USS The Sullivans (DD-537) - 6th Fleet Deployment

6th Fleet Deployment

The destroyer operated out of her home port well into the summer of 1953, before deploying to the Mediterranean for a tour of duty with the 6th Fleet. She remained on this duty through the end of the year and returned to Newport on 3 February 1954 for operations off the east coast and into the Caribbean through May 1955. She again deployed to European and Mediterranean waters from May to August of that year before returning to Newport late in the summer.

In the years that followed, The Sullivans continued alternating east coast operations with Mediterranean deployments. The summer of 1958 saw a communist threat to the security of Lebanon, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered American ships to land troops there to protect Americans and to help stabilize the tense situation. The Sullivans supported the landings of marines at Beirut. After their presence had dispelled the crisis, she returned to the United States for a three-month navy yard overhaul and subsequent refresher training in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Back at Newport in March 1959, The Sullivans joined a hunter/killer group formed around Lake Champlain. Then, after making a midshipman training cruise in which she conducted antisubmarine warfare operations, the destroyer sailed for another Mediterranean deployment which lasted until she returned home in the autumn.

Operations out of Newport occupied The Sullivans until the spring of 1960 when she headed south for ASROC evaluations off Key West, Fla. During this deployment to southern climes, the warship helped to rescue five survivors from a crashed Air Force KC-97 Stratotanker that had crashed off Cape Canaveral.

Following NATO exercises in September, The Sullivans visited Lisbon, Portugal, prior to a quick trip through the Mediterranean, Suez Canal, and Red Sea, to Karachi, West Pakistan. In late October and into November, she participated in Operation "Midlink III," joint operations with Pakistani, Iranian, and British warships. After returning to the Mediterranean, The Sullivans conducted exercises with the French Navy and with the 6th Fleet and reached home in time for Christmas.

In January 1961, The Sullivans assisted in the sea trials of the submarine Abraham Lincoln off Portsmouth, N.H., before steaming south and taking part in Operation Springboard. While in the Caribbean, she visited Martinique. Briefly back at Newport early in March, The Sullivans soon returned to the West Indies to support marine landing exercises at Vieques, Puerto Rico.

In April, the ship began intensive training in the waters off Florida to prepare to cover a Project Mercury spaceshot. The Sullivans joined Lake Champlain at Mayport, Fla., and took station. On 5 May 1961, Comdr. Alan Shepard's space capsule passed overhead and splashed down near Lake Champlain and was speedily rescued by helicopters from the carrier. The Sullivans then made a midshipmen cruise in June, visiting New York and Halifax, Nova Scotia.

From September 1961 to February 1962, The Sullivans underwent a major overhaul in the Boston Naval Shipyard. She proceeded to Guantanamo Bay soon thereafter to train for duty as a school ship. She subsequently served as a model destroyer in which officer students could see and learn the fundamentals of destroyer operation. In May and again in August, The Sullivans made training cruises to the Caribbean for the Destroyer School.

In October 1962, after Soviet missiles were discovered in Cuba, The Sullivans joined American naval forces blockading the island during negotiations with the Soviet Union over the issue. When the Soviet Government withdrew the strategic weapons, the destroyer returned to Newport.

On 7 January 1963, The Sullivans got underway from Newport bound for the Caribbean and another training cruise. Following her return to Newport, she conducted local operations for the Destroyer School. The tragic loss of nuclear submarine USS Thresher off Boston on 10 April 1963 caused the destroyer to support emergency investigations of the disaster.

For the remainder of 1963 and into the first few months of 1964, The Sullivans continued to train officer students. On 1 April 1964, the destroyer was transferred to the naval reserve training force, and her homeport was changed to New York City. Departing Newport on 13 April, the warship proceeded to New York and took on her selected reserve crew. Her cruises with the reserves embarked were devoted mostly to ASW exercises and took the ship to Canadian ports such as Halifax, Nova Scotia; St. John, New Brunswick; and Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, in the north to Palm Beach, Fla., in the south.

After the collision of the Australian aircraft carrier Melbourne and destroyer Voyager, which resulted in the sinking of Voyager on 10 February 1964, the United States offered The Sullivans to Australia along with sister ship Twining as a temporary replacement. The Royal Australian Navy instead accepted the British Royal Navy's offer of the Daring-class destroyer Duchess, which was of the same class as Voyager.