Dyess (DD 880) - Naval Cruise Book

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Suez ■ i 4i-!TrV«t..yt •!«■-■■ ■• ' . NOISY RECEPTION— Egyptians shout insults to sailors aboard the U.S. destroyer Dyess as it enters the Suez Associated Press Canal at Port Said. Demonstrators in the same area cheered as Soviet ships sailed by. Story on Page A25. As DYESS entered the Suez Canal at Port Said on 3 June no one expected the greeting that we received from UAR citizens there. We had learned of the tension between the United Arab Re- public and Israel while we were still in Naples but our ' ' flag showing mission to Middle Eastern ports seemed very far removed from such expressions of hostility that we were to witness throughout our transit of the 105 miles long canal. We were escorted to our anchorage in Port Said Harbor by several dozen boatloads of jeering, slogan -shouting Arabs who made obscene gestures and waved their shoes at us in protest to our transit of the canal . Whether they had been told that we were on our way to break their blockade in the Gulf of Aqaba or that we were enroute to Viet Nam, as two newspapers stated, we will never know, but the thousands of people gathered on the banks of the canal, the fleet of v aterborne demonstrators, and the dark cavernous muzzles of the sandbag- implaced guns trained on our ship all along the entrance to the canal indicated to us in no uncertain terms that we were very much unwanted. i

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ATLANTIS NEWPORT SHIP RESCUES SLOOP The Newport-based destroyer Dyess rescued a 39-foot sloop The Atlantis south of the Greek Island of Rhodes on May 31. The Atlantis was caught in high seas and gale winds, after being sideswiped by a merchant ship. The sloop ' s rigging was damaged beyond use. Dyess picked up a dis- tress call, sent out by the merchant ship. Upon locating the sloop, Dyess took her in tow for transfer to the New- port-based destroyer Massey. Massey escorted Atlantis into the safety of Rhodes Harbor. Dyess ' motor whaleboat was used to send immediate aid to the sloop. Dyess is skippered by Cmdr. Frank C. Mead and is assigned to Squadron 12, based in Newport. ll I

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Most of our trip through the Suez was uneventful with the desert interrupted in spots only by a small oasis or a canal way station. Entering Port Suez we found a scene similar to the one encountered the day before at the northern end of the Canal. Thousands of people ran aldng the shore, yelling and waving shoes as their comrades had done. DYESS officers and men were very glad to leave the Suez Canal behind. - Til Canal Way Station Little did we know that one day later it would be closed by bombs and sunken ships, cutting us off from the Sixth Fleet and making DYESS the last warship of any nation to transit the canal, as a member of the last convoy to make it through without mishap. Long hours watching sand Silent figures aU Military buildup Port Suez and more jeers