USS MULLINNIX DD-944
Boston Shipyard 1958
1958 Mullinnix Deck Logs (Missing Jan, Feb)
March 1958 (PDF)
April 1958 (PDF)
May 1958 (PDF)
June 1958 (PDF)
July 1958 (PDF)
August 1958 (PDF)
September 1958 (PDF)
October 1958 (PDF)
November 1958 (PDF)
December 1958 (PDF)
Excerpt from “The Last Gun Ship - History of USS Mullinnix DD-944”
A Historical Novel By Frank A. Wood
1 September registered another Mullinnix first. At 1125 the ship received a report from the American Red Cross, Fargo Building, Boston, Massachusetts, that FT3 D.C. Lowe, on authorized liberty was admitted to the Akron General Hospital, Akron, Ohio, as a result of injuries received in an automobile accident. COMFOUR was requested to investigate. Lowe was subsequently cleared of any charges and returned to his ship no worse for wear. On 2 September, SOPA was changed to COMDESRON 30 aboard USS John Paul Jones DD-932, a sister ship of Mullinnix.
Yet another Mullinnix first was experienced at 1800 on 16 September when FN Harrell reported a fire in the aft engine room. Fire party was called away, fire department on base alerted, as well as the base commander per Navy regulations. The 'canvas and rag' fire at the bottom of the ladder was put out by fire party two minutes after the base fire department arrived on the pier. No apparent damage was caused nor the cause.
This fire 'drill' was witnessed by COMCARDIV 18 and the crew of the USS Leyte CVS-32 from a nearby pier. Unbeknownst to these 'witnesses', their battle-hardened ship would be decommissioned the following May. The Leyte, a 27,100-ton Ticonderoga class aircraft carrier was built at Newport News, Virginia and commissioned in April 1946. She operated off Korea from October 1950 into January 1951, providing nearly 4000 aircraft sorties to support UN forces ashore. During this cruise, one of her aviators, LTJG Thomas J. Hudner, Jr., performed an act of heroism for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor.
Five years earlier, on 16 October 1953, while in the same Boston Naval Shipyard undergoing conversion, she suffered an explosion and fire that killed 37 men. She was decommissioned in May 1959, and simultaneously reclassified as an aircraft transport, with the new hull number AVT-10. She would remain in the reserve fleet for another decade and was sold for scrapping in September 1970.
Signaling another first for Mullinnix, the CO returned from 10 days leave, crossing the quarterdeck at 1337 on 26 September.
The dawn broke the horizon on 21 October to find the Mullinnix had stationed the special sea and anchor detail. With the assistance of tugs YTB 542, YTB 382, and civilian tug Athena she was underway for Dry Dock #1. By 0835 the caisson was in place and water was pumped out of the dry dock. By 0905 she was resting on the keel blocks.
A graving (versus a floating dry dock) dry dock is a narrow basin, usually made of earthen beams and concrete, closed by gates or a caisson, in which a vessel may be floated and the water pumped out, leaving the vessel supported on blocks. The keel blocks as well as the bilge block are placed on the floor of the dock in accordance with the "docking plan" of the ship.
Some fine-tuning of the ship's position can be done by scuba divers while there is still some water left to maneuver it about. Each ship has a diagram of the shape of its bottom. It is extremely important that supporting blocks conform to this shape so that the ship is not damaged when its weight is supported by the blocks. Some ASW warships have protruding sonar domes, requiring that the hull of the ship be supported several meters from the bottom of the dry dock.
Once the remainder of the water is pumped out, people can walk around in the dry dock, and the ship can be freely inspected or serviced. When work on the ship is finished, water is allowed to reenter the dry dock and the ship is carefully refloated.
At 0927 on 28 October, with inspections, maintenance, and repairs complete, the dry dock was flooded. Her stern passed over the still at 1051 and she was towed to Pier 8W by YTB 542, YTB 382, and Tug Juno.
On 12 November, Mullinnix made room for the USS Mitscher DL-2 to moor alongside pier 6. The crew didn't mind as they had heard that on 20 September the Mitscher crew had the honor of taking President Eisenhower and his presidential party and guests out for the start of the America's Cup Race off Block Island, Rhode Island. The Mitscher's keel was laid down on 3 October 1949 as DD-927. Because of their large size, however, ships of the Mitscher class were redesignated Destroyer Leaders and, on 15 May 1953, DL-2 was commissioned USS Mitscher. She was on the cutting edge of technology by introducing the 1200lb steam plant to the US Naval service. In 1957 MITSCHER operated the first helicopter from a US destroyer, leading to the development of the DASH drone helicopter system.
The holidays were in the air. The crew started to toy with the idea of liberty during the holidays later in the month and next. Most had not taken liberty since before commissioning. It was time for a break. A time for family and friends. 1800 rounds of 5"/54 caliber charges and projectiles, 2400 rounds of 3"/50 caliber ammunition, 288 7.2" hedgehog rockets and miscellaneous small arms ammunition and pyrotechnics were brought on board from YTB 542 and YFN 645 while anchored in Hingham Bay on 20 November.
The following week saw witness to Mullinnix operating off the coast of Massachusetts, exercising the crew and general quarters, engineering casualty drills, and ASW exercises deploying the use of a sonar triplane buoy. While at general quarters, she performed pre-action calibration firing exercises of the 5"/54 mounts, expending 9 rounds of 5" AAC (anti-aircraft common) projectiles and SPDW (smokeless powder diphenylamine [showing it is a stabilized powder] reworked) powder. She returned to port the following day.
Old man winter blew in on the heels of a cold wind Sunday morning, 30 November. All topside fire main risers were cut off and drained the previous day in preparation for freezing the weather. Sailors can stand almost anything weather related and ignore most of it. Freezing weather falls under the category of "it’s a bitch!" Cold iron, cold sea spray, and cold wind are good for absolutely nothing except driving sailors to the nearest pub.
December in Massachusetts are no picnic if you don't have a warm fire, a good murder mystery, and a find glass of port to curl up with. You can look up "foul weather" in Webster's and you'd no doubt find a picture of Boston Harbor in December. Miniature snow drifts could be found in every nook and cranny on the cold steel of Mullinnix' surfaces. Condensation on her portholes sparkled like diamonds. With her outside surfaces slippery with ice, the heat from a Class ABLE fire in compartment 01-121-P-Q the cold afternoon of 5 December was no match for the frigid air as the fire party put it out as swiftly as it had started.
Destructive Storm Conditions are correlated to potential wind speed of the pending storm. The weather took a turn for the worse as the ship set Destructive Storm Condition II, giving a whole new meaning to 'cold iron watches'. The storm abated early Friday morning, 12 December and the storm condition was cancelled at 0930 with the Mux no worse for wear.
Mullinnix ushered in the holiday season, still moored at pier 3W in Boston naval Shipyard, with little fanfare. Enough of the crew was on board to get the ship underway and to handle any emergencies. The rest, homeward bound to spend a few precious moments with family and friends. Moments that would turn to memories in the years to come. Memories, like little else, are a great physician to a sailor. Thus the first year of Mullinnix service to the nation came to a close. Anticipation still abound aboard the young ship. What would the new year bring? Indeed, what...
To be continued...
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