Dyess (DDR 880) - Naval Cruise Book

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On March LlTh DYESS STGC1mGd OUT of porT in company wiTh USS 'TICONDEROGA TCVA-lzll Tar plane guard duTy on Dixie sTaTion. During The Tollowing Two Weeks aircraTT Trom The TICONDERJUGA provided in-counTry supporT To operaTions in SouTh VieT Nam. DYESS was called inTo lll Corps area Tor naval gunTire supporT on March 20Th, buT no spoTTer planes were available so The ship did noT have The opporTuniTy To Tire. The nexT day DYESS moved norTh To Yankee sTaTion To plane guard again while CIIVCVOTT from The TICONDEROGA made sTrikes in lNlorTh VieT Nam. On The 2llTh DYESS wenT easT To Take up an anTiaircraTT pickeT sTaTion iusT souTh oT The Chinese CommunisT held island oT l'lainan. ExcepT Tor anoTher Three-day sTinT aT Yankee sTaTion plane guard duTy, DYESS remained on The pickeT sTaTion unTil April 7Th, aT which Time she leTT To conducT surveillance oT a l32ussian inTel- ligence coIlecTion Trawler. ATTer 37 sTraighT days aT SSG, DYESS Tinally reTurned To Subic Bay where she operaTed Tor 5 days aT ASW QunTire supporT exercises. She Then sTeamed To Kaohsiung, Taiwan Tor a well-earned resT and Tender availabiliTy period. From Kaohsiung she sailed To l-long Kong Tor Tive days' liberTy beTore puTTing To sea Tor anoTher 38 day sTreTch. From 8 To 24 May DYESS resumed her old AAW pickeT sTaTion. l-ler sTay was broken up by Three days of ASW exercises wiTh USS POMFRET CSS-39ll and oTher desTroyers. DYESS leTT The sTaTion Tinally To conducT shore bombardmenT aT Danang To supporT U.S. Marines during The uneasy period oT poliTical insTa- biliTy There. Following This assignmenT The ship joined up wiTh USS RANGER CCVA-oll Tor plane guard duTy aT Yankee sTaTion once again, buT DYESS WGS Soon Off Oh anoTher assignmenT deep in The Tonkin GulT serving as gunship Tor The nuclear powered missile snip USS BAllXll3RlDGE CDLG CND 253 Then Tor a day The DYESS relieved The BAllXl3RlDGE and underTook classified duTies which are normally Tar beyond The capabil1Ties oT an ordinary desTroyer l u n I f ' Q I n

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Hruis ar zlfiifc An around The world cruise begins long before The acTual daTe of deparTure. OperaTional planning and logisTic preparaTions commence monThs before and acceleraTe in Tempo righT up To The minuTe The ship pulls away from The pier. EveryThing from elecTron Tubes To TeleType paper musT be sTocked in sufficienT auanTiTies To lasT an indefiniTe period of Time. Though logisTic supporT for U.S. Naval forces has improved greaTly since The days when lQoosevelT's GreaT WhiTe l:leeT sTeamed around The globe, Today's warships require more Than flour and fuel To keep sTeaming and fighT a war. There were dozens of Times on The cruise when DYESS' fighTing capabiliTy was saved by an adeguaTely sfocked sToreroom of spare parTs. Came The ineviTable day, rarher cold and dreary January l9Th, and The squadron goT underway. IT was The lasT cold weaTher anyone would see for a long Time. AfTer a brief excursion for an ASW exercise, The eighT ships formed up and sTeam- ed souTh for Rodman, Balboa by way of The Panama Canal. AfTer a day's liberTy in Panama CiTy, several days of seasickness in The Gulf of TehuanTepec, and an eighT hour fuel sTop in San Diego Cwhere Telephones were jammed wiTh sailors making lasT nosTalgic good-bys aT sTaTeside raTesi, The squadron Turned wesT for Pearl Harbor. Suddenly one day when The ship was only a 'few hundred miles from l-lawaii, radio disTress circuiTs came alive wiTh Traffic, and we soon realized ThaT a small air plane was ouT of fuel and abouT To diTch in The viciniTy. l:lSKE and DYESS were deTached To effecT The rescue. The Tiny plane skimmed inTo The heavy seas alongside DYESS and sank 90 seconds afTer iT hiT The waTer. l3oTh piloT and navigaTor escaped, however, and were soon broughT safely aboard To DYESS' sick bay. The ship's four day sTopover in Hawaii was exTended anoTher day by difficulTies wiTh The forward evaporaTor, a problem ThaT was To plague The engineers Through- ouT The cruise.Thus The DYESS had To TransiT The resT of The Pacific alone making brief fuel sTops aT Midway and Guam and finally arriving in Subic l3ay,l3hillipines on March Qnd via The San Bernardino STraiTs. T'

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Upon compleTion oT The e duTies DYESS again sTeamed Tor Yankee sTaTion This Time Tor plane guard duTy wiTh USS HANCOCK CVA lf? Finally on June 9Th The ship seT sail Tor Kaohsiung Tor resT and a Tender availabiliTy period From June l9Th To July lsT DYESS Took parT in gunTire supporT in The Ill Corps area clearly The mosT exciTing assignmenT oT The cruise The Tollowing is Taken Trom a news sTory released lusT aiTer The evenT The USS DYESS CDD 8803 on July lsT ompleTed Ten days oT naval gunTire supporT in The lll Corps area oT SouTh VieT Nam during which she Tired 23911 rounds oT Tive inch ammuniTion aT a ToTal oT lil VieT Cong TargeTs DYESS expended mosT oT her rounds Trom posiTions up a shipping channel in The Lowe Rung SaT area Firing in supporT oT search and clear operaTions by SouTh VieT Namese army uniTs in The Mekong DelTa her bombardmenT was coor dinaTed wiTh leT and helicopTer sTrikes She is The Third desTroyer To navigaTe The shallow Tidal waTers oT The Saigon Tor gunTire supporT DYESS Tour Tive inch guns were acTive around The clock During The day They Tired by direcTion oT airborne spoTTers on VieT Cong supply and assembly . A P . . . . D 1 I l - l- Q 1 I o C ' 'C x Q ll ' - 1- K., I - ll KC ue 4 1 I Y .. . - . Q I - a u ll I - - - ' ' - 0 , f f l ' area Troop concenTraTions gun emplacemenTs and TargeTs oT opporTuniTy as close aboard as QOOO yards. SpoTTers consisTenTly reporTed excellenT eTTecT and ouTsTanding coverage. AT nighT The ship provided harassmenT and inTerdicTion Tire on area TargeTs. Several Times DYESS was hasTily summoned Trom her up-river posiTions To lend emergency supporT To SouTh VieT Namese army Troops aTTacking a large VieT Cong base camp TwenTy miles up The coasT Trom Vung Tao. On one such occasion, DYESS opened Tire wiTh Tour-gun salvos immediaTely upon arriving on sTaTion. WiTh T85 rapid rounds she desTroyed or damaged six sTrucTures and several earThen emplacemenTs, silenced ground Tire direcTed aT The spoTTer, and leTT an undeTer- mined number oT VieT Cong casualTies. This was The DYESS' second assignmenT To gunTire supporT during This deploymenT. During The recenT period oT poliTical Turmoil aT Danang, her guns helped keep VieT Cong acTiviTy To a minium wiTh boTh high explosives and ill- uminaTion Tire. l-laving compleTed her assignmenT aT gunTire supporT DYESS ioined The resT oT The squadron aT Subic Bay and all seT soil Tor home by way oT The lndian Qcean, The Suez Canal, and The lVlediTerranean. The ship' sTopped aT Penang, lvlalysiag Cochin, India, Aden, AThens, Greece, and Barcelona, Spain beTore arriving in lNlewporT on The aTTernoon oT AugusT l7Th, l966.