Manley (DD 940) - Naval Cruise Book

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CAPTAIN WILLARD Y. HOWELL Commander Destroyer Squadron Four

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A LETTER FROM COMDESRON 4 America is a broad and fortunate land, but even more America is people, people of different views and beliefs but with broad and deep- running common concepts as to freedom and the worth and dignity of each man. Even more than in her rich fields and minerals, the strength of America is in her people. The Navy is ships and their industrial base, but even more the Navy too is people. It is in her trained and dedicated men that our seapower lies. We of the sea know the role of seapower, from Salamis to Trafalgar to Midway to now, again in troubled times, off the Asiatic seaboard or in that oldest of men ' s seas, the Mediterranean. Not by accident does America possess the strongest Navy in the world, and deploy her strength. But it is men who provide that power for peace , who man and make effective our complex weapon systems, who drive the ships and keep them seaworthy so that the weapons with the right control and backup can be at the right place at the right time. In calm waters, clean-cut Navy men represent in foreign ports the best of America, showing our warm friendship for people of other lands - and let no one mistake the im- portance of this good will - but ready always to act or react to any storm threatening the peace or liberty of free men. This vitally essential mission demands sacrifice and work, often under trying and challenging conditions. America br eeds men who can meet challenge, and demands the most from the best of her sons. Now, from President Johnson and from the American people is heard increasing recognition which promises well for the men of the Navy. However, in our hearts we all know that our most meaningful reward comes in the knowledge of a necessary and tremendously important job well done. MANLEY deserves to hold her head high. May future years bring memories of good times and rough times, fun and travail, but always pride and satisfaction in yourselves and in your shipmates. Respectfully, W.Y.HOWELL Captain, U. S. Navy Commodore

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A LETTER FROM THE CAPTAIN My Shipmates in MANLEY, There will come a time, in a day not yet touched by living, when chance or design will again bring this volume into your hands. And half remembered faces and half dimmed happenings will swirl up to you in recollection from these pages. And for a remembered moment you will return to the Med, and the MANLEY, and the winter and spring of 1965. And you will be proud. For the story of the MANLEY in the Med is, in 1965, the reflection of our great nation ' s continuing attempt to deter the ambitions of an ideology whose stated objective is the ultimate enslavement of the world. For five long months of separation in a year of unprecedented high prosperity and good living in our beloved homeland, we have been chosen to stand vigilant guard upon the forward ramparts in the Med. To be sure the demands to which we have answered are not so heavy as those put upon our brothers-in-arms who fight, and bleed, and die in South Viet-Nam, but we are wary and we are ready lest our present weight of responsibility increases in an instant. The destroyer MANLEY is one of the good shepherds who, Scrip- ture reminds us, must be prepared to lay down his life for his sheep. And among the sheep of our flock can be found, at one time or another, almost every ship in our Navy: the mighty attack carrier with- its swarm of aircraft; the service ship laden with bullets, beans and oil; the am- phibious ship with its embarked Marines or soldiers; and the merchant ships with the raw materials and manufactured products that are the lifeblood of the Free World. Up ahead of each of these ships is to be found the Destroyer, warding off an aggressor submarine, ship or air- craft. Still, a ready diet of these sobering thoughts, true as they are, could make Jack a dull destroyerman. And destroyermen are anything but dull, particularly in the Med. Here in the fabled lands of Hercules and Poseidon, of Venus and the bikini, of art treasures and natural splendor, is the stuff from which sailors spin a thousand yarns. It is to be hoped that the future years will be of peace and abundance, and that in them this book will be a reminder of a time of grave duty and great honor touched with laughter, excitement and the friendship of shipmates who shared your triumphs and sadness, your bread and beans, in a distant sea and far-off lands. Respectfully, V Aas 0uj J RAYMONDS. KOMDROWSKI Commander, U. S. Alavy Commanding Officer