Wainwright (CG 28) - Naval Cruise Book

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'llgere we are again, still out in our back yard, the Adriatic Sea, doing circles and wondering what' s going on! But that special day has come! Yes! That's right! February!!! HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! Now, if we were home with our fam- ily' s, wives, girlfriends, you would have certainly received a big kiss, but we didn't let that ebb our spirits. The postal clerks were busy mailing out boxes and cards from us to our loved ones filled with warm and loving thoughts for they were not forgotten. Standing watches our minds drift home to you! At home our loved ones' were busy with thoughts of us as well. Boxes and cards told us of their love. Every few days mail arrived keeping postal clerks busy. You should have been here! Mail call was sounded across the IMC and it was a foot race to the post office. Spirits rose higher than a kite as the cards, let- ters, and boxes opened. Like Christmas morning land some were late Christmas packagesl, everyone ran to see their Valentine's gift. Activity suddenly ceased, mail being read, thoughts drift' ing home. Each man counting the days until he arrived back in Charleston. Another note of importance was the change of command. CAPT Fahey was replaced as Commanding Officer by CDR Curtis. The ceremony took place in Trieste, Italy. Numerous dignitaries came. We dressed in our blues. You would have been proud! We were 38 days from home! 'rf' l 1 l 1 ,ul Q1 eff 521 111 .lil lgi N . ll E 2 1 2? 4 W P Y 1 F0UOwfng U16 Change of Command, CAPT Fahey and CDR Curtis cur the cakffif' rated in traditional Valentines Day colors. FEBRUARY 1993 A SUN Mom TUE WED THU FRI SATA 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 15 14 15 16 17 18 19 25 A 21 22 23 24 25 26 2? A 28

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Jmhe New Year found the WAIN- ' WRIGHT still in-port in scenic Naples, Italy, a familiar port to many of the icrew. Shortly after the festivities died zdown, we were underway again, this tie lin the Central MED, making our transit to Monte Carlo, Monaco. On the way ol hcl lellwe conducted an In-House Combat Sys- Iltems Assessment to see for ourselves efwhat the status of our training, equip- mment, and programs was. This was a 'elllship-wide effort, and every department fuicontributed to the uniformly excellent mf results. I Anchoring out in Monte Carlo meant lm lots of extra work for the Bosun's Mates .and the A-Gang crew, as small boats ran 'to shore and back day and night. We :found Monte Carlo to be one of the most ibeautiful land expensivell cities we vis- Iited. But, we were soon underway again, :this time transiting to Barcelona, Spain. Our port visit in Barcelona was cut fshort after only one day. As tensions in ilraq rose suddenly, we were called back :to perform our Adriatic mission, freeing aup other ships in the battle group to pre- :pare to launch missiles at Baghdad. This :required a full-scale effort, as Engineers :rushed to light fires in the recently -secured boilers. Combat systems gear wwas put on line, and the Operations Department prepared for a hasty Sea- eand-Anchor detail. The Supply Depart- ement put in extra hours serving addi- :tional food to the tired crew. Shore 5Patrol rounded up those out on the abeach. The word that we were getting :zunderway came in the early evening, and fthe ship left the pier minutes after mid- might. No one but WAINWRIGHT feicould have done this much this fast. fiffhankfully, the political situation aicalmed down, and the second half of ,gglanuary proceeded more calmly, in the iwattern of Adriatic steaming we had Qrown used to. ENS O'Neil has fun as boat officer during underway replenishment detail. JANUARY 1993 SUN MON TUE WED THU SAT 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 13 14 16 17 18 19 20 21 23 24 25 26 27 28 30 31

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we bid a joyous farewell to the Adriat- ic Sea, our home since October, and turned our eyes to the West as March came upon us. Hours passed as days and days as weeks. Daily activities took on an aurora of restlessness. Our noses to the grindstone, everyone felt itchy anticipating our relief on station by USS BELKNAP and, more importantly, our turnover with USS R.K. TURNER. To our surprise an unplanned two day port call in Malaga, Spain gave a fiesta mood to the crew as we stormed ashore for food, fun, and phones! Final shop- ping sprees shrunk pockets as we pre- pared for the final transit home. On a beautiful spring day we sailed from Malaga into the open sea giving rise to excitement in everyone's heart. New SWO and ESW personnel took charge of the transit through the Gibraltar Straights and into the Atlantic. It sym- bolized the conclusion of a demanding and successful deploy- ment. The news of our upcoming decommissioning, Charleston's base closure, RADM Lair's deployment awards presentations and the Centennial Birthday of the Navy Chief Petty Cfficers, mixed jovial emotions with nostalgia and tingled all with questions of the future. Everyone felt a little kinder at the end of Wainwright's final long cruise. Mostly, we were pleased to be heading home. ,-ffl' r,,.. CWQ3 Broadnax enjoys Casino Night on the Mess Decks. MARCH 1993 SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT 2 3 4 5 6 9 10 11 12 13 16 17 18 19 20 23 24 25 26 27 30 31 Transfer of pallets during Underway Replenishment in the MED.