USS Van Voorhis (DE-1028) - 1960s

1960s

Upon her return, the warship operated along the east coast until February 1959 when she joined the other ships of her squadron in a three-month cruise to South America. She re-entered Newport late in April and resumed local operations once more. She continued that employment through June 1960. The following month, she departed the United States for duty in the eastern Atlantic. During that six-week cruise, Van Voorhis joined other Navy ships and units of Allied navies in a NATO exercise. She also visited Greenwich, England, and Greenock, Scotland, before returning to Newport where, after upkeep, she resumed anti-submarine warfare operations. She remained so occupied through the remainder of 1960. Over the following two years, the destroyer escort continued the routine of summer operations out of Newport and winter training in the West Indies. In the autumn of 1962, when the United States subjected Cuba to a quarantine in order to keep offensive missiles from the strategically situated island, Van Voorhis moved to Mayport, Florida, to support the blockade-type operation. After spending the last week of the quarantine in Mayport, she returned north without having actually participated in the operation.

In December, the warship began preparations for another overseas deployment. On 15 February 1963, she cleared port for a three-month goodwill cruise to Africa—"Solant Amity IV." During the first half of the cruise, she moved south, along the western coast of Africa, and called at Monrovia, Liberia; Lagos, Nigeria; Pointe Noiro, Congo; and Cape Town, South Africa. After rounding the Cape of Good Hope, she moved north, up the eastern coast of Africa, and visited Lourenco Marques, Mozambique; Diego Suarez, Malagasy Republic; and Mombasa, Kenya. She continued north to Aden, transited the Red Sea and the Suez Canal and entered the Mediterranean on 1 May. During the first two weeks of May, Van Voorhis crossed the Mediterranean making liberty calls at Athens, Naples, and Barcelona along the way. She rounded out the voyage with one-day stops at Gibraltar and the Azores, and re-entered Newport on 24 May.

Following upkeep, she conducted ASW exercises in July and made a midshipman cruise to Bermuda. Additional ASW training off the Florida coast ensued before the ship returned to Newport in October. For the remainder of 1963 and throughout 1964, the destroyer escort operated along the eastern seaboard. On 8 August 1964, she was reassigned to Escort Squadron 8 (CortRon 8) as the squadron flagship. She continued ASW training exercises through 1964 and during the first part of January 1965.

During the latter part of the month, the ship entered the Boston Naval Shipyard for a six-week availability during which she received control equipment associated with the Drone Antisubmarine Helicopter (DASH) system. The installation was completed early in March, and Van Voorhis departed Boston on the 9th to participate in the annual "Springboard" exercises conducted in the Caribbean. Upon completion of that assignment, Van Voorhis returned north to receive her DASH helicopters. She arrived in Norfolk on 29 March and began three weeks of tests and qualifications with the DASH system. The first destroyer escort to receive DASH, Van Voorhis completed her qualification trials in April and returned to her home port on 21 April.

The ship continued to work out of Newport through the following four and one-half years, primarily conducting operations in the western Atlantic. She sharpened her anti-submarine warfare skills constantly as she participated in numerous exercises along the entire North American coastline and in the Caribbean.

In August 1966, Van Voorhis rendezvoused with the destroyer escort Hammerberg (DE-1015), guided missile frigate Leahy (DLG-16), and submarine Requin (SS-481) off Trinidad to participate in Operation "Unitas VII" through November. In 1966 and 1967, she made cruises around South America in which she visited a number of South American ports and participated in bilateral and multi-lateral exercises with warships of various South American countries. During the first five months of 1969, her sphere of operations was centered around Florida and the West Indies. In June, she returned to Newport for a short time before resuming operations in the Caribbean in July. Through the fall and winter of 1969, she alternated between Newport and the Fleet Sonar School at Key West, Florida.