Dashiell (DD 659) - Naval Cruise Book

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thi was followed by a six hour stop for futling at Midway Island, memorable for a swimming party with plenty of cold beer. At 1 800 (six p.m. to the landlubber) on 27 May, 659 set sail for Japan and at nine o ' clock on the morning of June third, the Doshiell arrived at yokosuka, Japan. The next few months were occupied with operations near Japan and Korea; the Dashiell was parly to the breaking of a few records, when she underwent fueling at sea during night carrier operations and acted as aircraft guard to the Fast Car- rier Task Force which established a new record for the largest number of sorties ever to be launched in a single phase of corrier operations. There were anti-submorine training with the Hunter-Killer groups, •scon duty with carriers, and operations with shore bombardment batteries off the Korean cost. There was one excursion to Hakodate for liberty — we now know the dearth of entertainment in Hakodate, and there was one escort trip to Hong Kong with the carrier Kearsarge, and a speed run with the USS Princeton. 659 was in Sasebo for repairs when the wonderful news that the Korean truce had tran- spired came through; then there were rest and recreation periods for a few at spas on the slopes of Fujiyama and grand tours to Tokyo, Except for the cruise to Hong Kong, when typhoon Tess was en- countered, the weather was always outstandingly good. One note- worthy event was the ship ' s party, held at the Enlisted Men ' s Club in Yokosuka; there the officers and men — and a few hostesses — consumed quantities of beer and soft drinks and enjoyed an excellent buffet supper. To coin a phrase, a good time was definitely had by alll . On the afternoon of October ninth, the Dashiell left Sasebo, Japan, to begin the long voyage back to the States ; her immediate destination — Manila, Philippine Islands. The following day she passed the very large and rugged, now historical, island of Okinawa; and she arrived at the central piers in Manila on the thirteenth. Since the ship was only to be there for two days, there was little franche, Monte Carlo, and Antibes. but nobody seemed to mind. On the morning of the twentieth, the Dashiell passed between Gibraltar and Africa, and the next morning arrived at Lisbon, Portugal, one of the most impressive and beautiful cities of the 0; entire cruise; uniavaged by war, Lisbon maintained a pink ond white beauty unequalled anywhere else in the world. During the four-day slay in Portugal, six hundred men made the pilgrimage to Falima; all Lisbon gave the American Navy the warmest of welcomes. The horrible weather of the Atlantic did not dampen the ardor of the men to return to the States ; when the USS Dashiell arrived in Philadelphia on the fourth of December, there was a great throng of family and friends to greet these men who had, in fifty-eight thou- sand miles, circled the globe. It is to keep alive the memory of the work and the play, the sight of sea and foreign land that we, the editors, present this record of the 1953 round-the-world cruise of the USS Dashiell IDD-6S9).

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1 1 I ■ I ■ I ■T rnrt hTai rr A SHIP IS SIGHTED ••••• IT IS THE •••• lOH E T a 9 8 7 ' 6