Brinkley Bass (DD 887) - Naval Cruise Book

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l'3:5fSQ'?'5i42'if-iff.iiifli-51:-Q53 - . ,,1.,,, ,,... v. I8 JULY I968 It should have been sunshine as the CRUDESFLOT THREE Band played While BRINKLEY BASS stood outfrom the pier, but it was cool fog shrouding those left standing on the pier. Down the way, manning the rail, We saw them again at Gull Park, Waving. Out the breakwater to the open sea, en- route to Mid-Pacific rendezvous with USS HANCOCK QCVA-195. Two days of steady steaming and We caught the HANCOCK. Twenty-four knots to Hawaii as escort and screen for the Birdfarm. At Hawaii, HAN- COCK Went through her Operational Readiness Inspection. BRINKLEY BASS provided plane guard services. For the next six months BRINKLEY BASS provided services, parts, pro- tection and gunfire, and never missed a committment.

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HANCOCK finished her operati01'1H1 readiness inspection and we steamed into Pearl Harbor, to finish out July with some good Waikiki liberty. Many made a first try at surfing, others took a tour of the islands. The bachelors went girl hunting. Suddenly it was time to move on again to Midway. Midway Island, a speck in the Pacific, three thousand miles east of Japan, famous for her battle, now a fuel stop for Destroyers on the way to Vietnam. And for four hours, a liberty stop for the BRINKLEY BASS crew to go swimming and refuel the ship. Then underway again for another rendezvous with USS HANCOCK, 200 miles to the southwest. 4 After meeting HANCO CK, we continued on the way West. We crossed the Inter- national Dateline late at night, so Au- gust third was only 15 minutes long. Halfway between Midway and Japan, BRINKLEY BASS, HANCOCK and com- pany were overflown by three Russian Reconnaisance Bombers. The captain on the lMC announced all personnel interested in getting a good photo of a Russian Bomber, lay to the weather- decks . Luckily, nobody fell over- board in the crush. The Russki pilot obliged us with a low pass across the mast, escorted by interceptor pilots from the HANCCCK, Finally inthe early morning of the eighth of August, the lights of Japan and the mouth of Tokyo Bay faded into view. First the faint glow over the horizon, then the glittering lights of a hundred fishing boats, out earlier than the twi- light, with BRINKLEY BASS, walking on eggs, threading a path between them.