De Soto County (LST 1171) - Naval Cruise Book

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' .. . . V --Y T --.,-4--..-- ---2 'f -Was-ww-w-5.4-:-a-iw:-'-A-A '1 '--'- f HACK LEY UNION NATIONAL BANK AND TRUST COM PANY M USIKEGON, MIC PI IG-ALR' CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD Dear Lt. Comdr. Mann, Thank you for your letter of the 29th of August, 1964 enclosing my honorary crewman certificate and I am indeed pleased to be known now as a gator . It was a fine trip to Manitowoc aboard the DeSoto County and I do appreciate the courtesies extended. I am always amazed at the ability and maturity of the young men who assume the responsibility of manning . the and its complicated equipment with per- fect teamwork. ' You are to be complimented on the fine job of public relations you and your men are doing for the Navy- Marine Corps Team. It was a great day! ' S inc e r ely , I L William R. Munroe Lt. Comdr. I-LD. Mann U. S. Navy Commanding Officer U.S. S. DeSoto County QLST-1171, Great Lakes Cruise - 1964 Care of Fleet Post Office New York, New York 09501

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oeapower nur l l U.S. Navy Ph0f0S DeSoto County squeezes through lock on St. Lawrence Seaway. Returns By WILLIAM K. STEVENS Virginian-Pilnl Staff Wrller NORFOLK - It may be the most improbable voyage of any U.S. warship in recent years and one of the most successful. There she was, the 8,000-ton tank landing ship DeSoto' Coun- ty, big as a freighter, a major vessel of the Atlantic Fleet Amphibious Force and part of Americais land-sea assault com- bination. She had just shot the rapids of the St. Lawrence River at 26 knots. tShe makes only 17 knots at sea.J She was approaching Clayton, N.Y., last stop on her 95-day, 9,100-mile public relations tour of the Great Lakes. She edged up to the dock at Clayton and tied up to a tele- phone pole, a' maple tree and a front porch. Two-thirds of the townspeople came out to take in the minia- ture shipboard fair and accom- panying show that told the story of modem seapower. The 95-day total for the DeSoto was 426,046 visitors. That was last week. The De- Soto County is back at Little , ....... . . . . .,-.m.:.-.mg--t:-N From Creek Naval Amphibious Base with tales that explain why she is a happy ship. the skipper, Lt. Mann Jr. of Nor- being a career of- is a jazz musician. bass fiddle with a the shi docked in Start with Cmdr. H. D. folk. Besides ficer, he also He sat in on combo when ,p Bay City, Mich. Or take the junior officers, the single ones who are getting let- ters from lake ports and who describe the cruise with one word! Wow. Or the Marine who appeared at the gangway one night just before liberty expired and shout- ed up to the deck officer: Request permission to bring my rocking chair aboard, sir. He carried a brilliant orange 'rocking chair on his back. Said his grandmother gave it to him. Got permission, too. The DeSoto County was picked for the lakes cruise because of 'her outstanding record. It had to be an LST, because that's the only ship with a shallow enough draft for some of the ports she called at and enough deck space for the seapower show. H'-'M' ' f' rss-maze. rr - ......,-...-,.-......,...... ..- I i Success ul Cruise The show itself left landlocked visitors lgog. Some of them didn't know what a Polaris missile was. Their eyes widened as they looked at a full-size missile and heard how one Polaris subma- rine can deliver destructive power equal to all the bombs ex- ploded in World War II. They were fascinated -as frog- men dropped from helicopters, set up demolition charges and exploded them. Most didn't get mad when spray from the ex- plosion showered them. They looked on as members of a four-man -Marine karate team fought each other and broke wooden boards with their fingers and toes. Then they listened as a 25- voice Marine choir serenaded them. They heard the recorded voice of Vice Adm. John S. McCain Jr., commander of the Atlantic amphibious force, tell them grip- pingly about the four-ocean challenge. McCain visited the DeSoto himself several times during the cruise. Once he was accom- panied by Gen. Wallace M. Greene Jr., commandant of the Marine Corps. The visitors stood inside a monstrous cineglobe -half a massive sphere on which were projected three - dimensional movies of landings and takeoffs by carrier-based planes: an am- phibious assaultg and -a Polaris firing. It's like you actually were there, and it is breathtaking. Visitors to the New York World's -Fair can see the same exhibit. The DeSoto County stopped at 18 fresh-water ports, the largest of which were Cleveland and De- troit, and got enthusiastic re- ceptions at all of them. There was the little old lady in one port who, after finishing :the tour, found a small scrap of paper and wrote a note to be sent to -the skipper. The note hoped God would bless the De- Soto County and the Navy for protecting the country. The tour offered stiff- chal- lenges to the seamatnship of Cmdr. Mann and his crew. There were the swirling rapids between Montreal and Quebec, for one thin-g, and 'there were narnow canal looks offering 5 feet of clearance on each side. A major message which the tour .tried to put across was the importance of the Navy-Mamine Corps team -to national securil, The ship carried about 90 Ma- rines besides her crew of 187 of- ficers and men. How close is the teamwork between sailors and Marines? Well, one night in a lake punt the deck officer looked up to see two slightly staggering Marines helping what seemed to be a drunken sailor up the gangway. The sailor's blouse was hanging out and he wore a straw hat and he could.n't walk very well. The Marines took him be ow. A few minutes later the cin- credulous deck officer rubbed his eyes as the same sailor ap- peared on deck, cold sober, in spotless whites and ready tp go. One of my Marine .buddies was three sheets to the wind and didn't want to come back aboard by himself, the sailor explained. The sailor had put on a decoy act. Pm ready to go hack on lib- erty, sir, he said. And did,Aoo cement Navy-civilian relations.