Joseph Kennedy (DD 850) - Naval Cruise Book

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J. E. VQLONTE, CDR, USN I COMMANDING OFFICER The Inland Seas Story lt was with a certain amount of understandable trepidation--as well as genuine excitement and enthusiasm- -that the KENNEDY turned her bow toward Nova Scotia and the commencement of Operation Inland Seas. A veteran of countless Atlantic and Mediterranean excursions she was still primarily untested in narrow, restricted waters and all of us, seasoned solely by previous transits of the Cape Cod Canal, recognized in the Welland Canal, Beauharnois, Eisenhower, and Snell Locks, and Thousand Islands the real crucial point in the cruise--and -ultimate ,test of our seamanship. Having embarked a full complement of Midshipmen at the Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, we now uneasily contemplated our charts as we steamed north to become a part of Task Force 47 and add our particular paragraph to this new chapter in the History of the Modern Navy. - The transit fulfilled our expectations in almost every respect. The journey through the St. Lawrence, though scenic and often breath-takingly beautiful, was tortuous. Continual vigilance became an absolute necessity and our line-handlers and fender-tenders spent days at a time stretched along the rail. The Captain took up permanent residence in his chair on the open bridge and left it only to climb atop the pilot house and to conn the ship. Sleep, in general, was sporadic and unusual. As we transitted the various locks the Exec jacked a loud hailer into the 1MC and took his post on the perimeter of the pilot house overhead. The pressure increased proportionally with the- deviousness of the channel and the treachery of the currents. A series of of Canadian and U.S. pilots came and went, aiding us from spot to J. M. PALMER, CAPT, USN COMMANDER DESTROYER DIVISION 102 spot, and still the fender-tenders tended fenders, and ol' man river he just kepthrolling along. And with it all, in the first dawning of a new-felt confidence in our shipand in ourselves, we' felt the heartening spirit of teamwork and just a suggestion of that elusive quantity called pride in one 's work. lt' was unpleasant, certainly, to be up the better part of the night alternately combating fatigue and the solid clouds of persistentinsects who had taken an instant fancy to Q the ship--but it was also an undeniably good feeling to ease successfully out of another lock and feel, through- out the ship, the 'corporate sigh of relief. Again we had made it--and again. There were scrapes and dents, to be sure, and an occasional lost fender--but we kept on making it. The Salt Water Fleet was indeed learning some of the tricks of the fresh water trade. , - ' 3

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USS JOSEPH P. KENNEDY, Jr. CDD 8501 OPERATICDN INLAND SEAS JuNE-AUGUST 1959 2

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A After the rigors of the transit our reception, port after port, was doubly rewarding. The thousands of visitors who crowded aboard each day made us suddenly aware of an esprit de corps we had never admitted possessing previously . . . at the same time there was a definite feeling of home is the sailor, home from the sea once the ship was tranquilly moored and had shifted from navigational operations to social obligations. All in all, as we passed out pamphlets, gave directions, smiled, and answered the same half-million if T , 5, j questions daily, we found the limelight a very A 162'-2 warm and pleasant place to be. And when we took our own turn as tourists on the bustling streets of each new city, we came to know just how friendly the Mid-West could be, and to realize what beautiful music we could all make together. Of course, no one familiar with the vagaries , fsiftxf T , ,- of the Great Lake could expect that a cruise of this nature would be smooth and uneventful from beginning to end. The Lakes hold a restless and uneasy truce with the weather for most of the summer and, in Michigan City, we were given a frightening and costly demonstration of the power which lies dormant in those great bodies of water. A freak storm caught the ship quickly and violently, wresting it from its seemingly secure anchorage, and carrying it down on a stone and concrete breakwater. The damage was, under the circumstances, mercifully light, notwith- standing the total demolition of our motor whaleboat, and there were no personnel casualties. But we had seen what Great Lakes mariners know and fear--the awesome speed with which a storm can form and strike--and we had seen our own men acting with valor and dispatch to combat such a storm. We understood, more- over, that there were still some tricks to inland steaming which we had not, and could not, on a cruise of this duration, hope to learn. s Finally, there was the return transit to be contended with. Tired, but deeply satisfied by our reception i.n our ports of call, we confronted the twistings and turnings of the canals and the St. Lawrence with a more seasoned and ever respectful eye. It was good to be going home but it had also been good to be an honored guest in so many other people's homes and there was no one who had not derived some measure of pleasure and re- ward from our participation in Operation Inland Seas, As we manned our rails and tended our fenders once again, we could look back on outstanding liberty, skillful steaming, and a job generally well done. We found we had no complaints. 4