Aylwin (FF 1081) - Naval Cruise Book

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CAPTAIN ' S INTRODUCTION I hope you enjoy looking through this cruise book as much as we in AYLWIN enjoyed living the life at sea and abroad that it depicts. This book marks a special time in the life of AYLWIN. She turned twenty years old on 18 September 1991, almost in the middle of our 165 day long UNITAS XXXII deployment. I dare say that the AYLWIN of today operates better than the one commissioned in 1971, but that could be pride speaking; pride in my crew and pride in my ship. Also, AYLWIN will be decommissioned sometime in 1992, but during this, her ninth and final deployment, she performed magnificently. UNITAS is an annual deployment conducted by a task force of U.S. Navy ships specifically designed to operate and train with our South American friends. AYLWIN, with an embarked helicopter and Air Department officers and personnel from HSL-32 Detachment Four, departed her homeport, Newport, Rhode Island, on 01 July 1991 and proceeded to the deployment start point in the Puerto Rican operating areas. During the deployment, AYLWIN operated with Naval Forces of, and made numerous port visits in, the following countries: Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Venezuela. Additionally, AYLWIN visited Puerto Rico and Panama. Every type of at sea operation was conducted with each Navy from each South American country. Helo flight operations often went 10 hours a day and the pace at sea wore out the 24 hour clock. Through it all AYLWIN and her crew were superb. AYLWIN The Battle Frigate ; Doing it All — Doing it Right. The men in this book are special people. Nearly three hundred strong, they left home in a 4,000 ton steel warship and steamed her south through the Atlantic Ocean, across the Caribbean Sea, transited the Panama Canal into the Pacific Ocean, crossed the Equator, braved the Straights of Magellan at the tip of South America and then steamed north again to return to Newport. An incredible journey that covered over 28,000 miles. They navigated in unfamiliar waters, entered and anchored in strange harbors, refueled alongside oilers at sea in the middle of a moonless night, operated our helo under trying conditions, fixed everything that broke and took every curve ball mother nature could throw. They never faltered; they always met the challenge head on and did their job right everytime. These men are the epitome of the motto of AYLWIN Courage Conquers the Impossible. EUGENE F. URICOLI Commander, U.S. Navy Commanding Officer