Essex (CVS 9) - Naval Cruise Book

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L'-a You JDS Take Those dishes ouT xx To The galley and wash Them yourselves ff! Now seT The normal sTeaming waTch on Deck SecTion E Qperations Highlights Essex, commanded by CapTain J. M. WesT, began her Midlink Cruise on l OcTober l963, ioining The desTroyers of Desron 24, USS Blandy, USS Sperry, USS WarringTon, USS S. B. RoberTs and USS lngraham. Having conducTed AAW exercises during her easTward TransiT of The ATlanTic, afTer a sTop aT Barcelona, Essex ioined USS Independence and USS Long Beach in The Ionian Sea To parTicipaTe in an ASW exercise. On I9 DcTober Essex enTered AugusTa Bay To parTicipaTe in a Task force commanders conference. Surrounding Essex aT This Time was a maior porTion of The sTrengTh of The SixTh EleeT, USS l.iTTle-Rock, USS Long Beach, USS Shangri-La, USS Independence and a swarm of DD's and DDG's. Essex halTed briefly aT MalTa and having TransiTed The Suez Canal on 28 DcTober, proceeded To Jidda, Saudi Arabia where an ASW demonsTraTion was conducTed for high ranking governmenT officials including The Rrince of Mecca and. The MinisTer of Defense. AfTer a fuel sTop in Aden, Essex arrived aT Karachi, RakisTan, 9 November To parTicipaTe in Midlink VI exer- cises. Conferences and harbor exercises consTiTuTed phase l of Midlink. ln phase II, Essex in company wiTh forces of The RakisTan, Iranian and Royal Navies, -including The BriTish aircrafT carrier Ark Royal and The RakisTan cruis- er BafTe, conducTed screening exercises and cross deck flighT operaTions. AfTer a Two day resT in Karachi, on i6 November, phase III of Midlink began wiTh Essex refueling from RNS Dacca and parTicipaTing in a convoy escorT operaTion. During The exercise, U.S,, submarines Sirag and Riper opposed The Royal Navy submarines Andrew and Amphion. The Midlink VI criTiaue was cancelled as a resulT of The Tragic deaTh of The laTe RresidenT Kennedy. AfTer refueling in Aden, Essex made her fifTh TransiT of The Suez Canal on 2 December, arriving aT Naples on 5 December for four days of liberTy. On i0 December Essex engaged in an 18 hour ASW exercise wiTh elemenfs of The SixTh EleeT. The nexT day having passed Through The STraiTs of GibralTar, Essex refue led from USS Nlississinewa, Took on sTores from USS AlTair and supplies from USS Denebola. EighTing high seas during The enTire wesTward passage Essex reTurned To QuonseT RoinT on 23 December, hav- ing sTeamed almosT 24,000 miles during 83 days ofa busy and fruiTful deploymenT.