This television documentary film made by Richard Hance of WGN Chicago shows the USS Daniel A. Joy conducting a Naval Reserve patrol mission, visiting Guantanamo Bay, Cuba over Christmas in the 1960s (probably 1962 or 63). The history of this important naval base is presented, along with a summary of recent tensions with the Cuban government and Fidel Castro.
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also known as Naval Station Guantanamo Bay or NSGB, (also called GTMO because of the airfield designation code or Gitmo because of the common pronunciation of this code by the U.S. military) is located on 45 square miles (120 km2) of land and water at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, which the United States leased for use as a coaling and naval station in 1903 (for $2,000 per year until 1934, for $4,085 per year since 1938 until now). The base is on the shore of Guantánamo Bay at the southeastern end of Cuba. It is the oldest overseas U.S. Naval Base] Since the Cuban Revolution of 1959, the Cuban government has consistently protested against the U.S. presence on Cuban soil and called it illegal under international law, alleging that the military base was imposed on Cuba by force. At the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2013, Cuba’s Foreign Minister demanded the U.S. return the base and the “usurped territory”, which the Cuban government considers to be occupied since the U.S. invasion of Cuba during the Spanish–American War in 1898.
Since 2002, the naval base has contained a military prison, the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, for unlawful combatants captured in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other places during the War on Terror. Cases of torture of prisoners, and their alleged denial of protection under the Geneva Conventions, have been condemned internationally.
USS Daniel A. Joy (DE-585) was a Rudderow-class destroyer escort in service with the United States Navy from 1944 to 1965. She was scrapped the following year.
Daniel A. Joy was built by Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard, in Hingham, Massachusetts It was launched on 15 January 1944, sponsored by Mrs. D. A. Joy (widow of Petty Officer Joy), and commissioned on 28 April 1944. Lieutenant F. E. Lawton, USNR, as commanding officer.
Following a voyage on convoy escort duty to Bizerte, Tunisia between 2 August and 19 September 1944, Daniel A. Joy sailed from Boston 1 October and arrived at Humboldt Bay 20 November. Next day she got underway to screen reinforcements for the landings on Leyte. She remained on escort and patrol duty in the Philippines, convoying ships from New Guinea and Manus, and covering the landings at Lingayen Gulf, Mangarin Bay, and Mindoro. From 23 April to 10 August 1945 she was in the Manila Bay area engaged in local escort and antisubmarine patrol duty. From 10 August to 21 September she made two voyages to Okinawa, returning to conduct mine disposal patrols in the waters off Mindoro and standing by during the minesweeping operations in Liange Bay.
Daniel A. Joy sailed from Samar 1 December 1945 for the west coast, arriving at San Pedro, California 22 December. On 12 August 1946 she was assigned to the 12th Naval District for duty as a Naval Reserve training vessel, and she sailed the next day for San Francisco, California. She remained on this duty until decommissioned 7 February 1949. Recommissioned 11 December of that year, she sailed from Mare Island Naval Shipyard 4 March 1950 for New Orleans, Louisiana where her screws were removed and her mast stepped down. Pontoons were secured to her sides and she was towed up the Mississippi, Illinois, and Chicago Rivers to Lake Michigan where her screws and mast were replaced. On 5 May 1950 she was placed in commission, in reserve to serve as the flagship for six patrol vessels of the 9th Naval District engaged in the training of naval reservists on the Great Lakes.
Daniel A. Joy was decommissioned on 1 May 1965 and sold for scrap to the North American Smelting Corporation in Wilmington, Delaware on 1 March 1966.
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