Gearing (DD 710) - Naval Cruise Book

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The shipfs 5-inch 38 caliber guns fire the first known 20-gun salute in honor of twenty years of Sixth Fleet operations in the Mediterranean. in review for flag officers aboard USS june 20 marked the end of two decades of the United States Sixth Fleet oper- ations in the Mediterranean Sea. To mark the occasion, most of the current fleet units put on a traditional American-style celebration, complete with a parade! fu A full day of activity began with a 20-gun salute, the first recorded even- ' numbered gun salute in history, one for each year of the fleet's existence. Then both aircraft carriers, USS SHANGRILA and USS INDEPENDENCE, launched their squadrons which then put on an impressive air demonstration. GEARING acted as plane guard for SHANGRILA, and thus had a ringside seat for the per- formance, which included helicopters, propeller and jet aircraft, air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles, all closely timed to present a thrilling half-hour. After the carriers recovered their aircraft, an exciting operation itself with interlocking flight patterns, the other units of the fleet prepared for the surface demonstrations. GEARING assisted in a flawless fueling exercise with the oiler NEOSHO, While other units tracked submarines, fired guns and ASW weapOI1S, and flew drone helicoptors. Observing all the activity were Flag Officers o e . . , . da Ch- Countries who rode the Sixth Fleet flagship, USS LITTLE ROCK- C Y axed with a pass in review for all participating units. Two columns headedi - ' ' ortan by the carriers, cruisers, and destroyers, continuing through Var1Ol1S SUPPb h amPhibious ships, and ending with two Sixth Fleet submarines, paSSCd Yt e flagship, rendering full honors to the assembled dignitariCS- f th United States and NATO

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CELEBRATIQN AT SEA.. , 75 , .yy GEARING sailors man the rail as Sixth Fleet LITTLE ROCK. ,1iT-TY Sixth Fleet ships spell out the goal of the U. S. Navy for the future in the Mediterranean a:..1.,a12'1,.,l ,- ,x 1 A 1 .4u.:' WA intein: 13 i l 2 5 E ll 1 M

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Academy First Class Midshipmen included: David M. Lumsdenf, Annapolis, Mary land, Edwin A. Platt Woodbury, New Jersey, George W. Mather, Wilmette, Illinois, Robert L. Ledbetter, IH, Norfolk, Virginia, David B. Maher, Jr., Camarillo,.California, Stephen T. Linder, Bradfordwoods, Pennsylvania, David W. Parsons, Cary, North Carolina, and jerry D. Kolman, Morrowville, Kansas. During the course of the cruise two groups of midshipmen came aboard for six weeks of active duty for training. The operating schedule and liberty ports visited made it possi-- ble to show them a good representative sampling of de- stroyer life. Eight First Class Midshipmen from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland embarked while the ship was in port at Valletta, Malta, and remained with us through various operations and the ports of Port Mahon, Menorca, and Casablanca, Morocco. In addition to their regular training at watchstanding, navigation, and de- stroyer characteristics, they were on hand for the Fleet Anniversary Parade Exercise, and participated in cere- monies in Menorca and honoring visiting dignitaries in Casablanca. In Menorca, the twentieth-century midshipmen learned of those of a hundred years and more ago, who trained there instead of at Annapolis. , , Hardly had the first group left the ship in Naples, Italy when a second group arrived. These included seven Naval ROTC midshipmen from schools throughout the United States, and two Danish midshipmen from that country's equivalent of Annapolis. Through six weeks ofrather strenuous fleet exercises, intefrupted only briefly by a port call Bandol, France, these nine also went through the paces of a modern Naval Officer, standing watches on the bridge, in CIC, and below decks in the engineering spaces. Both groups learned quickly, and soon found themselves taking on many of the responsibilities that will be theirs in one more year upon their commissioning. And we learn- ed, also, in the process of teaching and showing them what had become almost second nature to us. lt was good to See it anew as though for the first time. TRAINING AT SEA . . Academy midshipman Ledbetter takes his turn 21S Junior Officer of the Deck on the bridge.