Nitro (AE 23) - Naval Cruise Book

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SUEZ CANAL water and sand, water and sand water and sand!

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I NITRO arrived in Lisbon, Portugal on 7 January to quickly onload Walleye's and 16 gun ammuni- tion. There was no longer any doubt as to where NITRO was headed -the only ships with 16 tur- rets, the battleships WISCONSIN and MISSOURI, were in the Persian Gulf. Departing Lisbon on January 8th, NITRO made a brief stop in Rota, Spain to onload more 16 ammunition and to refuel. Underway on the 10thg enroute, Port Said, Egypt. At Port Said, NITRO anchored to await a midnight admittance to the Suez Canal. Early on Jan- uary 16th, NITRO began her slow southbound journey through the Suez. She arrived at the south- ern terminus of the Suez Canal only hours before the allied attack on Iraq at 0200 local time, 17 January. At 0300 mount 32 personnel reported 5 jet aircraft about 5000 yards from the ship. A mis- sile was reported launched towards shore. The contacts were reported, warnings were issuedg the aircraft were outbound. Only those people on watch were aware of the danger and realized that NITRO was at war. NITRO entered the Red Sea on 18 January and received her first ship alongside, USS KALAMA- ZOO QAOR-6j for ammunition vertrep and refueling. January 19th, NITRO joined up with the French frigate PROTET QF-748j who was to be NITRO's escort to the Straights of Baba El Men Dab at the southern end of the Red Sea. On January 20th, USS MISSISSIPPI QCGN-403 and USS SAMUEL B. ROBERTS IFFG-43j joined NITRO and PROTET for the southward journey. As the group exited the straights, MISSIS- SIPPI reported unknown aircraft inbound from Yemen - General Quarters! Two warnings were issued by MISSISSIPPI. The aircraft turned around and loitered feet dry. GQ was secured, SAMUEL B. ROBERTS and PROTET detached to return to the Red Sea. NITRO and MISSISSIPPI continued on through the Gulf of Aden towards the North Arabian Sea. January 22nd, NITRO and MISSISSIPPI reversed course to meet USS VREELAND IFF-10681. An exchange of escorts on 23 January left NITRO with VREELAND while MISSISSIPPI returned to the Red Sea. Later that day a low slow flier, unresponsive to warnings, was reported by VREE- LAND - General Quarters. it was not long before the aircraft turned outbound and was evaluated as a friendly helo on a mine lookout mission. Secured from G.Q. and brought the VREELAND alongside for refueling. -