Baltimore (CA 68) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 82 text:

i' for duTy as commanding oTTicer MasTer mariners lvlosT oT us had said our lasT goodbyes The 22nd, buT There was sTill one more sTop To make in The UniTed STaTes beTore we headed across The fXTlanTic again, For The sec- ond Time during our sTay in The STaTes, we headed up Chesapeake Bay, This Time To The Naval OperaTing Base aT NorTolk, Tor The Tinal preparaTions beTore our summer abroad, We Tied up in The hearT oT The base, wiTh The newly recommissioned CVA Lake Champlain on one side oT us, and our sisTer ship, The Quincy, on The oTher. Quincy was headed wesT, and many oT our crew who preTerred The wesT coasT managed To geT swaps on her beTore she leTT. We didn'T sTay in NorTolk long, buT iT was a busy Time Tor all hands. The lasT Tew supplies and The odd spare parTs had To be loaded, and The lasT Tew men desTined To spend The coming summer wiTh us reporTed aboard Tor duTy. IT was in NorTolk ThaT The Drone uniT was loaded aboard, and The lasT oT The l-lelicopTer gang moved in, lT was here, Too, ThaT our new skipper, CapTain Taylor, relieved CapTain Caswell, wiTh all hands aTT, and as much gold braid presenT as mosT oT us see in a liTeTime. There was one TeaTure oT our berTh ThaT everyone liked very much-The Telephone ex- change righT aT The head oT The pier, where ThaT lasT long phone call could be made wiThouT having To wresTle wiTh a huge pile oT quarTers, or charge iT up To The phone aT home. . . .in England we musT look . . .

Page 81 text:

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Page 83 text:

Two days don'f Iasf very long, especially when fhey are busy days, and if seemed fhe lines had no sooner been se- cured fhan if was fime fo fhrow fhem off again and head ouf info fhe open sea-desfinafion Europe, and fhe sunny slime of fhe lvlediferranean Sea. Buf fhere was one iob fo do firsf, before we could sef our course easf. A group of Senafors and Congressmen had come down fo see fhe Navy in acfion, and we had fo pro- vide fhe acfion-and provide if we did. The demonsfrafion included all fhe acfivifies of a fasf carrier faslc force af sea, including refueling, fransferring of personnel and freighf, flighf operafions, aerial gunnery and bombing, faslc force facfical maneuvering, and of course, anfi-aircraff firing. lf was primarily in fhis lasf fhaf fhe Balfimore played her parf, and fhis fime we weren'f firing af a fowed sleeves buf af fhe airplane ifself, an Pol: fargef drone. The Coral Sea opened up firsf wifh her fhree inch, buf fhere was liffle doubf in anyones mind fhaf fhe killing shof fhaf broughf fhe plane spinning down in flames and pieces was a five inch bursf from fhe Balfimore. Then, wifh our iob done, we furned easf and headed our bow info fhe long, rolling swells of fhe Aflanfic, looking ahead foward fhe deep blue wafers of fhe lvlediferranean, and our second summer of dufy wifh fhe Unifed Sfafes Sixfh Fleef. 10 f l l ,iff fy Commence firing! J f- if x r x y Uflg TT ,rf jg - Kiki- -'AL .- ,Q Y fi , ' ff- x 5 If x Q f 7 f ? af, - ff V ? 725-E ,Vg 5 54 4 5 W fn 4 l musf go clown +o fhe sea again .