This is certainly intriguing. Johnny Swindle and his wife Joyce were murdered on the night of Feb. 5, 1964, on a beach in San Diego. As many of you know, the killer was a sniper. There are certain similarities to the Zodiac murders in the San Francisco Bay area several years later.

Johnny was a Navy radio operator. Most of you know this. What I had never heard is this:

His ship, the destroyer USS Hanson, was being upgraded at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, near Vallejo, early in 1964. Did they drop off the crew for shore leave/visit home before taking the ship to Mare Island? That would seem reasonable.

http://www.usshanson832.org/ship-history.htm

1964

Mare Island Naval Shipyard was the site where, in the spring of 1964, the Hanson underwent a FRAM I conversion. The DD designation was resumed at this time. She remained in this configuration to the end of her U.S. Navy career. This conversion was completed 6 December 1964. In total the ship made 19 deployments to the Mediterranean and Westpac.

https://www.gyrodynehelicopters.com/fram.htm

The Hanson upgrades were part of the Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM) program. This program modernized World War II era destroyers to contemporary weapons and technology. The upgrades typically included the following:
– Sonar
– DASH helicopters
– MK44 torpedos
– RUR-4 ASROC rocket-assisted torpedo system

The ASROC system was designed by Naval Ordnance Laboratory at the Navy facility at China Lake (in the 1950s). If the photo collection bio that Tom V once linked to is the right Joseph Bates, then Mr. Bates worked or contributed work at the Naval Weapons Station at China Lake. When he worked at China Lake is not indicated. Regardless, the NOL tie is intriguing. (In 1966, Bates was employed at NOL in Corona. His daughter was murdered in Oct. 1966 at Riverside, Calif.)