Overnight Cruise

As the steel war was coming to an end, President Kennedy embarked on an overnight cruise with the Atlantic Fleet. Just before he boarded the heavy cruiser Northampton in Norfolk, Kennedy got word that U.S. Steel had buckled and cut back prices. "I think." he said, "the others will all follow now. They can't afford not to." On that note of triumph, he went out to sea.

The next morning, in a 16-knot breeze, he stood bareheaded and coatless on the foredeck of Northampton and watched 48 ships pass in review. A 21-gun salute pounded out as the nine-mile double line of ships, led by the mighty nuclear-powered carrier Enterprise and the smaller Forrestal, churned through the frothy waters of the Gulf Stream off North Carolina's Outer Banks.

View from the Bridge. For the Navy it was a rare opportunity to flex muscles in a full-dress exercise for its Commander in Chief and an audience that included Vice President Johnson, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, 29 top-ranking members of Congress, and the diplomatic representatives of 44 nations. After the naval parade, the President helicoptered to Enterprise to watch the Atlantic Fleet in battle exercises.

From the tenth-deck bridge of the world's largest ship, he looked on as depth charges were exploded just 700 ft. away, shaking the great ship as if it were a dog just out of a bath. Afterward. Kennedy accepted a windbreaker and moved with McNamara to the gusty starboard side of the ship to watch an aerial display. Two Terrier missiles homed in on a drone plane, but missed--although naval officers explained that they would have been close enough to the target if they had been armed with real warheads.

All of the Navy's prize aircraft were on display: Phantom interceptors. Vigilante and Skyhawk attack bombers and Crusader fighters screamed overhead, booming in salute as they cracked the sonic barrier, hurling bombs neatly and precisely between the twin wakes of Enterprise and Forrestal.

On the Beach. After the aerial show, the President lunched aboard the big carrier, then took to his whirlybird once more, landing on Onslow Beach, below the Outer Banks, where he was joined by the Shah of Iran. Through the afternoon, the VIPs observed a well-rehearsed attack on the beach by five battalions of helicopters and seaborne marines, equipped with napalm bombs, heavy artillery, and Ontos (the latest armored antitank vehicles). After the beach had been captured in a deafening final act, the President exclaimed: "Isn't that terrific!" Later, as he boarded his Washington-bound jet, the erstwhile PT-boat commander had some heartfelt parting words: "As we leave this base today, we are prouder than ever that we are citizens of the United States and supporters of these men who serve us so well."

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