Providing Services For BUSHIPS
After her shift to the Norfolk, Virginia, area, Dominant reported to Commander, Operational Test and Evaluation Force, to provide towing, recovery and other services for Bureau of Ships projects. These duties were again interspersed with deployments, including the West Indies (23 January - 4 May 1961, 30 October 1961 - 17 January 1962, 17 June - 25 September 1964, 4 October - 16 December 1965), the Mediterranean. Cuban Missel Crisis - 22–26 October 1962, While attached to MINDIV 43 the Dominant, along with Dash, Direct and Detector were assigned to the Caribbean to Patrol the Windward Passage in search and boarding of Russian Ships - 12 February 1963; 7 February - 16 July 1965) as well as amphibious and other fleet operations off South Carolina. The minesweeper also provided contingency services for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) off Bermuda in April 1963.
Dominant continued the same pattern of activities through the end of the decade, with one more Mediterranean deployment (3 November 1966 - 14 May 1967), an exercise with Colombian and Venezuelan naval forces (9 May - 10 June 1968), an additional NATO exercise off Halifax, Nova Scotia (Exercise Silver Tower 9–27 September 1968) and an extensive modernization period at the Old Dominion Shipyard at Norfolk starting in early 1969.
Following her refit, Dominant was homeported in Charleston SC along with her entire squadron (the other "D" ships) From there, they departed for another European cruise. Port hopping via Halifax Nova Scotia and St.Johns Newfoundland for topping off, she and her squadron sailed unescorted to Campbelltown Scotland. She carried insufficient fuel in her tanks for the crossing so a 2,500 gallon fuel bladder was installed on her fantail. The squadron made it with fuel to spare. This was reported to have made US Naval history; an MSO crossing the Atlantic unescorted. The cruise continued to Denmark where the squadron was engaged in Operation Love Song, a NATO exercise and then on to Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, Spain and into the Mediterranean. They continued in the Med for several months with a maintenance stop in Naples. The squadron recrossed the Atlantic, sailing from the Straits of Gibraltar to Charleston in company with a destroyer tender which had completed her assignment in Naples. Dominant and the "D" squadron arrived in Charleston in early spring of 1971 and was rumored to be taken out of service soon.
Read more about this topic: USS Dominant (AM-431)
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