Baltimore (CA 68) - Naval Cruise Book

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ff, fi zaar in lsTanbul, drink a real American milk shake in The Sugar Bowl in TriesTe, and Take The Padre's Tours To Paris, Rome, SwiTzerland, and The mounTains oT Rhodes. lT was in Th.e lvlediTerranean, in TaranTo, lTaly in Mid- AugusT ThaT The BalTimore wiTnessed her TirsT change oT command since recommissioning, when CapTain Gordon L. Caswell relieved CapTain Tedder. No maTTer how lovely are The damoiselles oT The Riviera, or how inTeresTing The sighTseeing in Venice, There's sTill no place like home , . .and when The Time came in Lisbon, in OcTober l952, Tor The USS Columbus To Take The BalTi- more's place in The SixTh l:l.eeT, The crew oT The BalTimore was more Than ready To welcome her. They did so in Tull comic dress, wiTh quarTerdeck anTics and a big show on The combined TanTails oT The Two ships ThaT nighT. Then home again To BosTon, To begin a shorT, well earned resT Tor her crew and a badly needed yard period Tor her- selT. ln ThaT one year's Time she had come Trom a barely TunTioning ship To a Tull, acTive combaTanT uniT oT The UniTed STaTes Navy, ready To do her parT and carry her Tull load in any mission she mighT be called upon To per- Torm. She and her crew have good reason To be proud oT The iob ThaT was done in ThaT TirsT year oT her new liTe, in upholding The sTandard and TradiTion ThaT is BalTimore , .. and Navy. Wow... for the full story of the second year of her new life, of new and greater gloris, and more of the repetition of history, you have only to turn the page and read on . . .

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1--iv--U--1 U l-lisTory repeaTs iTselT, The saying goes, and The hisTory oT The USS BalTimore has cerTainly borne ThaT saying ouT., BuilT in The BeThlehem S+eel Yards in Quincy, Massachu- seTTs, The BalTimore was compleTed on 28 July, l942, com- missioned in The SouTh BosTon Navy Yard, BosTon, Mass. in April I943, spenT a brieT shakedown and Training period in GuanTanamo Bay, Cuba, and sTeamed Through The Pana- ma Canal To The SouTh PaciTic, arriving in Time To Take parT in The push up The island chain ThaT evenTually landed The Japanese righT in Their own backyard, and Torced Their ul- TimaTe surrender. WiTh her warTime iob done and her crew Tired buT un- hurT Through almosT Three Tull years oT war aT sea, The BalTimore reTurned To The PugeT Sound Naval Shipyard aT BremerTon, WashingTon in July oT I946 To be decommis- sioned and become a member oT The PaciTi aT BremerTon . . , a parT oT The moThball TleeT. c FleeT Reserve BuT The world was noT yeT aT peace, as men had TerevenT ly hoped in I946, and iusT Tive years aTTer her relegaTion To inacTiviTy in The BremerTon reserve group, The USS BalTi- more wa a ' ll d ' s gain ca e upon To come alive and become a TighTing ship oT The UniTed STaTes Navy on The hi h s There were many weeks oT hard work by boTh yardciivorfgl d an crewmen, removing her cacoons, cleaning preserve- Tive Trom her machinery, and Tixing her rusTed and brok parTs, before she was again ready To Take her place in The TI T. O 28 N ee n ovember l95 I, under The command oT Cap- W W., Tain F, L. Tedder, wiTh Commander R. J. Baum as her execuTive oTTicer, she was recommissioned in The acTive U.S. Navy and assigned To The ATlanTic FleeT, her home porT-BosTon, where she was TirsT commissioned eighT years before. STeaming down The wesT coasT Trom BremerTon, she again Traversed The Panama Canal, reTracing The wake she had made eighT years earlier under much diTTerenT condi- Tions. l-ler TirsT sTop on The ATlanTic side oT The world was GuanTanamo Bay, Cuba, Tor a six week shakedown and Training period To sTarT her along The road To a reTurn To The baTTle eTTiciency ThaT had made her Tamous in The Pa- ciTic. STill Tollowing her wake oT eighT years, The BalTimore sTeamed up The easT coasT To her new home porT Tor a shorT yard period and To Till ouT her crew beTore leaving Tor her TirsT Tour oT duTy wiTh The UniTed STaTes SixTh FleeT in The lvlediTerranean, ln April l952, The BalTimore sTeamed ouT oT BosTon Har- bor enrouTe To GibralTar, B.C.C., her TirsT porT oT call in The lv1ediTerranean, where she relieved The USS PiTTsburgh and assumed her duTies as a heavy uniT oT The SixTh FleeT. AlThough SixTh FleeT duTy means a rigorous operaTing schedule, There was sTiII Time beTw.een IAA GQ Tuelin . T Q sTaTions, general drills, man overboard, Tield day, and re- provisioning aT sea To swim on The Bikini decoraTed beaches oi The liiviera, duck The Gimme cigareTTe, Joe, urchins O apes, bargain wiTh The merchanTs in The Grand Ba- V l -1

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A year spenT aboard an operaTing combaTanT vessel oT The UniTed STaTes Navy, despiTe all else iT may be, is an inTeresTing and memorable one, and one which we will wanT To reminisce abouT in TuTure years To come. 'Our mem- ory som.eTimes plays Tricks on us however, and we can'T always remember some Things as well as we'd like To, or can'T quiTe describe To The home Town Tolks iusT how a cer- Tain place looked. For This reason iT was TelT ThaT we need- ed someThing To reTer To, a collecTion oT picTures and sTories To help our memories ouT, and To make our experi- ences more real To Those we share Them wiTh back home. So here is The resulT-a yearbook Tor The U.S.S, BalTimore, covering The Twelve monTh period Trom her reTurn To The UniTed STaTes Trom her TirsT Tour oT duTy wiTh The SixTh FleeT in CcTober oT I952, To The same evenT upon The com- pleTion oT her second Tour oT duTy in The summer oT l953, ending iusT one year and one week laTer. And iT was an evenTTul year in The liTe oT any ship. We began iT in SouTh BosTon Navy Yard where we spenT some Time Tied up ouTboard oT The U.S.S. WorcesTer geTTing GcquainTed again wiTh our wives, sweeThearTs, and Tami- lies and learning iusT how pleasanT home really is, In less Than a monTh we puT ouT To sea again Tor a Tew days maneuvering wiTh The oTher ships oT Cruiser Division Fourg Then wenT up The Chesapeake Tor The BalTimore's Tirgf vigif To her namesake ciTy, in Maryland. Then back To BosTon T0 oTT load ammuniTion and a place aT Pier 5, CharlesTown Naval Shipyard Tor a brieT yard period. A greaT deal oT work was accomplished on The BalTimore in This shorT period oT Time Toward making her a beTTer and more modern ship, even Though you would hardly suspecT iT Trom The size oT Yard Work LisT and The lisT oT alTera- Tions To be perTormed during her yard period in I953-54. The yard period provided her TirsT leave period since re- commissioning, and a chance To hold The ship's parTy and dance ThaT had been in The wind Tor many monThs. WiTh a long Time spenT in one spoT. greaTer sporTs parTicipaTion was now possible. The men oT The BalTimore acTively en- gaged in many sporTs, climaxed by The winning oT The T953 Golden Gloves Trophy given by The Lowell Sun in Lowell, Mass. Schools were high on The agenda during This period also To Take maximum advanTage oT The many Training esTablishmenTs in and around The BosTon and Newpofi areas. As yard periods are wonT To do, however, This one didn'T seem To lasT very long, and by March oT T953 we were on our way down To GuanTanamo Bay in warm and sunny Cuba Tor Three weeks oT inTensive underway Training designed TO work ouT The kinks oT Tour monThs oT operaTing inacTiviTy. Three weeks seems longer away Trom home Than iT did in BOSTON. buT neverTheless we were very soon back again. i T i l T T' P L V f 5 r gl