USS Little Rock Chronology 1974

1974 - 1979 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1974
01 - 14 Jan	•	Remain in Gaeta, Italy
Mar ???	•	FTG2 Dean Zaharis chosen as U.S.S. Little Rock "Sailor of the Year" for 1974.
15 - 16 Jan	•	Underway for Gibraltar
16 - 19 Jan	•	At Gibraltar
20 - 24 Jan	•	Lisbon, Portugal
25 - 28 Jan	• •	At Rota, Spain 27 Jan - the Sixth Fleet Music Show performed at the station theater at 7 p.m.
28 Jan	•	Depart U.S. Naval Station, Rota, Spain (with some dependents aboard) for goodwill visit to Tangier, Morocco.
28 Jan - 01 Feb	•	Tangier, Morocco
01 - 05 Feb	•	Malaga, Spain
06 - 07 Feb	•	At sea
8 - 12 Feb	•	Gaeta, Italy
13 - 27 Feb	•	At sea.
28 Feb - 02 Mar	•	Palma, Majorca, Spain
03 Mar	•	At sea.
04 - 07 Mar	•	Porto Scudo, Sardinia, Italy
08 - 10 Mar	•	At sea
11 - ?? Mar	•	Gaeta, Italy
20 - 23 Apr	•	At sea.
24 - 28 Apr	•	Rhodes, Greece
28 Apr - 01 May	•	Mykanos, Greece
02 - 10 May	•	At sea.
11 - 19 May	•	Gaeta, Italy
20 - 22 May	•	At sea.
23 - 27 May	•	Split, Yugoslavia (Fleet picnic)
28 May - 01 Jun	•	Corfu, Greece
02 - 10 Jun	•	At sea.
11 - 25 Jun	•	Gaeta, Italy
26 Jun	•	At sea.
27 Jun	•	Arrive Villefranche, France
28 - 30 Jun	•	Villefranche, France
01 Jul	• •	Depart Villefranche, France for one day dependent's cruise Arrive Toulon, France
01 - 04 Jul	• •	At Toulon, France Little Rock celebrates the 4th of July with a 21 gun salute.
05 Jul	•	Depart Toulon and arrive Gaeta same day.
06 - 20 Jul	• •	At Gaeta, Italy Little Rock crew celebrates "belated 4th of July" with a two-day beach party.
20 Jul	• • •	Turkey invades Cyprus. 0800 Little Rock receives General Recall 1000 Little Rock gets underway.
21 - 27 Jul	• •	Little Rock operating with Sixth Fleet involved in special operations at sea off Crete and Cyprus. Preparations for evacuation of personnel from Cyprus if necessary.
27 Jul	•	Underway for Alexandria, Egypt.
29 Jul - 03 Aug	•	In port at Alexandria, Egypt
03 Aug - ???	•	Underway. Little Rock operating with Sixth Fleet.
15 Aug	•	Eligibility commencement date for Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.
19 Aug	•	Rodger P. Davies, U.S. Ambassador to Cyprus, is assassinated by a sniper.
24 Aug - 01 Sep	•	Gaeta, Italy
21 Sep	•	Arrive at Palma, Majorca, Spain
22 - 24 Sep	•	At Palma, Majorca, Spain
25 Sep	• •	Depart Palma Arrive Barcelona, Spain
26 - ?? Sep	•	Barcelona, Spain
01 - 04 Oct	•	Cannes, France
?? Oct	•	Monaco
13 Oct	•	U.S.S. Little Rock celebrates U.S. Navy's 199th birthday. Cake was cut by Senior Officer present VADM Turner and Senior Enlisted present MMCM Frank.
11 - 15 Nov	•	Tangier, Morocco
16 - 19 Nov	•	Toulon, France
?? Dec	•	Christmas raffle for two mountain bikes.
End of Dec	•	Gaeta, Italy
1975
01 - 16 Jan	•	Gaeta, Italy
16 Jan	•	Depart Gaeta on Dependent's Cruise
16 -19 Jan	•	Palermo, Sicily, Italy (port stop on Dependent's Cruise)
19 - 24 Jan	•	Tunis, Tunisia (port stop on Dependent's Cruise)
25 - 27 Jan	•	Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy (port stop on Dependent's Cruise)
03 Feb	•	Livorno, Italy (port stop on Dependent's Cruise)
?? Mar	•	CDR Kent R. Siegel relieves CDR Roger O. Simon as XO
02 Mar	•	Gaeta, Italy
17 - 18 Mar	•	At sea. Underway for Marseilles, France
19 Mar	•	Arrive Marseilles
20 - 24 Mar	•	Marseilles, France
21 Apr	•	Refueled from USS Neosho AO-143
23 Apr	•	Gunnery exercises at Salto di Quirra range, Sardinia. (Picture)
17 May	•	Capt. William R. Martin relieves Capt. Peter K. Cullins
?? May - 31 May	•	At Gaeta, Italy
01 Jun	• •	Depart Gaeta Underway replenishment and refueling.
02 - 04 Jun	• •	Proceeding south via Straits of Messina to Mediterranean Sea. Course and speed set to arrive Port Said the morning of 05 Jun.
05 - 06 Jun	•	U.S.S. Little Rock with Commander 6th fleet participated in reopening of Suez Canal. (Only U.S. vessel.) (2nd in line in transit from Port Said to Ismalia and return.)
07 - 09 Jun	•	Alexandria, Egypt
10 - 12 Jun	•	Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia
30 Jun	•	Ship’s designation changed from CLG 4 to CG 4.
02 - 07 Jul	•	Cannes, France
08 - 11 Jul	•	Genoa, Italy
24 - 27 Jul	•	Tunis, Tunisia
???	•	Casablanca, Morocco
30 Aug	• •	At NATO fuel pier, Gaeta, Italy In the evening USS Little Rock hosted Miss America with a fantail party. Seven lucky crewmen escort Miss Cothran and her party for the evening.
??? Sep	•	Rota, Spain (off-load weapons prior shipyard availability)
??? Sep - ??? Oct	•	Naples, Italy (Commercial shipyard dry-docking for rudder repairs and other work)
13 Oct	•	U.S.S. Little Rock celebrates 200th birthday of the U.S. Navy while in Naples Italy.
??? Oct	•	Rota, Spain (re-load weapons)
17 - 20 Nov	•	Izmir, Turkey
Date uncertain	•	First U.S. military fiber optic telephone link is installed on the Little Rock. (See Note 3.)
End of year	•	Gaeta, Italy
1976
01 - 15 Jan	•	At Gaeta, Italy as Flagship COMSIXTHFLT. Embarked at this time; VADM Frederick C. Turner, USN COMSIXTHFLT and Capt J.T. Parker Chief of Staff.
16 Jan	•	Depart Gaeta. Underway for Casablanca, Morocco
17 - 20 Jan	•	At sea Western Mediterranean.
20 - 23 Jan	•	Casablanca, Morocco
23 - 27 Jan	•	Underway from Casablanca to Villefranche, France
27 - 30 Jan	•	Villefranche, France
30 - 31 Jan	•	At sea.
31 Jan - 01 Feb	•	At Gaeta, Italy
02 Feb	•	Underway from Gaeta to Naples, Italy
02 - 21 Feb	• •	Naples, Italy (Tender availability period). Tender availability provided by USS Piedmont AD-17.
21 Feb - 01 Mar	•	Little Rock at Gaeta, Italy
01 - 03 Mar	•	Underway. Conducting operations enroute to Piraeus (Athens), Greece in Eastern Mediterranean.
03 - 06 Mar	•	Piraeus (Athens), Greece. First visit to Greece since 1974 Cyprus Crisis.
06 - 10 Mar	•	Steaming with USS Saratoga and other 6th Fleet Units. (Picture)
10 - 15 Mar	•	Little Rock participates in "National Week XX" held in the Tyrrhenian Sea. Twenty-six ships and over 17,000 men took participated in the exercise, a part of the U.S. Sixth Fleet's readiness training.
16 Mar - 03 Apr	•	At Gaeta, Italy
03 - 05 Apr	•	At sea conducting operations enroute to Toulon, France.
05 - 09 Apr	•	At Toulon, France
09 Apr	•	Depart Toulon conducting operations enroute to Gaeta, Italy.
10 Apr	•	Arrive Gaeta, Italy for 16 day upkeep period.
11 - 25 Apr	•	At Gaeta for upkeep period.
26 Apr	•	Depart Gaeta to participate in Italian Air Defense "Dixie Jargon/X-Tell" Exercises.
27 Apr	•	Arrive Gaeta, Italy.
28 - 29 Apr	•	At Gaeta
30 Apr -01 May	• •	In transit enroute "Dawn Patrol 1976". Little Rock experiences engineering casualty (a ruptured lube oil cooler on #1 main engine) while in the Tyrrhenian Sea. (Letters of Commendation awarded to three crewmen for repairs made.)
02 - 07 May	•	Little Rock at Naples, Italy for repairs
07 May	•	Underway for NATO exercise "Dawn Patrol" at Capo Teulada, Sardinia.
13 May	•	Return to Gaeta, Italy.
14 May - 04 Jun	• •	At Gaeta Personnel Inspection held on Fleet Landing. on 26 May.
05 Jun	•	Depart Gaeta for Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia. Twelve dependent boys aboard for cruise.
06 - 07 Jun	•	Enroute Dubrovnik.
08 - 12 Jun	•	Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia
?? Jun	•	Little Rock receives Commander Sixth Fleet "Shipshape and Sharp in 76" award, for the best maintained ship in Sixth Fleet during Bicentennial Year.
13 Jun	• •	Depart on family/guest cruise from Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia for Bari, Italy. More than 120 family and guests embarked.
13 - 16 Jun	•	At Bari, Italy.
17 Jun	• •	Little Rock conducts operation "Fluid Drive" in Eastern Mediterranean. USS Little Rock is ordered to Lebanon to assist in evacuating US citizens from Beruit, Lebanon during Lebanese Civil War.
20 Jun	•	With USS Little Rock and other 6th Fleet units off shore, U.S.S. Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) evacuates 279 persons from Lebanon, and transports them to Athens, Greece. (See Little Rock website data.)
25 - 26 Jun	•	Catania, Sicily, Italy.
27 Jun	•	Arrive Gaeta, Italy.
28 - 29 Jun	•	At Gaeta.
30 Jun	•	Depart Gaeta for Cannes, France.
01 Jul	•	Arrive in Cannes for celebrations honoring the Bicentennial of America's Independence.
02 Jul	•	"Dancing Under the Stars" attended by 68 young ladies.
03 Jul	•	Little Rock's 45 man marching unit participates in a function at Bar-Sur-Loupe. Later that day they participate along with the Little Rock Marine Corps marching unit in a parade in Grasse, France.
04 Jul	•	Celebrated America's bicentennial in Cannes, France with the USS Little Rock's Navy and Marine Corps marching units as well as 6th Fleet, USS Saratoga, and French units participating in a one and one-half hour long Grand Parade through downtown Nice. Miss Mireille Mathieu, the noted French singer performed a series of numbers on the Little Rock. She was presented a Little Rock plaque by XO Kent R. Siegel. Later a Bicentennial Dinner was held at the Palm Beach Casino in Cannes, followed by a midnight fireworks show.
06 Jul	•	Depart Cannes for Gaeta.
07 Jul	•	Arrive Gaeta.
08 - 12 Jul	•	At Gaeta.
13 - 14 Jul	•	Underway for "Missilex" missile firing exercise near Crete.
15 - 16 Jul	•	Little Rock fires two Talos missiles. One Talos firing was evaluated a success and one a failure.
17 - 18 Jul	•	Conducting exercises while underway in Eastern Mediterranean bound for Gaeta, Italy.
19 - 20 Jul	•	At Gaeta.
21 Jul	•	Depart Gaeta to assist in a second evacuation of personnel from Lebanon.
22 - 29 Jul	• •	Little Rock conducts operation "Fluid Drive" in Eastern Mediterranean enroute Gaeta, Italy. Evacuation of 303 Americans and foreign nationals from Lebanon is completed on 27 Jul. The U.S.S. Coronado LPD-11 evacuates about 300 people, including approximately 150 Americans. Evacuees were also taken to Piraeus Greece. (See Little Rock website data.) During firing exercises Little Rock expends 234 rounds of 5"/38 and 177 rounds of 6"/47 ammo. (These were the last rounds to be fired by Little Rock prior to decommissioning.)
30 Jul	•	Arrive Gaeta, Italy.
31 Jul - 19 Aug	• •	At Gaeta. 05 Aug VADM Harry DePue Train II relieves VADM Frederick C. Turner as COMSIXTHFLT.
20 Aug	• •	Little Rock enroute to Augusta Bay, Sicily. Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) announces that Little Rock is to be decommissioned in the Fall.
21 - 22 Aug	•	Little Rock at Augusta Bay.
23 - 27 Aug	•	At sea conducting operations in Western Mediterranean ("National Week XXI")
28 Aug - 06 Sep	• •	At Gaeta, Italy. While in the Mediterranean the Russian submarine K-22 (Echo II class) collides with USS Voge DE-1047 (Click to see VADM Train's comments.)
07 Sep	• •	In Gaeta, U.S.S. Little Rock is relieved as Flagship ComSixthFlt by U.S.S. Albany CG-10. Approximately 25% of Little Rock crew transfers ("cross-decks") to Albany.
09 Sep	•	Final departure from Gaeta.
10 - 12 Sep	•	Enroute to Lisbon, Portugal
13 - 15 Sep	•	At Lisbon, Portugal
16 - 17 Sep	•	At sea enroute Azores.
18 Sep	• • •	At Ponta Delgada, Sao St. Miguel in Azores for about 8 hours to take on fuel. LTJG Marco Sanguinetti given permission to go ashore for about four hours to visit his wife's family. Depart Ponta Delgada.
19 - 24 Sep	•	At sea enroute Yorktown, VA.
25 - 29 Sep	•	At Naval Weapons Station, Yorktown, VA to offload weapons.
30 Sep	•	Enroute Yorktown to Philadelphia, PA.
01 Oct	•	Arrive Philadelphia NSY for decommissioning.
02 - 19 Oct	• •	At Philadelphia NSY preparing for decommissioning. Ship's Store closes for good on 10 Oct.
20 Oct	•	"Last Skipper" Cdr. Kent R. Siegel relieves Capt. William R. Martin as CO USS Little Rock CG-4.
21 Oct - 22 Nov	• • •	At Philadelphia NSY preparing for decommissioning. On 05 Nov the Ship's Laundry ceased operations. Ship's Barber Shops closed on 18 Nov.
22 Nov	•	USS Little Rock is decommissioned at Philadelphia NSY and is stricken from the Naval Register.
1977
01 Jan	•	USS Little Rock profiled in “All Hands” Magazine
01 Jun	• •	Little Rock is transferred to Buffalo & Erie County Naval & Servicemen's Park in Buffalo, N.Y. (Click HERE to read an article on how the Little Rock came to be in Buffalo, NY.)
15 Jul	•	Little Rock arrives in Buffalo, NY to become a museum.
1978
15 Jul 77 to 30 Jun 79	•	Little Rock is prepared for opening as a museum.
1979
30 Jun	•	Little Rock opened to the public as a museum in Buffalo, NY.
Notes
1.	Date shown for ports generally indicate arrival date.
2.	Port stays are typically 3-5 days.
3.	Various sources refer to the installation of a small fiber optic link telephone system aboard the Little Rock. It would seem from the data we've accumulated that the system (a) may have been installed as early as 1973, (b) that it may have been limited to 6 stations (phones), (c) that it was installed to verify the limited susceptibility to electro-magnetic interference from other equipment, or (d) it provided "secure" communications between the stations. There are also references to a Mr. Don Williams of the Naval Electronics Laboratory Center (NELC) in San Diego as the person heading up this project.

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Rodger P. Davies, U.S. Ambassador to Cyprus, is assassinated by a sniper.