Dyess (DDR 880) - Naval Cruise Book

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I 5 , 5 5 X11 L f X' ivy' V ,fw bfi--.Jr 45 DYE, ndicatiun 1 Fr? 'It was wz'th a mixed sense of excitement and anticipation that DYESS and her crew departed Newport R. I on the morning of 5 September 1968 enroute to distant dugz with the U S SIXTH Fleet in th e M editerranean. For the majority of DYESS' crew the deployment marked the culmination of many months of hard w'ork in preparing DYESS for this commitment' starting with shipyard overhaul in Boston Naval Shipyard ffan-Mayj and continuing through refresher training in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba ffune-fubzj and a brief preparatory period in Newport during August How well these preparations were made and indeed in many instances they were made at con- siderable personal sacruice in terms of lost famibz time was ampbz demonstrated by the undormbz high standard of excellence which DYESS set during her SIX T HFLT operations. From our reporting for dugz on 18 September 1968 until our departure on 25 january 1969, DYESS never failed to make a scheduled operational committment Operations took us into the Western Mediterranean, Ligurian, Tyrrhenian, Ionian, Aegean, Adriatic and Black Seas and included task force, task group, fast attack carrier and special operations. T he pictures and narrative contained within thz's cruise book tell the story - of many long hours on routine watches - of the exciting hours of pi'lot rescue at night and Black Sea operations - and of the libergz hours ashore in foreign ports, far well de- served relaxation. I Hnalb, a word about those who supported us so well on the home front and enabled us to main- tain the high morale and can do spirit which enabled DYESS to accomplish these varied tasks. It is in recognitz'on of the vital part which you played in our success that the DYESS 'Black-Sea Raiders wish to dedicate this cruise book to you. And may all the DYESS famz'lies and friends as well as the wonderful crew who made this cruise a success, enjoy many 'fair winds and following seas in all your future endeavo rs. W C SEMPLE III Captain, U Sf Navy ., .-.. .. . .- . ,L .V -W I M 'rf , . ,.. . N, ,-,,-,. .L g,- ,-, ::-gg-1-4 effjfi. 4- . . 1- '13, -J. ,. . .,,. ,.,, . ,.-' -.,j..fr,'q:g u

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- ,.,. ..7....+- .- . - -.. I . -.- , hips ihisturg DD-880 is named in honor of Lt. Col, Aquilla J. DYESS, USMCR, who was posthumously iawarded our Nation's highest award, the Congressional Medal of Honor, for conspicuous gallantry above and beyond the call of duty during the invasion of Kwajolein Atoll during World WW DYESS was constructed by the Consolidated Steel Corporation in Orange, Texas as a typical World War ll destroyer and was commissioned DD-880 on 21 May 1946. Almost immediatelv. however - in July of that some year - she underwent the first of two conversions designed tO enable her to better meet her fleet commitments. She became, with the addition of special and additional anti-aircraft armament, a radar picket destroyer, her primary mission, long fi range detection and destruction of hostile aircraft. This she remained until 1964, when she derwent a ERAM 1 conversion in Boston Naval Shipyard. There, with the installation of high - powered sonar, the ASROC iAnti-Submarine Rocket Weapon Systemj and the mounting for DASH QDrone Anti-Submarine Helicopterl, her capabilities became primarily oriented toward anti-sub- marine warfare. The year following her fist conversion, DYESS served in the Western Pacific but was soon transferred back to the Atlantic Fleet, where she has served ever since. One momentous break occured in this pattern of activity however, when for seven months in 1966 DYESS served in the waters off Viet Nam in support of U. S. forces there. During this period she spent 8071 of her time underway while steaming some 48,000 miles, and fired almost 3,000 rounds of five inch ammunition in anger at targets from Danang to the Saigon River Delta, DYESS climaxed the cruise by returning around the world across the Equator and through the Suez Canal ln September of 1967 DYESS returned from afour and one half deployment to the Mediterranean and Middle East areas. Enroute to the Pied Sea DYESS was the last warship of any nation to transit the Suez Canal before its closure on 6 June 1967. After over two months on station in the Bed Sea and Persian Gulf during the 1967 Suez Crises DYESS returned home via the Equator and the Cape of Good Hope in escort of the USS FOEBESTAL QCVA-691 which had been severely damaged by fire while on her Viet Nam station. Most recently, in July 1968, Dyess sucessfully completed refresher training at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba following a six month overhaul in Boston Naval Shipyard. She was the first destroyer in two and one half months to pass the Anti-Submarine Warfare Operational Readiness lnspect- ion and she accomplished this feat after only seven hours of actual training with a submarine. DYESS is homeported in Newport, Rhode lsland andis assigned to Destroyer Squadron TWELVE. On September 6, 1968, The DYESS deployed on her 1968-69 MED Cruise and ....... . .