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U.S.S. JOHN WILLIS
(DE-1027)Click to view crew list
USS JOHN WILLIS (DE-1027) - a Dealey-class destroyer escort
In Commission 1957 to 1972DE-1027 Deployments - Major Events
Add a DE-1027 Shellback Initiation | Add a DE-1027 Deployment - Major Event | ||||
Month | Year | to | Month | Year | Deployment / Event |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
JUL | 1955 | - | Keel Date: 5 JUL 1955 at New York Shipbuilding Company | ||
FEB | 1956 | - | Launch Date: 4 FEB 1956 | ||
FEB | 1957 | - | Commissioned: 21 FEB 1957 | ||
JUN | 1958 | - | JUN | 1958 | Mediterranean |
NOV | 1958 | - | MAR | 1959 | Install test evaluate and report new Variable Depth Sonar |
JAN | 1959 | - | JUN | 1962 | Guantanamo Bay |
JAN | 1962 | - | MAR | 1962 | North Atlantic to op with German P-Boat To show. |
OCT | 1962 | - | JAN | 1964 | Cuban Missle Blockade |
AUG | 1964 | - | DEC | 1964 | UNITAS |
AUG | 1965 | - | DEC | 1965 | UNITAS |
NOV | 1966 | - | Shellback Initiation - 1 NOV 1966 - Atlantic Ocean | ||
NOV | 1966 | - | Shellback Initiation - 1 NOV 1966 - Pacific Ocean | ||
APR | 1967 | - | SEP | 1967 | North Atlantic-Med-Indian Ocean |
JAN | 1968 | - | JUL | 1970 | West Pac |
JUL | 1970 | - | DEC | 1970 | UNITAS |
JUL | 1970 | - | DEC | 1970 | UNITAS |
AUG | 1970 | - | Shellback Initiation - 17 AUG 1970 - Atlantic Ocean | ||
AUG | 1970 | - | Shellback Initiation - 17 AUG 1970 - Atlantic Ocean | ||
JUL | 1971 | - | AUG | 1971 | South America |
DE-1027 General Specifications
Class: Dealey-class destroyer escort
Named for: John Harlan Willis
Complement: 170 Officers and Enlisted
Displacement: 1877 tons
Length: 314 feet 6 inches
Beam: 36 feet 9 inches
Flank Speed: 27 knots
Range: 6 000 Nautical Miles
Final Disposition:Sold for scrap
USS JOHN WILLIS (DE-1027)
John Willis (DE-1027) was launched by the New York Shipbuilding Co. of
Camden, N.J., 4 February 1956; sponsored by Mrs. Winfrey M. Duke, widow of John Willis; and commissioned at
Philadelphia Naval Yard 21 February 1957, Lt. Comdr. H. O. Anson, Jr., in
command.
John Willis reported to Newport, R.I., 7 April for duty with the Atlantic Fleet.
Following 2 months of shakedown
along the Atlantic coast and in the Caribbean, she departed Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, 7 June for a 5-week cruise to Northern Europe that carried her to
Dutch, German, and Danish ports on the
North and Baltic Seas. Upon her
return to Newport 14 July, she commenced 10 months of ASW exercises along the
Atlantic coast in preparation for
deployment with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean.
She
steamed from Newport 12 May 1958 for the Mediterranean; and following her arrival at Gibraltar 21
May, she
sailed with units of the 6th Fleet to participate in joint NATO antisubmarine exercises in the
Eastern Mediterranean. The pro-Western
government of Iraq fell to Arab
nationalists 14 July, and on the 15th President Chamoun of Lebanon requested U.S. aid to thwart the possible
overthrow of his government. In response President Eisenhower dispatched the 6th Fleet to Lebanon and ordered Marines to
land at Beirut to protect "Lebanon's territorial integrity and independence." John Willis joined the Lebanon Patrol 18 July and for the next 2
months remained on intermittent
patrol. As the Middle East crisis
eased in September, John Willis departed the Eastern
Mediterranean 14 September and sailed for the United States, putting into Newport 7 October.
On
29 November she entered the New York Shipyard to receive an experimental model of the Variable Depth
Sonar (VDS)
and thus became the first of the destroyer escorts to employ this latest development in ASW equipment. Resuming her operations 4 February 1959, she spent the remainder of 1959 and the early part of
1960 testing and evaluating the new
equipment and conducting ASW exercises along the Atlantic coast from
Newfoundland to Key West. Following a
demonstration of the VDS for the Second Inter-American Naval Conference at Key
West in late May, John Willis joined the Atlantic Fleet for 4 months of American and NATO Operations
"Sea Spray" and "Sword
Thrust," in the North Atlantic. She retired to Plymouth, England, 2
October but on the 10th rejoined the NATO
forces for Exercise "Pipe Down."
John Willis returned to Newport 20 October and resumed coastal operations. On 8 May 1961 she sailed
to Guantanamo
Bay for patrol duty along the Windward Passage of the Caribbean. Following the assassination of Dominican Dictator Trujillo 27 May, she conducted
patrols along the coast of the
Dominican Republic. She departed the
Caribbean 25 June and sailed via Key West for homeport. She returned to
the Caribbean 2 December after participating
in the recovery of the Project Mercury MA-5
spacecraft, which on 29 November twice orbited the earth with a
chimpanzee, Enos, on board.
In
response to a request for aid by President Balaguer, who feared that supporters
of slain Dictator Trujillo would topple the democratic government in the Dominican Republic, President Kennedy ordered units of
the Atlantic Fleet into the area to
illustrate America's support for the established
government. John Willis sailed to the Dominican Republic 2 December and commenced 7 days of
patrol duty after which she returned
to Newport to prepare for another cruise to Northern Europe.
She sailed for
Portsmouth, England, 8 January 1962 and reached
the English coast 19 January. While sailing the North Sea on the 23d enroute to Horton, Norway, she assisted units of the British Navy during search
and rescue operations for stricken
Norwegian ship, Eystein. John Willis put into Horton 24 January and for
3 weeks sailed to several Norwegian
ports while officers and engineers of the Norwegian Navy studied the
construction details and operational
characteristics of this Dealey class DE, which had been selected as the prototype for five new Norwegian warships. Upon completion of her
Norwegian cruise, she sailed 15
February for the United States and arrived
Newport 3 March.
John Willis resumed ASW and convoy escort exercises out of Newport and during August received
additional ASW equipment. Following 4 months of extensive overhaul, she steamed to the Caribbean 1 March 1963
for an operational readiness inspection. After returning to Newport 8
April, she commenced operations 15 April with a NATO force of 30 ships, engaged in ASW Exercise, "New Broom Eleven," in the North Atlantic. After
her return to Newport 25 April, she
began G months of intermittent training
in preparation for an Atlantic Fleet amphibious Exercise, "Phibaswex," scheduled for December. During this training period she conducted convoy escort
and ASW maneuvers from Narragansett
Bay to Guantanamo Bay; she attended
the ASW Tactical School at Norfolk; and she served as a training ship at the Fleet Sonar School at Key West. While engaging in maneuvers designed
to detect and destroy nuclear submarines, John Willis provided search and rescue assistance 23 September
for a MATS plane, which was lost in
the North Atlantic on a flight from
Dover, Del., to the Azores.
John Willis steamed from Newport 2 December with Escort Squadron 10 and joined Task Force 180 for amphibious exercise at
Vieques in the West Indies. During this exercise she conducted barrier patrols and practiced the latest ASW
techniques against nuclear and conventional submarines. On the 17th she was released from the completed exercise and she returned
to Newport.
For
the next 3 years John Willis continued to operate along the Atlantic Coast
and in the Caribbean while taking part in squadron exercises and serving as school
ship at Key West. During the
latter half of 1964 and 1965 she participated
in UNITAS V and UNITAS VI and made two cruises
along the coasts of South America as part of the U.S. sponsored "People-to-People" Program. Between January and
June 1966 she underwent extensive overhaul at Boston where she received HASH capabilities and communications alterations: thence she resumed
refresher and readiness training out
of Newport. Assigned to Escort Squadron 8, she deployed to European
water 29 May 1967. After arriving off the
Norwegian coast early in June, she operated along the coast of Western
Europe during the next month before sailing
to join the ever ready and powerful
ships of the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean.
[Note: The above USS JOHN WILLIS (DE-1027) history may, or may not, contain text provided by crew members of the USS JOHN WILLIS (DE-1027), or by other non-crew members, and text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]