Mullinnix Sets Sail On Her 1st Med Cruise - 50 Years Ago Today
Excerpt from “The Last Gun Ship - History of USS Mullinnix DD-944” - A Historical Novel By Frank A. Wood)
With her ASW readiness at its highest and under the command of her new CO, she set sail on her first Mediterranean deployment to join the 6th Fleet on 7 August 1959, joining the Sixth Fleet about 10 days later. Underway in accordance with CT 24.4.2 movement 4-59, she joined up with the task unit at 1017. She crossed the Atlantic with DESRON 32 minus USS Strong and USS Lowry. Joining her were USS Nantahala AO-60, USS Canisteo AO-99, USS Suribachi AE-21, USS Hale DD-642, USS Benham DD-796, USS Fiske DDR-842, and USS Hawkins DDR-873. This task force rendezvous with USS Essex CVA-9 on 12 August.
This was indeed a strike force - energetic darting destroyers, plodding fleet auxiliaries, sleek submarines, big-gun ships, and straight steaming carriers. …proud names of Navy ships: Roosevelt, Saratoga, Essex - memorials to great battles won and past presidents. The lean angular names of Navy ‘tin-cans’: Benham, Fiske, Mullinnix, Bigelow, -never-forgotten memories of heroes who served before us. The heavy hitting cruisers memorializing our great cities – Des Moines, Boston. To this, our allies in Europe would be introduced, the biggest, badest, meanest strike force afloat in the world.
For east coast ships, it simply didn’t get any better than a Med cruise. Sure, its ten days to cross the Atlantic with all her foul temperament, but the shear thrill of it. The sounds of the Navy - the piercing trill of the boatswains pipe, the syncopated clangor of the ship’s bell on the quarterdeck, the harsh squawk of the 1MC and the salty language and vulgar laughter of sailors as they work. This is what it was all about. This is why men signed up. This was the Navy.
To be continued...
Cheers,
Woody
With her ASW readiness at its highest and under the command of her new CO, she set sail on her first Mediterranean deployment to join the 6th Fleet on 7 August 1959, joining the Sixth Fleet about 10 days later. Underway in accordance with CT 24.4.2 movement 4-59, she joined up with the task unit at 1017. She crossed the Atlantic with DESRON 32 minus USS Strong and USS Lowry. Joining her were USS Nantahala AO-60, USS Canisteo AO-99, USS Suribachi AE-21, USS Hale DD-642, USS Benham DD-796, USS Fiske DDR-842, and USS Hawkins DDR-873. This task force rendezvous with USS Essex CVA-9 on 12 August.
This was indeed a strike force - energetic darting destroyers, plodding fleet auxiliaries, sleek submarines, big-gun ships, and straight steaming carriers. …proud names of Navy ships: Roosevelt, Saratoga, Essex - memorials to great battles won and past presidents. The lean angular names of Navy ‘tin-cans’: Benham, Fiske, Mullinnix, Bigelow, -never-forgotten memories of heroes who served before us. The heavy hitting cruisers memorializing our great cities – Des Moines, Boston. To this, our allies in Europe would be introduced, the biggest, badest, meanest strike force afloat in the world.
For east coast ships, it simply didn’t get any better than a Med cruise. Sure, its ten days to cross the Atlantic with all her foul temperament, but the shear thrill of it. The sounds of the Navy - the piercing trill of the boatswains pipe, the syncopated clangor of the ship’s bell on the quarterdeck, the harsh squawk of the 1MC and the salty language and vulgar laughter of sailors as they work. This is what it was all about. This is why men signed up. This was the Navy.
To be continued...
Cheers,
Woody
posted by Frank A. Wood at 12:18
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