and then conducted two weeks of type training before moving south to Key West for a month of Sonar School services. A highlight of that deployment to Florida coastal waters came in September, when she rescued seven Cuban nationals who had originally been bound back to Cuba to bring out relatives. Their two boats had developed engine trouble and were in danger of capsizing in heavy seas. William R. Rush returned to Newport shortly before Thanksgiving of 1965 and spent the remainder of the year in home waters before getting underway on 14 February 1966 for the Mediterranean. Highlighting the ship's 10th Mediterranean deployment were the usual good will stops at ports in Italy, Rhodes, Sicily, and Turkey; ASW exercises with American and Spanish Navy units, including Exercise "Spanex 1-66"; and 6th Fleet antiaircraft and ASW maneuvers. Relieved on 21 June at Gibraltar, the destroyer returned to the East Coast of the United States. William R. Rush spent the remainder of 1966 on operations off the eastern seaboard, ranging from Newport to the Virginia Capes, pursuing a well-rounded slate of exercises including, among others, such areas as gunfire support and ASW. Early in 1967, the ship enhanced her capabilities as an ASW destroyer by receiving two Drone Antisubmarine Helicopters (DASH) and becoming fully qualified in DASH operations. William R. Rush departed Newport on 1 March 1967 and crossed the Atlantic in company with . The destroyer subsequently called at Gibraltar, Sardinia, and Athens before transiting the Suez Canal on 1 April. She relieved the following day at Port Suez. William R. Rush then set course for Bahrain. En route, the destroyer was fueled from the French oiler Aritrea at Massawa, Ethiopia, on 6 April. Arriving at Bahrain on 13 April, William R. Rush joined , the flagship of Rear Admiral E. R. Eastwold, Commander, Middle East Forces (Mid-EastFor). In the ensuing weeks, the destroyer—on her first MidEastFor deployment—visited Masirah Island, where the British Royal Air Force maintained a small logistics airfield; Karachi, Pakistan; and Massawa for a fuel stop. William R. Rush returned to Port Suez on 21 May and was relieved there by . The next day, William R. Rush transited the Suez Canal on her way back to the Mediterranean. At that time, tension was great in the Suez since the President of the United Arab Republic, Gamal Abdel Nasser, had demanded on 17 May that the United