50 Years Ago Today –Mullinnix Participants in NATO Exercises
Excerpt from “The Last Gun Ship - History of USS Mullinnix DD-944” - A Historical Novel By Frank A. Wood
The NATO FALL EXERCISES began on 6 September as Mullinnix with COMDESRON 32 embarked, deployed for NATO fleet operations per COMCARDIV SIX OP-ORDER 56-60. Besides Northampton and Norfolk, she was steaming in the company of Laffey, USS Willis A. Lee DL-4, USS Shangri-La CVA-38, and USS Boston CLG-1. The ship’s crew sharpened the skills on ECM exercises, helicopter details, masking and narrow eave maneuvers. At one point, on 10 September, Mullinnix was part of a 14 ship eccentric circular screen. Later that same day, she topped off her fuel tanks with almost 70,000 gallons of NSFO, courtesy of USS Caloosahatchee AO-98.
With preparation complete, the fleet headed north. Mullinnix was in the company of many of the Navy’s finest ships of the day. It literary read like a ‘who’s who’ in modern warships. Name’s like Shangri-La, Essex, Northampton, Boston, Macon, Norfolk, Mitscher, to name a few. The other NATO countries would surely know when the ‘big guns’ appeared on station.
Besides the Caloosahatchee, fuel oil was supplied by a number of oilers and larger ships, including USS Nantahala AO-60 and USS Trucker AO-147. As the days passed, the fleet grew in number when they were joined by ships from DESRON 4, DESRON 32, DESRON 20, DESDIV 82. In the wee hours of 15 September, Mullinnix was operating with 20 other US ships.
A ship is a jealous spouse, always demanding attention of some short – chipping rust, painting, preventive maintenance, testing, repairing, more chipping, more painting. The hectic watches when the exacting minuet of haze-gray shapes racing at flank speed keeps all hands on a razor edge of alertness. On top of the normal routine, the demands of steaming in the North Atlantic in conjunction with the pressure to perform flawlessly in the upcoming exercises took its toll on some of the crew. On 16 September, Seaman Ray O’Rourke and SK2 George Bombardiere were up for Captain’s mast for sleeping on watch and indirect disobedience of an order respectively.
The sea was green and black, doomed by a sky bursting with stars, so cold in their configuration they seemed to smoke like dry ice. The air was damp and cloudy, the sea a wintry gray and the tang of salt strong on the wind. Midday on 19 September, she received mail from USS Alstede AF-48.
To be continued...
Cheers,
Woody
The NATO FALL EXERCISES began on 6 September as Mullinnix with COMDESRON 32 embarked, deployed for NATO fleet operations per COMCARDIV SIX OP-ORDER 56-60. Besides Northampton and Norfolk, she was steaming in the company of Laffey, USS Willis A. Lee DL-4, USS Shangri-La CVA-38, and USS Boston CLG-1. The ship’s crew sharpened the skills on ECM exercises, helicopter details, masking and narrow eave maneuvers. At one point, on 10 September, Mullinnix was part of a 14 ship eccentric circular screen. Later that same day, she topped off her fuel tanks with almost 70,000 gallons of NSFO, courtesy of USS Caloosahatchee AO-98.
With preparation complete, the fleet headed north. Mullinnix was in the company of many of the Navy’s finest ships of the day. It literary read like a ‘who’s who’ in modern warships. Name’s like Shangri-La, Essex, Northampton, Boston, Macon, Norfolk, Mitscher, to name a few. The other NATO countries would surely know when the ‘big guns’ appeared on station.
Besides the Caloosahatchee, fuel oil was supplied by a number of oilers and larger ships, including USS Nantahala AO-60 and USS Trucker AO-147. As the days passed, the fleet grew in number when they were joined by ships from DESRON 4, DESRON 32, DESRON 20, DESDIV 82. In the wee hours of 15 September, Mullinnix was operating with 20 other US ships.
A ship is a jealous spouse, always demanding attention of some short – chipping rust, painting, preventive maintenance, testing, repairing, more chipping, more painting. The hectic watches when the exacting minuet of haze-gray shapes racing at flank speed keeps all hands on a razor edge of alertness. On top of the normal routine, the demands of steaming in the North Atlantic in conjunction with the pressure to perform flawlessly in the upcoming exercises took its toll on some of the crew. On 16 September, Seaman Ray O’Rourke and SK2 George Bombardiere were up for Captain’s mast for sleeping on watch and indirect disobedience of an order respectively.
The sea was green and black, doomed by a sky bursting with stars, so cold in their configuration they seemed to smoke like dry ice. The air was damp and cloudy, the sea a wintry gray and the tang of salt strong on the wind. Midday on 19 September, she received mail from USS Alstede AF-48.
To be continued...
Cheers,
Woody
posted by Frank A. Wood at 10:08
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