At Sea During "Long Step"

3 November 1952

"You see we are on that operation "Long Step" at the present time. It is going to last about 10 days....I wrote for some more house pictures the other day. I hated to do it...they cost me two dollars....I asked for some Ranch Types and then I asked for a good book on gardening and landscaping....We will have the neatest lawn and house in the whole town. Oh yes, we will have some of the prettiest children too, won't we."

USS FDR during Operation Longstep 1952

 Exercise Longstep was a ten-day NATO naval exercise held in the Mediterranean Sea during November 1952 under the overall command of Admiral Robert B. Carney, USN, the Commander-in-Chief Allied Forces Southern Europe (CINCAFSOUTH). This exercise involved over 170 warships and 700 aircraft, and it featured a large-scale amphibious assault along the western coast of Turkey.
During Exercise Longstep combined training in the coordination of radio and wire communications between ships, aircraft, and ground forces of the six-state, five-language combined force took place. With Exercise Grand Slam, this exercise served as the prototype for future NATO maritime exercises in the Mediterranean Sea during the Cold War.