Aucilla (AO 56) - Naval Cruise Book

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TARANTO. Awright already. So where ' sTaranto? Yeah, that ' s lower Slobbovia aint it? Yeah, them Commies got the place sewed up. 1 hear they got these people to say nuttin ' to nobody - ' specially no sailor. Scuttlebutt gleanings from the deck? Truth or fantasy? When the Sixth Fleet operations placed us in Taranto we found the average person friendly. Not voluable or outgoing, but responsive to friendly overtures. Of course, it was with some regret that wc pointed our bow away from Barcelona and headed to Taranto, but the friendly hospitality of the Italian Navy made us tend to forget. It was here in Taranto that our ball team got underway wit! daily inter-divisional games. Even the Captain got into the act by soundly whipping all comers on the tennis court. Most of us were too busy gun-decking for the coming administrative inspection to get bored and spare hours could be spent at the Jolly Hotel, which offered the best atmosphere (the only, the delicate might say) for an evening drink. The brown-baggers were not to be outdone either. We were pleasantly surprised to see five wives con e alongside in the Captain ' s Gig, after a ted- ious journey from Barcelona. Several of us packed our ditty bags and returned to Rome for a few days rest and relaxation. We did not leave Taranto with tears in our eyes, but instead we left with a feeling that we were welcome to return. And wc did! tf- Officer ' s Club Swans

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PALERMO. Probably of all the obscure ports the AUCILLA visited during the cruise, none was more of a pleasant surprise than Palermo. Maybe it was the time of the year (summer) or perhaps it was because we had learned to adapt ourselves to anything . . . but we found enough to occupy our time in Palermo. This city, the largest in Sicily, offered some excel- lent beaches, bars, and eating establishments. It was here that the skin divers club was or- ganized . . . Caporin, Johnson, Hock and whoever else was cur- ious enough to brave the Sicil- ian waters. We didn ' t expect much out of Palermo (after all, weren ' t we supposed to be in Barcey?) but our boat crews can testify that the boys went over on the beach in this port. Of course there was the inevit- able 0300 boat run for Chief Kinard, but he wasn ' t alone. Palermo Bay

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b V ga i IZMIR. Fabled Izmir! Its very name breathing mysterious scents of the East. Visions of mosques and minarets, veiled women, and camels plodding through dusty streets. So what did we find? What do we always find? Though antiquity surrounds us, though we wander through history-haunted streets, we seek and unerringly find the bar that pleases us, where we can sit and think about the present and the future, and think no long thoughts about the past. One of the highlights of our visit was a wild boar hunt in the Anatolian Mountains. For those of us who participated in the hunt, our fondest memory is of the hunt ' s ending when, after fifteen miles of scrambling up and down rocky mountains we collapsed in the village square where kindly Turks revived us with pleasing liquors. Were there any boars? Well, that is a matter of some dispute. We had envisioned a placid hog-like crea- ture who would wander up to us and allow himself to be shot at in proper fashion. Instead, there were only intimations of a dark phantom hurtling through underbrush with the speed of a horse. The guides got one anyway - a three hundred pounder - and if the pictures we took imply that we shot it, well, just put it down to artistic license. There were numerous night clubs in Izmir and the memory lingers long of a snake dance in which the charmer musically coaxed a very tooth- some lass out of a wicker basket. She was already spoken for, I fear. zun All ■ ..•;:—. ' ' i: , Excavations of Ephesus 43