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Searching for info on my Dad.


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So I've been digging around the internet trying to piece together exactly what my dad was doing and where he was doing it.

I found a resource site (hullnumber.com) where other sailors on the ship put their contact information etc, and there, I found a brief synopsis of the tours the ship did while my dad was in service. Now I know from his graduation photo he got out of boot in 1959, but I don't know when he actually boarded the Grand Canyon. I also know from him talking about his time in (which was VERY rare) that he was in the Med. That lines up with the tail end of his service time. What I found interesting is the Cuban Missile Crisis happened while he was in, and the GC was deployed to Cuba as well. But, I don't know when he was on board, and either he wasn't on board yet, or he never spoke about it for whatever reason...

 

Below from hullnumber.com:

Grand Canyon spent most of 1959 with tender duties at Newport except for duty at Charleston, S.C., between 29 August 1959 and 11 January 1960. She cleared Charleston 11 January 1960 to participate in Operation "Springboard," returning to Newport 7 February; thence to Bermuda and New York before returning to Newport. Between October 1960 and August 1961 Grand Canyon tended ships at Newport, Boston, and Norfolk.

After her ninth Mediterranean tour August 1961 to March 1962 Grand Canyon returned to Newport and again took up her duties there until the fall. She proceeded to San Juan, P.R., arriving 3 November 1961 to start tending ships of the South Atlantic Blockading Fleet during the Cuban missile crisis and subsequent quarantine. Grand Canyon again helped demonstrate the mobility and versatility
[spelling corrected by me] of sea power. She returned to Newport 5 December.

Grand Canyon made her tenth deployment to the Mediterranean between 6 February and 27 June 1963.

 

Since I don't know his exact dates in, I don't know which Med tour he was on ('61 or '63). I seem to recall him speaking about Italy; however, I don't see that listed as a destination here, unless operation "Springboard" was at one point docked in Italy. Anyone know what/where operation "springboard" was? Was it normal to be on one ship your entire time in? Maybe he was on another ship/had other duties and then went to the Grand canyon (or vice-versa)?

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