he completed the courses in Ordnance Engineering and Operations Analysis. This study was supplemented by a year at the Naval War College. In addition to Bureau duty, he has served on the staff of Commander Operational Staff and Evaluation Force, and as a member of the weapons Systems Evaluation Group, Office of the Secretary of Defense.
Captain and Mrs. Abhau, the former Miss Harriet Sanders have their permanent home in Annapolis, Maryland. Their two daughters are Elliot, fourteen, and Marcy, ten.