Dyess (DD 880) - Naval Cruise Book

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COMMANDING OFFICER Commander William F. Sheehan, Jr. A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Com- mander Sheehan attended Fitchburg State Teachers College prior to joining the Navy in June 1945. Upon graduation from Radio Material School as an Electronics Technician Third Class, he attended Submarine School at New London, Connecticut. He was then ordered to the USS BUMPER (SS-333) for duty. In Feb- ruary, 1948, he was ordered to the Naval Pre- paratory School, and was subsequently accepted as a Midshipman, U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland. In June 1952, Ensign Sheehan was ordered to the USS COMPTON (DD-705), where he be- came the Engineering Officer. In 1955 LTJG Sheehan was assigned to duty as CIC Officer, USS WISCONSIN (BB-64). In 1957, he reported for duty in the Officer Performance Division of SUPERS. In June 1959, he was ordered to duty as Executive Officer, USS WOOD COUNTY (LST-1178). In January 1961, LT Sheehan was assigned as Aide and Flag Lieutenant, Com- mander Training Command, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, and served in that billet until being ordered to the Command and Staff Course at the Naval War College. In July 1963, LCDR Sheehan was assigned as Commanding Officer, USS RUCHAMKIN (APD-89). In October 1965, he was ordered to the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as Emer- gency Actions Officer, National Military Com- mand Center. In June 1968, he wasSissigned to duty in the Operations Division, and later the Plans Division, of Headquarters, U.S. Mil- itary Assistance Command, Vietnam. Commander Sheehan is married to the former Avonne Aus of Rugby, North Dakota. They have two daughters, Anne Marie and Deborah.

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£«•-, ' ' ■I y u SHIP ' S HISTORY DD-880 is named in honor of Lt. Col. Aquilla J. DYESS, USMCR, who was post- humously awarded our nation ' s highest award, the Congressional Medal of Honor, for con- spicious gallantry above and beyond the call of duty during the invasion of Kwajalein Atoll during World War II. DYESS was constructed by the Consoli- dated Steel Corporation in Orange, Texas and was commissioned DD-880 on 21 May 1945. In July of that same year she underwent the first of two conversions designed to enable her to better meet her fleet commitments. She be- came a radar picket destroyer; her primary mission, long-range detection and destruction of hostile aircraft. This she remained until 1964, when she under went a FRAM I conversion in Boston Naval Shipyard. There, with the instal- lation of high-powered sonar, the ASROC (Anti- submarine Rocket) Weapon System and new tor- pedo tubes, her capabilities became primarily oriented toward anti-submarine warfare. The year following her first conversion, DYESS served in the western Pacific but was soon transferred back to the Atlantic Fleet, where she has served ever since. After her FRAM conversion, DYESS spent seven months off the coast of Vietnam in support of U.S. troops in 1966 and was stationed in the Persia Gulf and Red Sea during the 1967 Suez Crisis. DYESS was the last warship of any nation to transit the Suez Canal before its closure on 5 June 1967. In July 1968 DYESS successfully completed refresher training at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, following a six month overhaul in Boston Naval Shipyard. Most recently, in February 1969, DYESS returned from a five month deployment to the Mediterranean where she participated in several major Sixth Fleet Exercises. Between operation periods she visited Valletta, Malta; Naples and Venice, Italy; Palma de Mallorca; and Golfe Juan, France. It was during this de- ployment that DYESS made her much publicized visit to the Black Sea. DYESS is homeported in Newport, Rhode Island, and is assigned to D estroyer Squadron TWELVE.

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EXECUTIVE OFFICER LOVER OF: Lieutenant Commander David C. Eppling Good Food... Little Children... ► r r ' 1- Salty Chiefs... And More.