Service, 1951-1970
From her return to Norfolk 9 June 1951, English resumed local training operations, and in the winter of 1952 joined in cold-weather exercises off Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. On 26 August 1952 she departed for NATO operations in which she visited British ports, sailing on to a tour of duty in the Mediterranean from which she returned to Norfolk 5 February 1953. In the fall of 1954 she visited Lisbon, Portugal. On 31 October, while at sea for a major fleet exercise, she was in collision with Wallace L. Lind, but though English lost 50 feet of her bow, she suffered no casualties. Skillful seamanship brought her into port under her own power, and she was repaired in time to join in large-scale exercises in the Caribbean early in 1955.
From May to August 1955, English made a good will cruise to ports of northern Europe, and between 28 July 1956 and 4 December served again in the Mediterranean, visiting Bahrein in the Persian Gulf. With the eruption of the Suez Crisis, she aided in evacuating American citizens from the troubled area, and patrolled the eastern Mediterranean to serve with the 6th Fleet. Returning to Norfolk in April she spent the remainder of 1959 and all of 1960 in conducting an intensive program of antisubmarine warfare exercises.
English sailed for the Med and the 6th Fleet in September 1961 returning to Norfolk nine months later. William Mahan was the Captain; J.B. Allen the Executive Officer. First port of call was Suda Bay, Crete, followed, not necessarily in order, by Naples, Livorno, and LaSpezia, Italy; Barcelona, Spain; and Toulon, France.
In October 1962, English sailed and served duty during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Primarily acting as "Plane Guard" for aircraft carriers USS Independence (CVA-62) and USS Enterprise (CVAN-65), she operated for over 30 days at sea without replenishment.
Read more about this topic: USS English (DD-696), Service History