Dortch (DD 670) - Naval Cruise Book

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COMMANDER J. F. RICE, USN Commanding Officer

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■was present in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945 when the surrender was signed aboard the U.S. S.MISSOURI. After the surrender the DORTCH stayed on as part of the Occupation Force in Japan. On 5 December 1945 she was homeward bound and was placed out of commission in the Reserve Fleet at Charleston, S. C. on 19 July 1946. Following the outbreak of the Korean Action the DORTCH was again commissioned on 4 May 1951 at Charleston, S. C. After recommissioning she made shakedown and re- fresher training cruises and ■was overhauled in the Phila- delphia Navy Yard. She participated in Operation MAIN- BRACE, the first full scale naval operation of NATO, in the North Atlantic. Returning to her home port, New- port, Rhode Island, for the Christmas Holidays 1952, she was off again in February 1953 on Operation SPRING- BOARD in the Carribbean. Provisioned and made ready for sea, the U.S.S. DORTCH sailed from Newport, Rhode Island on 27 April 1953 as part of Destroyer Division 301, enroute to Korea. The following pages depict that voyage.

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On 27 April, 1953, the U.S.S. DORTCH (DD 670), a gen- eral purpose destroyer, steamed out of Newport harbor ' with a very definite purpose. Her eighteen officers and three hundred men were resolved to accomplish three things — to steam west- ward to North Korea and engage with the enemy there; to continue around the world and show our good will toward free people everywhere; and finally to return home, experienced and ready to steam out again whenever the occasion might arise. We accomplished what we set out to do. During the crucial months preceding the armistice -we operated off Korea as part of the famous Task Force 77. During the same period we en- tered Wonsan Harbor and delivered direct gunfire against enemy gun positions. Later after the armistice was signed we helped enforce its terms, operating off the western coast of Ko- rea. Then continuing around the world we made good friends in each of the ports we visited — Manila, Saigon, Singapore, Co- lombo, Cannes, and Lisbon. Finally we arrived in Philadelphia to be ready after normal overhaul to steam anywhere in the world again, guns firing if necessary. We accomplished what we set out to do, but we came home with more than just pride in accomplishment. We returned with a deep appreciation of what -we had left here at home and of the cause for which we had been fighting. During long hours of steaming -we had gained a new insight regarding the value of freedom and a deeper understanding of the struggle to preserve it. It is this appreciation, this insight, and this under- standing of which the following pages will always be a re- minder. C IC2