Little Rock (CLG 4) - Naval Cruise Book

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BHIFF UF SFAFF Born in Snyder, Texas, Coleman H. Smith attended College in Texas and after graduation worked as a journalist. In March of 1941 he completed the course at the Midshipman School at Northwestern University and was commissioned an Ensign in the U. S. Navy. During the height of World War II he was in command of three anti-submarine warfare ships serving in the Atlantic, European and Pacific Theaters of Operation. In 1948 he became Commander Mine Squadron FOUR. In 1955 he was Commanding Officer of USS WALKER CDDE-5175. He was promoted to the grade of Captain in July 1960 and assumed com- mand of Destroyer Division THREE TWENTY-TWO, operating with both the Second and Sixth Fleets. Other duties included Chief of Staff for Commander Destroyer Flotilla FOUR, Chief of Staff for Commander Task Force 140 CProject Mercury Recovery Forcesb, Commanding Officer Atlantic Fleet ASW Tactical School, Commander Destroyer Squadron THIRTY-SIX. Prior to becoming Chief of Staff for Commander Sixth Fleet in January 1967, he was Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations for the Commander in Chief, U. S. Naval Forces, Europe.

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HISTURY of the SIXTH FLEET Warships of the United States Navy have cruised the Mediterranean Sea since the early nine- teenth century. Beginning with the war with Tripoli in 1801, and almost continuously since 1886, American sea power has operated in this area of more than one million square miles which the ancient people called the center of the earth. In the unsettled years immediately following World War I, ships of the United States Mediterra- nean Squadron helped maintain peace among the countries of the Balkans and the Middle East. In World War II, the Mediterranean again played an important part in U. S. plans. U. S. naval forces supported the November 1942 landing in North Africa, the Sicilian landings of July and August, 1943, and the Anzio landings of January, 1944. On August 5, 1944, powerful U. S. naval forces landed U. S. armies in Southern France as a sequel to the Allied landings in Normandy. The performance of U. S. naval forces in the Atlantic and Mediterranean Theaters played a decisive part in the vic- tory of the Allied nations in Europe. In the spring of 1945, U. S. naval strength in the Mediterranean was reduced, but small detach- ments were maintained in Italy to support the U. S. Army, to assist U. S. merchant shipping, and to continue representation on the Allied Commission for Italy. The summer of 1945 saw U. S. naval activities in the Mediterranean further reduced. Liberated ports were rapidly returned to national authorities and some ships of the Mediterranean Fleet were redeployed to the Pacific. But the end of World War II found the United States Navy continuing to maintain a few ships in the strategic Mediterranean to protect American interests and to support United States policies in the area. This small postwar fleet, known as Naval Forces, Mediterranean, was commanded by Vice Admiral Bernhard H. Bieri, USN. The flagship, a destroyer tender anchored at Naples, did not op- erate with the Fleet at sea, but stayed in Naples. On August 7, 1947, the cruiser USS DAYTON re- lieved the tender SHENANDOAH and became the first postwar Mediterranean Fleet Flagship ac- tually to operate at sea. Cruisers have served as the Fleet Flagship since that time. On June 1, 1948, the title of Commander Naval Forces, Mediterranean was changed to Com- mander Sixth Task Fleet, and on February 12, 1950, this title was simplified to Commander Sixth Fleet. Commanders of the Fleet succeeding Vice Admiral Bieri have been Vice Admirals Forrest Sherman, John J. Ballentine, Matthias B. Gardner, John J. Cassady, Thomas S. Combs, Ralph A. Ofstie, Harry D. Felt, Charles R. Brown, Clarence E. Ekstrom, George W. Anderson, Jr., David L. McDonald, William E. Gentner, Jr., William E. Ellis, and Frederick L. Ashworth. Vice Admiral William I. Martin took command on April 10, 1967. ' The Sixth Fleet has played a significant role during many periods of extreme tension in the Mediterranean. Most noteworthy were the evacuation of U. S. citizens and other foreign nationals from Israel and Egypt during the Suez crisis of October 1956, and the landing of Sixth Fleet Marines in Lebanon in July, 1958, at the request of the government of that nation.