USS MULLINNIX DD-944

1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis
(Page 3 of 3)


Mullinnix 12 Nov 1962
L to R: ARV Zulia D-21, USS Mullinnix DD-944, ARA Rosales D-22 (ex-Stembel DD-644),
ARA Espora D-21 (ex-Dortch DD-670), ARV Nueva Esparta D-11

Pictured above are the warships of the U.S., Argentine, and Venezuelan Navies leave Trinidad on the combined Latin American-United States Quarantine Task Force, 12 Nov, 1962.



1962 Mullinnix Deck Logs

January 1962 (PDF)
February 1962 (PDF)
March 1962 (PDF)
April 1962 (PDF)
May 1962 (PDF)
June 1962 (PDF)
July 1962 (PDF)
August 1962 (PDF)
September 1962 (PDF)
October 1962 (PDF)
November 1962 (PDF)
December 1962 (PDF)



When The Russians Blinked (pdf)
Courtesy of Major John M. Young, United States Marine Corps Reserve

Latins Help, Too
Navy League Magazine
January 1963


Another Task Force entered the scene a short time later. While small in size, its political weight was considerable, for this one was the Combined Quarantine Force containing units of South American navies.

On October 23rd, Rear Admiral J. A. Tyree, Commander South Atlantic Forces, was headed up the west coast of South America aboard the destroyer USS MULLINNIX. Since August, the MULLINNIX had been engaged in ASW exercise UNITAS with South American destroyers.

A message arrived ordering Admiral Tyree to fly to Trinidad to establish Task Force 137. MULLINNIX steamed at flank speed to the nearest airport (Lima) then began its long run up the coast and through the canal.

Another run was underway at the same time. The Argentine ROSALES and ESPORA raced 4,500 miles at flank speed to catch up.

“These boys came to fight,” said the MULLINNIX skipper, Comdr. W. H. Shaw. “They were real disappointed when we didn’t move in.”

On the arrival of the ZULIA and the NEUVA ESPARTA from Venezuela, the force was deployed to the Lesser Antilles, which guard the eastern approaches to the Caribbean.



UNTIAS OPERATIONS
Procedures
January 1985

Regional naval co-operation has most clearly manifested itself in recent years in the success of the UNTIAS operations, a series of annual, multi-national training exercises conducted by the navies of South America in conjunction with a small United States Task Force.

In the last summer and fall of 1962 the third operation in the series took three United States ships around South America, starting in Trinidad and proceeding south to the Straits of Magellan and north again along the Pacific coast.

The force included the USS MULLINNIX (DD 944), DD, which served as flagship, the USS LESTER (DE 1022) and the submarine PICUDA (SS 382), which joined forces with South American submarines in testing the ASW readiness of the combined task force. In addition, the United States contributed three aircraft to the operation, two P2V-7 “Neptune” patrol planes from squadron VP-18 and an R4Y support plane.

The exercises on the Atlantic side involved the navies of Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. In the Pacific Chile and Peru took part. Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela had also been scheduled to participate, but the advent of the Cuban crisis forced cancellation of the last phases of the operation.

Other Exercises

Designed primarily to stimulate ASW proficiency, the exercise had given rise to a number of smaller, regional ones, such as the pre-UNITAS joint maneuvers of the Colombian and Venezuelan navies and others by the Argentine and Uruguayan navies. An active program of midshipman exchanges has also evolved during the last few years. Virtually every type of ship is represented in the American navies, from the aircraft carrier to the river gunboat, and there are even a few four-masted schooners used to train future officers.



Extract from an unknown article:

As President Kennedy spoke on the evening of October 22, Admiral Tyree directed a force of Chilian, Peruvian, and U.S. ships from his flagship the USS Mullinnix (DD 944). They were conducting antisubmarine warfare (ASW) exercises off the northern coast of Chile as part of UNITAS III. On being ordered by CinCLant to establish the combined Latin American-U.S. Quarantine Task Force (TF) 137, Admiral Tyree departed the UNITAS operations on October 24. He flew to his headquarters at the naval base in Chaguaramas, Trinidad. The Mullinnix also proceeded to Trinidad via the Panama Canal.

Offers of assistance soon began arriving from Latin America led by the new military government of Argentina. That country’s navy pledged its single aircraft carrier, ARA Independencia, ex-HMS Warrior, two ex-U.S. destroyers ARA Rosales (ex ) and ARA Espora (ex) ………………
(missing info here) ……….
on board their ships during the quarantine operations. I was aboard the ARV Zulia and Lieutenant Orville R. Whaley to ARV Nueva Esparta.

Admiral Tyree activated Task Force 137 for operations on 7 November when he promulgated ComSoLant/CTF 137 Operation order 9-62. The order stated that the force would “conduct naval quarantine operations in the Lesser Antilles passes into the Caribbean Sea in order to intercept designated shipping and prevent the importation of prohibited material into Cuba.” The operation order further stated that the force would “patrol assigned quarantine stations, maintain surveillance, report sightings of surfaces ships, submarines, and when directed, conduct interception, visit and search, seizure, and diversion of designated shipping.

ARV Zulia and ARV Nueva Esparta patrolled stations that covered the passage between Venezuelan mainland and the island of Granada. ARA Rosales patrolled the passage between the island of Dominica and Guadeloupe. The ARA Espora had to cover two stations, one in the Guadeloupe Passange and the other off of Montserrat Island. The Mullinnix patrolled the northernmost station covering the heavily traveled Anegada Passage between the island of Anegeda and Anguilla.

In the nine days the ships of TF 137 patrolled their stations, they reported 153 ship contacts; the Zulia 40, Nueva Esparta 31, Espora 21, Rosales 6 and the Mullinnix 55. Operations ceased on 20 November when President Kennedy ended the quarantine. But ComSoLant did not officiall dissolve TF 137 until 24 December when the…………………..



Another unknown extract from an article:

On November 12, 1962, a combined naval force of the Organization of American States (OAS) set forth on an operational operation in defense of the Western Hemisphere. When combined Task Foce 137 sortied from the U.S. naval base at Chaguaramas, Trinidad, that morning, it represented 11 warships volunteered by six OAS nations in support of the naval quarantine of Cuba. In addition eight other OAS members offered the use of port facilities and/or airfields.

Task Force 137 evolution and operations have heretofore escaped notice. White House historians of the era obscured data concerning the OAS force along with a great deal of information concerning the astute diplomatic and military preparations made by the Kennedy administration for the Cuban Missile Crisis.



Excerpt from "The Last Gun Ship - History of USS Mullinnix DD-944"
A Historical Novel By Frank A. Wood

27 November: Aboard Mullinnix: LT Remoll convenes the special court martial of shipmate Sines. At 1200, USS Stormes DD-780 arrives and is moored outboard of Mullinnix. At 1842, USS Borie DD-704 arrives and is moored outboard of Stormes.

28 November: At 1645, the following personnel report aboard Mullinnix from COMSOLANT:

* RMCM Baucom
* QMCS Grissom
* RM1 McCall
* RM1 Hawbecker
* YN1 Williams
* RM2 Sullivan
* YN3 Symons
* SD3 Pasag
* Seaman Driver

0810 29 November: USS Stormes gets underway from San Juan. At 1345, USS Soley DD-707 is moored alongside Borie.

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29 November: The ExComm meets with President Kennedy. Kennedy directs the State Department to prepare a long-range plan to "keep the pressure on Castro."

1630 29 November; Kennedy and Rusk meet with Anastas Mikoyan who presses for a clarification and confirmation of a US guarantee not to invade Cuba. Kennedy reassures Mikoyan, but backs away from the idea of issuing further formal guarantees.

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30 November: Mullinnix takes on 24000 gallons NSFO.

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1100 3 December: John McCloy meets with Soviet negotiators. Earlier, in one of the final sessions between the US and Soviet negotiators, Vasily Kuznetsov told McCoy, "all right, Mr. McCloy, we will get the IL-28's out as we have taken the missiles out. But I want to tell you something, Mr. McCloy. The Soviet Union is not going to find itself in a position like this ever again."

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4 December: Mullinnix sat outboard of USS Borie DD-704 and US Soley DD-707, when she departed San Juan for exercises at sea while in route to Trinidad, W. I., arriving on 4 December.

GO TO Liberty Call Trinidad 1962

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1730 4 December: ExComm discuss future policy toward Cuba with President Kennedy. They agree to continue aerial reconnaissance to verify the removal of the IL-28s and to insure offensive weapons are not reintroduced into Cuba. If another U-2 is shot down, ExComm decides that the US should respond by attacking one or more SAM sites. (John McCone writes to McGeorge Bundy the following morning to recommend that "diplomatic measures be taken" to assure that the US does not find itself in the position of having to attack Soviet-controlled bases in Cuba.

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5 December: Mullinnix is starboard side to Pier 2, US Naval Station, Trinidad, West Indies. Alongside port is HMS Ulster. At 0800 RADM Tyree Jr., COMSOLANT struck his flag from Mullinnix. Crew manned the starboard rail for observance of the COMSOLANT departure ceremonies on the pier.

6 December: The ship got underway for Norfolk, Virginia.

8 December: Mullinnix is steaming independently on base course 333, speed 21 knots in accordance with CINCLANTFLT Deployment Schedule in route to Norfolk from US Naval Station, Trinidad.

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10 December: Khrushchev sends a nine-page letter to Kennedy indicating that the US and the Soviet Union have come to the final stage of the Cuban affair. (On 12 December, in a major 2 ½-hour speech to the Supreme Soviet Council - his first major address since the Cuban crisis - Khrushchev asserts that a US "pledge" not to invade Cuba exists. He warns, however, that if the United States carries out an invasion, Cuba would not be left "defenseless." Later, at a press conference, Kennedy tells reporters that, in the best judgment of the United States, all strategic missiles and IL-28 bombers have been removed from Cuba.)

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10 December: Mullinnix arrives Norfolk, Virginia. The ship's attempt to anchor to Anchorage D North was aborted after 2 hours due to the weather. She tied up outboard of USS Norfolk DL-1, Pier 20, D&S Piers. Mullinnix remained in Norfolk for the holidays and a well deserved rest.

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Though curtailed by the Cuban missile crisis, Unitas III yielded rich dividends, both as a training exercise in antisubmarine warfare and as a goodwill cruise. Like its predecessors, it enabled the participating crews to develop an appreciation of each other's professional competence. "We have worked together, and observed each other closely," Admiral Tyree commented after a series of exercise, "and we've developed a deep respect for each other's professional abilities."

Unitas III thus served the tree-fold purpose of strengthening the ASW capabilities of the Eastern Hemisphere navies, furthering inter-American good-will, and, perhaps most importantly, developing a strong feeling of mutual respect among the hemisphere navies.

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The Virginian-Pilot

Excel as Envoys - Officer Tells Of Latin Tour

18 December, 1962

By "Cmdr. Harvey Shaw"
USS Mullinnix DD-944 CO

18 December 1962 - NORFOLK - "We didn’t buy them. We earned them with sweat, work and the ability of the American blue-jacket as an ambassador." That's the way Cmdr. Harvey Shaw summed up four months of work with Latin American navies and visits to South American ports.

Shaw, skipper of the destroyer Mullinnix, told a MACE (Military and Civilian Employees) Club luncheon in the Lafayette Yacht Club Monday how his 300-man crew won the affection of Latin Americans during the Hemisphere operation called "Unitas III."

ANTI-SUB TECHNIQUES


Like Unitas cruises in 1958 and 1961, the objective was to work out antisubmarine warfare techniques with Latin American navies, using three U.S. ships and a squadron of patrol planes. The real work at hemisphere understanding was done in port, however. The weapons were music and sports.

In one Brazilian city, the Mullinnix sailors were challenged to a basketball game. The Brazilians fielded their Olympic team. The score was 112 – 12. "We might have lost on the score, but we won otherwise," Shaw said, when some 10,000 spectators swamped the Mullinnix team and carried it from the stadium on their shoulders.

In Chili, the ships "rifle" team, using military issue guns, placed third. It competed against the No. 1 rifle team in the country.

In Uruguay, a young Mullinnix sailor, with only high school track experience, placed third in a tough race and made the front page of the local newspaper. In another town, 15,000 Chileans wept while the U.S. band played their national anthem. "In our country," the commander said, "we are ashamed to wave the flag, but in their country we waved our flag and it was a wonderful thing."

TOUR OF SLUMS

On a number of occasions, Mullinnix sailors were put to the test by Communist sympathizers. A Recife, Brazil Communist newsman asked Shaw to send a sailor on a tour of the slums. The sailor, a first-class petty officer, was then interviewed. Apparently he gave the right answers because the ship got a fair write-up. Shaw said.

In Santiago, the capital of Chili, another Communist sympathizer asked the leader of the Mullinnix band, a chief musician, if the band would play for a Mississippi Negro audience if asked. "I'm a musician, not a politician. What would you like to hear?" the chief replied.



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To be continued...



Mullinnix in Newspaper, 18 Dec, 1962 (PDF)
Courtesy of Ken Robarge


Dependents return to Gitmo - Dec 1962


Cuban Cigar Box (Purchased in Victoric, BC in 2005)



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