Smalley (DD 565) - Naval Cruise Book

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254 Mm.. .gawiviihv Q 1167 With nearly 4,500 miles of steaming ahead of her before reaching the next liberty port the Smalley backed away from the pier at Ras- at-Tanura and headed down the Persian Gulf. Brief fueling stops were scheduled for Aden and Port Said. In the course of the next 1:3 days the Smalleyis twin eleven-and-a-half foot screws would push the ship through seven gulfs and seas and the worldis longest canal. WVe retraced our track down the Persian Gulf and into the Gulf of Oman, skirted the tip of Arabia and steamed into the Indian Ocean. For two days the Division cruised along the slatternly, barren, brown coast of southern Arabia. There was not a green thing in sight. Our stop in Aden brought a few hours respite in our underway routine, but still the scenery remained the same. One cursory glance from the main deck and we felt no pangs of disappointment at the thought that within six hours, Aden would be but a mem- ory. The Colony for the most part consisted of several rickety baked mud buildings lean- Hflihffiiwv Port Said ing at drunken angles and scattered over the side of a mountain. With the exception of a few white faced Government buildings, the British Protectorate of Aden gave the impres- sion that it was trying to burrow itself into the blackish brown rock of the dead volcano upon which it existed. As Aden faded away into indistinct un- eveness in the horizon, the Division formed into a column and with a straight shot at the X S X X S Aden 41 The desert sentinel

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KH5-llf' Czzmzru On the day before our arrival in ,llas-at- Tanura the division split np. with the Daly and Bronson heading for Balirein lsland while the Smalley and Coflen continued north to Ras-at-Tanura. The port of Ras-at-Tamira sits on the edge of the great Arabian Desert nearly two thirds the way up the Persian Gulf. It is an out of the way corner of the world and one into which the average tourist is not likely to venture. Here on the fringe of the great barren plain is the gigantic refinery of the Arabian Amer- ican Oil Company fAramcoD. Despite the paucity of recreational facili- ties, the people of Aramco rolled out the wel- come mat in their efforts to make our two day stay as enjoyable as possible. Tours of the refinery were scheduled and parties were arranged for the men of the little ships that had carried the American flag to this far corner of the World. As the Snmlirif nose-d alongside the dock there was one question uppermost' in the minds ol, all hainds when they gazed out at the vast emptiness that was Arabia: VVhy Ras-at- 'l'aiiiii'a?i' lt certainly wasnlt for purposes of liberty and recreation that the Navy had ordered ns liere. lt vs as for something far more important. ll was the carrying out of a policy that is as old as navies themselves, that of showing the flag from the deck of a man-of- war. lt was to let the countries of the middle east know that they had not been forgotten. lt was to let the world know that the United States Navy conld steam up the Persian Gulf in force at any time if this vital area of the world were ever to be threatened by forces of aggression unfriendly to the United States. Destroyer Division 302 was performing duty just as important as any it had performed in Korea when the twenty 5-inch guns of the Division made their appearance in the Persian Gulf. DPSFRI' IIASI X g J.

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We ' . , 4 A ' ,ff ik E N km I xxx f vj i J Q 'V . , in fp is .i he . p pp 'L l iillg it , t -fra-VW .K f-,fx A - Suez Canal, turned into the Red Sea. The large amount of shipping We encountered dur- ing the ensuing days gave testimony to the volume of traffic that flowed down the desert ditch. Ten days after leaving the oil fields of Ras- at-Tanura We dropped the Khooki' in the harbor of Port Suez and awaited our turn to enter the Canal. Unlike the Panama Canal, the Suez can handle traffic only in one direction at a time. Eighty miles long and only forty yards Wide, this Wet blue pencil line on the brown paper of the desert connects the Mediterran- ean With the Red Sea, subsequently with the Near and Far East. Our passage was to be made at night and it Was with unusual curiosity that we noted the jury rig of lights that Was required by the Canal Authorities. As we started through and the cold Wind began whipping down from across the desert, foul Weather jackets and pea coats made their appearance about the ship for the first time since before the cruise began. Very little could be seen of the surrounding country but We Were assured by those who had been through before that nothing in the Way of scenic Wonders was being missed. -4 1 ff-,I Both sides of the Canal are empty desert and stretch for the lull length of this engineering wonder from Port Suez to Port Said. The eerie glow cast by the huge nionstrosity of a light strapped across our bow gave a gl1oStliU6SS to the nearby desert dune. lt gave the feeling of being in another world-a world of lonely eniptincss. At speeds ranging between seven and ten knots and with several prolonged periods Of waiting for the Canal to be cleared of other shipping. it took thirteen hours to arrive 111 Port Said. Once again the iircrooin pGl'S011l19l were broken out to tucl ship. By late after- noon we were ready to get underway. AS the sun was strangling itsell: in its own red llille to the west, we took one last look at another of the cities that we never really saw eXC6Pt liroin the niain deck. Port Said was a large city. the largest we had seen since Colon1lJ0- It bespoke a certain opulent-e and activity that was vouclicd for by the large and apparently lucrative ainount ol' incrcliant shippillg ml' chored in the harbor. A day ashore ill fhls exotic lilyivlitian tlitx' would have been ll1t6l f'SlllliI,. but alas, it was not to be, so we pushed on out into the choppy Xlcditerrancan and tl1'3 oncoming darkness. 42 A 3