Desron 16 - Naval Cruise Book

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I ' Jl k Why did we leave Norfolk for six months and travel a third of the way around the world to operate in a distant sea? Why did the United States spend the money, use the ships, and separate us from our families for this cruise? The U. S. Sixth Fleet, located in the Mediter- ranean Sea, is as sound an expenditure of men, ships and supplies as can be made in this day of international tension. You can consider the Sixth Fleet as an insurance policy — a symbol of strength to our friends, and a strong deterrent to our would-be enemies. The Fleet in the Mediterranean is our instrument of national policy, with the goals of peace, stability, and good will. The aims of the Sixth Fleet are friend- ly, but it stands battle-ready to wage any kind of warfare, limited or general, conventional or atomic. The nations of the free world are largely an oceanic confederation, both bound together and separated by the oceans between them. Com- merce on the seas is the lifeblood of the free world, and sea power ensures that the lifeblood may flow unhindered. The United States Sixth Fleet is that insurance for the free world in the Mediterranean. That is why we were there as a part of that fleet. The Sixth Fleet normally consists of fifty to sixty ships and is a balanced, mobile and self- sustaining force capable of more destructive power than all the forces of World War II com- bined. Destroyer Squadron Sixteen, one of the several destroyer squadrons constantly main- tained in the Mediterranean, played a vital role in the Sixth Fleet during its stay. All of DES- RON SIXTEEN ships carried out all the many tasks of which destroyers are capable, such as, in anti-submarine warfare, in shore bombard- ment, and in serving as rescue ship for carrier flight operations. Fast, versatile, alert, and ready, the destroyers of our squadron ranged from Gibraltar to Lebanon and beyond into the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, doing their jobs with- out fuss and fanfare. The good-will component of the Sixth Fleet ' s mission should not be overlooked. The in-port periods are primarily for recreation, sightseeing, and relaxation, yet all hands fully realize that they also have the very important task of being working ambassadors of good will for the United States. Our personnel made many personal con- tacts, developed many good friends, and found that mutual respect through better understand- ing resulted, church parties, exchanges of of- ficial calls, parties for the underprivileged and orphans, and distribution of clothes to the needy were some of the ways in which our good will mission was accomplished in our ports of call. Unofficially, every man ashore on liberty was an individual representative of the Friendly Fleet and the United States which it represents. Our job in the Mediterranean, then, was to assist in promoting friendship and good will among free nations and in ensuring lasting peace. This we attempted to do to the best of our ability.

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CDR. Roy E. Burton, Jr. U. S. Navy U. S. S. Charles S. Sperry (DD-697) . Conunanding Officer CDR. William Aaron Spalding Jr U. S. Navy U. S. S. Moale (DD-693) Commanding Officer - CDR. Charles J. Hemmingsen U. S. Navy U. S. S. Massey (DD-778) Conmianding Officei ™

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1. Air defense 2. Anti-submarine warfare 3. Shore bombardment 4. Aircraft carrier rescue Destroyers — Key Ships of the Fleet