Aucilla (AO 56) - Naval Cruise Book

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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

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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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' Sharkamijsman umulua Kara-hiaar n ISKENDERUN. It wasn ' t much, but it was home! To the Turks, that is. But to the crew of the Mighty A , Iskenderun, Turkey, meant another port in the Eastern Med. . .not much in the way of liberty, but another job to do. It was in places like this, when the job was to offload or lift fuel, that we saw the real significance of our mission. We only spent two days in Iskenderun and many considered that too long, if not just long enough. For some, though, there were tours. Many humorous memories were brought back to the States concerning the tours to Antioch. When it was first announced. . . A TOUR FOR FIFTY CENTS, including LUNCH ... the tickets sold like hot cakes. (Why, Howard was kept so busy that he hardly had time to get his pictures developed that day). The second day ' s tour tickets didn ' t go so fast, probably because those who stayed behind did not hear the glowing accounts of their shipmate ' s experiences. There was the fifty mile bus ride. . .the guide who couldn ' t speak English . . .the warm beer. . .and for Klusak, at least, a brush with adventure in the form of a crawling reptile. . .but then again, who else but Big Klu could have found the tour so lively? However, we did get to see the oldest Church in the world and for the shutter bugs among us (and who wasn ' t?) it was a real treat. On the work side, it seems we went to special sea and anchor detail more times in the harbor at Iskenderun than we ever did in sunny Spain. Our products were so valuable to the Turks that they wouldn ' t let us go. Between the Socony Company and the Turkish Navy, we really kept hopping. However, in two days w e had worked hard enough and long enough to get underway. . .and were we glad I After all, the next port was none other than SUDA BAY. 30 29 24 22 26 32 34 24 i 29 ' ' - . ' 4,J ' Ofc«( ' -«i939)P. ! 30 33 27 28 25 •Guruahli Ka Fleet Landing 39