Middle Eastern and Indian Ocean Service 1950-1966
Between 4 January 1950 and early 1966, Duxbury Bay served 15 tours of duty in the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, and the Indian Ocean as flagship for Commander, United States Middle East Force. On average, she made one cruise per year, based in Bahrain, spending the intervening periods in upkeep at her home port of Norfolk and undergoing refresher training at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. During most of this period the Middle East flagship duty rotated between Duxbury Bay and two other Barnegat-class ships, USS Greenwich Bay (AVP-41) and USS Valcour (AVP-55), all eventually painted white and specially fitted for the purpose.
Duxbury Bay's Middle East service was highlighted by a number of important diplomatic missions. During her 1951 tour, her crew members served on security patrol and as messengers for the Southeast Asia Treaty Conference at Ceylon at which Commander, Middle East Force, represented the United States Department of Defense. She was visited by Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia in February 1953 and transported him to French Somaliland. Homeward bound during her 1954-1955 tour, she sailed by way of Mombasa, Kenya; Durban, Union of South Africa; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for good-will visits.
Duxbury Bay departed Norfolk on 3 October 1956 and was headed for her regular assignment when the 1956 Suez Crisis broke out. With the Suez Canal blocked, she was stationed on patrol in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern end of Crete assisting in the operation of the Souda Bay airfield for aircraft of the United Nations Emergency Force. She also carried underwater demolition teams to Saros Bay, Turkey, for survey operations in February 1957 before returning to Norfolk on 11 March 1957.
During her next cruise, in January 1958, Duxbury Bay joined in flood relief at Ceylon.
Duxbury Bay paid a special call to Karachi, Pakistan, in December 1959 on the occasion of the visit of President Dwight D. Eisenhower to India and Pakistan.
During May 1963 Duxbury Bay participated in Project Mercury as a recovery ship for the final Mercury space mission, the Mercury-Atlas 9 mission flown by Leroy Gordon Cooper, Jr..
Read more about this topic: USS Duxbury Bay (AVP-38)
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