Aucilla (AO 56) - Naval Cruise Book

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(veri) 2f i 20 ; ' 7 Pe 20 • Augusta ' s Unknown Soldier J AUGUSTA. They say that all the roads lead to Rome... well, that ' s been slightly modified since the Aucilla went over to the Med. Now they ' re saying. . .All the roads lead to AUGUSTA BAY. We won ' t elaborate on how many times we ' ve been to this little Sicilian seaport, but we will say that we ' ve seen so much of it that the navigator doesn ' t use a chart to get us there. Primarily, the Aucilla has gone to Augusta to lift JP-5 from the Rasione Refinery. However, it seems that the petroleum people always want to give away this precious fluid whenever we are on our way to Barcelona. Oh well, one can get awfully tired of Spain(??) In addition to our fuel lifts there, we have also visited Augusta with the rest of the Sixth Fleet and have pulled liberty there with the best of the big boys. . .RANDOLPH, SALEM, CORAL SEA, POCONO, etc, etc. No, there weren ' t any tours of Augusta although some of us managed to make it up to Mt. Etna. By and large, the crew took their liberty time in Augusta to consume some of that fine Messina Beer, which everyone knows is what made the Straits famous. For some of us tliere was shopping to be done in Augusta with the in- evitable bargaining and wrangeling over prices. Of course, this was mostly for those brown baggers and you know, this is a brown bagger ' s Navy (Belter, QMl). If you really want to talk to an ex- pert on Augusta Bay, J. D. Lemerlin, TE2, is your man. He has traveled the road from Augusta to the Airport and back ' looking for our mail ' so often that he is a qualified expert on the Sicilian countryside. Yes, we ' ll never forget Augusta, but if we do, it ' s a cinch we ' ll return there on our next Med Cruise. Fl R3seca p iO 20 9, 37

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TOULON. Toulon has had a varied and colored history among the naval ports of the Mediterran- ean. It is the oldest naval base in France and, at one time, the principal Mediterranean naval base. We were reminded of the total devastation Toulon suffered during World War II by the half-submerged hulks of French ships scuttled during the war and never raised. On 27 November 1942. three battle- ships (DUNKIRK, STRASBOURG and PROVENCE), seven cruisers, 25 destroyers, ten submarines and various auxiliary craft, totalling more than sixty ships, were scuttled in this harbor to keep them from falling into German hands. Post war recon- struction has raised the port of Toulon to a percentage of its once great eminence, but the scars of war have badly healed. In the city of Toulon we encountered more French sailors than civilians. The town itself was interesting and old and the populace showed little of the vivacity common to the Riviera area. Many of us traveled to Marseille in search of the ex- citement which Toulon did not offer, and in most cases we found it. For those young men who fol- lowed the advice of Horace Greeley and went west Marseille offered the night-lifeing, free spending mecca most enjoy. Others of us took a few days leave and traveled to Paris on one of the local tours. The less adventurous (including those who were broke) were content to amble into town for one of the famous French submarine sandwiches (which would make even Dagwood sick) and stop by at the corner bar to discuss just how the bar- maid got into that tight fitting skirt. So, with our bottles of SHAI.IMAR perfume stowed carefully in our lockers we left Toulon, smelling no the more sweeter, but thankful that Toulon left none of the malodorousness in our nos- trils that we have exp . ' rienced before. % %J 53 -%o 67 sm; .;138. 136 ' 164 224 391 451 41 6Q 62 SSA 43 38 333 5: 62 ---V.e« 52 , ■ 6 WW 374 19 „ . . - GlENS 13 ' :3i 21 Hade U 1 1 l . !2 ■ C- ' 3L;-23{ :- 3, , ' 188 . ' 508 First Liberty Party 36

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ai.- Akra Lardhoe s K6lpott Apolakhidg ■WSteJCj.-;, ' - -. to -I Big Wheels RHODES. In the year 224B.C., the mighty Colossus of Rhodes came tumbling down, never to be for- gotten by the people of this ancient isle. In the year 1956, the mighty AUCILLA visited the Grecian city and added another landmark to the history of Rhodes. Rhodes, the tiny island in the Aegean Sea, was to our crew a tourista paradise. Tours galore were held from Rhodes. . .foremost of which was the one to LINDOS, the ancient city of ruins. It turned out to be a shutter-bug ' s paradise for everyone from the Captain on down. Then again, there were the ball games in the form of beer parties (or is it beer parties in the form of ball games?) that were held by the Supply Division. In reality, we hit Rhodes twice. Once for a ren- dezvous with the fleet where the only man who got ashore was our mailman, which was good enough for us, considering he brought back some of that infrequent, but most valuable, cargo. But, the sec- ond trip was well worth it. Everyone got into the liberty act. In addition to being a place in which to see some of the most famous ruins in the world, Rhodes was noted to the AO-56 for its beaches and beer. (What was the name of that Greek stuff? It was pretty good.) The island itself we found breathtakingly beauti- ful as did the hundreds of tourists who were also enjoying the balmy climate of Rhodes with us. It was fun to rent a bicycle and pedal around the city, taking in such sights as the ancient windmills which lined the water, and the beautiful gardens which were everywhere. It seemed good to sink our teeth into American- style hot dogs and ham- burg at the USO, and few of us passed up this chance. When we weighed anchor at Rhodes, we left behind one of our most enjoyable liberty ports and we hoped we would return soon. 38