50 Years Ago Today - Mullinnix Arrives Home in Norfolk
50 Years Ago Today - Mullinnix Arrives Home in Norfolk
Excerpt from “The Last Gun Ship - History of USS Mullinnix DD-944” - A Historical Novel by Frank A. Wood
8 December: Mullinnix is steaming independently on base course 333, speed 21 knots in accordance with CINCLANTFLT Deployment Schedule enroute to Norfolk from US Naval Station, Trinidad.
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10 December: Khrushchev sends a nine-page letter to Kennedy indicating that the US and the Soviet Union have come to the final stage of the Cuban affair. (On 12 December, in a major 2 ½-hour speech to the Supreme Soviet Council – his first major address since the Cuban crisis – Khrushchev asserts that a US “pledge” not to invade Cuba exists. He warns, however, that if the United States carries out an invasion, Cuba would not be left “defenseless.” Later, at a press conference, Kennedy tells reporters that, in the best judgment of the United States, all strategic missiles and IL-28 bombers have been removed from Cuba.)
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10 December: Mullinnix arrives Norfolk, Virginia. The ship’s attempt to anchor to Anchorage D North was aborted after 2 hours due to the weather. She tied up outboard of USS Norfolk DL-1, Pier 20, D&S Piers. Mullinnix remained in Norfolk for the holidays and a well deserved rest.
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Though curtailed by the Cuban missile crisis, Unitas III yielded rich dividends, both as a training exercise in antisubmarine warfare and as a goodwill cruise. Like its predecessors, it enabled the participating crews to develop an appreciation of each other’s professional competence. “We have worked together, and observed each other closely,” Admiral Tyree commented after a series of exercise, “and we’ve developed a deep respect for each other’s professional abilities.”
Unitas III thus served the tree-fold purpose of strengthening the ASW capabilities of the Eastern Hemisphere navies, furthering inter-American good-will, and, perhaps most importantly, developing a strong feeling of mutual respect among the hemisphere navies.
Cmdr. Harvey Shaw discussed the success of the Mullinnix cruise with The Virginia-Pilot in an article in titled:
“Excel as Envoys - Officer Tells Of Latin Tour”
18 December, 1962:
“NORFOLK – “We didn’t buy them. We earned them with sweat, work and the ability of the American blue-jacket as an ambassador.” That’s the way Cmdr. Harvey Shaw summed up four months of work with Latin American navies and visits to South American ports.
Shaw, skipper of the destroyer Mullinnix, told a MACE (Military and Civilian Employees) Club luncheon in the Lafayette Yacht Club Monday how his 300-man crew won the affection of Latin Americans during the Hemisphere operation called “Unitas III.”
ANTI-SUB TECHNIQUES
Like Unitas cruises in 1958 and 1961, the objective was to work out antisubmarine warfare techniques with Latin American navies, using three U.S. ships and a squadron of patrol planes. The real work at hemisphere understanding was done in port, however. The weapons were music and sports.
In one Brazilian city, the Mullinnix sailors were challenged to a basketball game. The Brazilians fielded their Olympic team. The score was 112 – 12. “We might have lost on the score, but we won otherwise, ”Shaw said, when some 10,000 spectators swamped the Mullinnix team and carried it from the stadium on their shoulders.
In Chili, the ships “rifle” team, using military issue guns, placed third. It competed against the No. 1 rifle team in the country.
In Uruguay, a young Mullinnix sailor, with only high school track experience, placed third in a tough race and made the front page of the local newspaper. In another town, 15,000 Chileans wept while the U.S. band played their national anthem. “In our country,” the commander said, “we are ashamed to wave the flag, but in their country we waved our flag and it was a wonderful thing.”
TOUR OF SLUMS
On a number of occasions, Mullinnix sailors were put to the test by Communist sympathizers. A Recife, Brazil Communist newsman asked Shaw to send a sailor on a tour of the slums. The sailor, a first-class petty officer, was then interviewed. Apparently he gave the right answers because the ship got a fair write-up. Shaw said.
In Santiago, the capital of Chili, another Communist sympathizer asked the leader of the Mullinnix band, a chief musician, if the band would play for a Mississippi Negro audience if asked. “I’m a musician, not a politician. What would you like to hear?” the chief replied.
To be continued... Woody
8 December: Mullinnix is steaming independently on base course 333, speed 21 knots in accordance with CINCLANTFLT Deployment Schedule enroute to Norfolk from US Naval Station, Trinidad.
Unitas III thus served the tree-fold purpose of strengthening the ASW capabilities of the Eastern Hemisphere navies, furthering inter-American good-will, and, perhaps most importantly, developing a strong feeling of mutual respect among the hemisphere navies.
Cmdr. Harvey Shaw discussed the success of the Mullinnix cruise with The Virginia-Pilot in an article in titled:
18 December, 1962:
Shaw, skipper of the destroyer Mullinnix, told a MACE (Military and Civilian Employees) Club luncheon in the Lafayette Yacht Club Monday how his 300-man crew won the affection of Latin Americans during the Hemisphere operation called “Unitas III.”
ANTI-SUB TECHNIQUES
Like Unitas cruises in 1958 and 1961, the objective was to work out antisubmarine warfare techniques with Latin American navies, using three U.S. ships and a squadron of patrol planes. The real work at hemisphere understanding was done in port, however. The weapons were music and sports.
In one Brazilian city, the Mullinnix sailors were challenged to a basketball game. The Brazilians fielded their Olympic team. The score was 112 – 12. “We might have lost on the score, but we won otherwise, ”Shaw said, when some 10,000 spectators swamped the Mullinnix team and carried it from the stadium on their shoulders.
In Chili, the ships “rifle” team, using military issue guns, placed third. It competed against the No. 1 rifle team in the country.
In Uruguay, a young Mullinnix sailor, with only high school track experience, placed third in a tough race and made the front page of the local newspaper. In another town, 15,000 Chileans wept while the U.S. band played their national anthem. “In our country,” the commander said, “we are ashamed to wave the flag, but in their country we waved our flag and it was a wonderful thing.”
TOUR OF SLUMS
On a number of occasions, Mullinnix sailors were put to the test by Communist sympathizers. A Recife, Brazil Communist newsman asked Shaw to send a sailor on a tour of the slums. The sailor, a first-class petty officer, was then interviewed. Apparently he gave the right answers because the ship got a fair write-up. Shaw said.
In Santiago, the capital of Chili, another Communist sympathizer asked the leader of the Mullinnix band, a chief musician, if the band would play for a Mississippi Negro audience if asked. “I’m a musician, not a politician. What would you like to hear?” the chief replied.
To be continued... Woody
posted by Frank A. Wood at 20:00
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