50 Years Ago Today - Mux Enroute to Baltimore, Maryland

Excerpt from “The Last Gun Ship - History of USS Mullinnix DD-944” - A Historical Novel By Frank A. Wood On 17 May the ship was underway for Baltimore, Maryland in accordance with CINCLANTFLT Deployment Schedule 03120, arriving at Anchorage “C”, Annapolis Roads, Annapolis, Maryland later in the day. On the morning of 18 May, she made her way to Broadway Pier, Baltimore. Other ships present included USS Vulcan AR-5 and USS Threadfin SS-410. Early on the morning of 21 May the ship was making preparations for getting underway though she was a bit undermanned. At the 0730 muster a total of 10 sailors were AWOL. A few minutes before the ship got underway at 0758, four seaman and 1 fireman managed to stagger on board. What a night it must have been in Baltimore. She made a brief stop at Bloodsworth Island, Maryland at 1309 to take on gun fire support observers. Once at sea, the ship commenced firing to port for calibration. With the calibration completed, the ship commenced firing competitive shore fire support exercises expending 49 rounds of 5” / 54 AA common projectiles with no casualties. On 22 May Mullinnix was steaming with Task Unit 83.2.4 consisting of USS Stormes DD-780 and USS Norfolk DL-1. USS Norfolk was designed and built following WWII as the concept vessel for a new class of Light Cruisers designed principally to be submarine hunter-killers, capable of operating at sea with fast Carrier groups for extended periods. However by the time USS Norfolk commissioned into US Navy service on March 4th 1953, rapidly advancing military technology in the Cold War had made her intended purpose more suitable for smaller ships like Destroyers and Destroyer Escorts, and the Norfolk was re-classified as a Destroyer Leader. Comparatively speaking she was a very large ship: displacement 8315 Tons, Dimensions, 540' x 53' 6" x 19', armament 8 x 3"/50 RF (4x2), 8 x 20mm (4x2), 4 Weapon Alfa ASW Systems, 8 x 21" Torpedo Tubes. Machinery, 80,000 SHP; Geared Turbines, 2 screws Speed, 33 Knots, Range 6000 NM@ 20 Knots. During her first few years of service, the Norfolk performed well in the numerous exercises she took part in with the US Atlantic fleet, but her large size and large crew (546) made the ship quite expensive to operate. This combined with her offensive capabilities equaled or exceeded by other ships (life the 5” 54s on the Forrest Shermans) in active service at the time caused the US Navy to cancel the rest of the planned four-ship Norfolk class and redesignated USS Norfolk as a test and trials ship for new technology and weaponry. In this new role, the USS Norfolk continued to serve the US Navy for 17 years before she was decommissioned and placed into reserve in 1970. It is hard to imagine a ship of this size with its biggest gun only a dual mount 3” 50 rapid-fire. Within 32 months of her 4 March 1953 commissioning the first of the Forrest Shermans (USS Forrest Sherman DD-931) was commissioned on 9 Nov 1955. With Norfolk’s overall length and extended fantail it is easy to imagine two 5” 54 rapid-fire mounts forward of the bridge and three (maybe four) aft on the fantail and 01 level. What a shore bombardment machine she could have been. This type of configuration could have extended this classes’ life by ten, maybe even twenty years. In 1974 the ex-USS Norfolk was stricken from the Naval Register and sold for scrapping. To be continued... Woody