Baltimore (CA 68) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 9 text:

Tor ThaT one lasT look aT The UniTed STaTes beTore The Med beckoned again. l-lere The Three weeks seemed shorT in- deed, Then oTT To NorTolk Tor a Two day sTop To pick up The drone uniT, anoTher Two days To parTicipaTe in a demon- sTraTion Tor a group oT SenaTors and Congressmen, Then OTT across The briny deep To GibralTar and anoTher summer wiTh The Six+h FleeT. SixTh FleeT duTy is preTTy much The same Trom one sum- mer To The nexT, in and ouT oT The many lvlediTerranean porTs ThaT all seem so much alike aTTer a shorT while, days aT sea wiTh maneuvers and .exercises sTacked end To end as closely as possible, Tueling desTroyers, running wiTh car- riers launching and recovering planes, reprovisioning aT sea, and every now and Then a swim call on The odd Sunday aTTernoon. This year, however, our Med cruise was broken up by a Trip To SpiThead, England To represenT The UniTed STaTes Navy in The CoronaTion Naval Review oT Queen ElizabeTh II on The I5Th oT June. A glorious chapTer in The liT.e hisTory oT any naval vessel, and iT happened To us dur- ing our year. ThaT Too, like mosT good Things, was shorT, and back To The SixTh FleeT To Tinish ouT The summer, The year, and our Yearbook, wiTh our relieT in Palermo, Sicily upon The com- pleTion oT our parTicipaTion in The I953 NATO operaTion in The lv1ediTerranean, WELDFAST.

Page 8 text:

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

Page 10 text:

l . 2EiE i:i r CRUISER DIVISIUN 4 U. S. Naval Academy, I923I U-Si-S Arkansas. Submarine School, New London, Connecficuf, I925g Posfgraduafe School, Annapolis, Maryland, I929-303 Submarine S-83 U.S.S. Chesferg Com- manding Cfficer, U.S.S. Orfolon, Commanding Officer, U.S.S. Cufflefishg Commanding Qfficer, U.S.S. John D. Ford: Engineering Experimenf Sfa- fion, Annapolis, Maryland, I933-351 Assisfanf Naval lnspecfor of Machinery, Flecfric Boaf Com- pany, Grofon, Connecficufg Sfaff, Commander U.S.S. Asiafic Fleef, I94O-427 Sfaff, Commander Submarines, Easf Aufraliap Chief of Sfaff, Com- mander Allied Naval Forces, Easf Ausfralia: Chief of Sfaff, Commander, Amphibious Force, Pacific Fleefg Joinf War Plans Commiffee: Special ad- visor fo fhe Under Secrefary of fhe Navyg Assisf- anf Chief of Naval Operafions for Polifico Mili- fary Affairsg Commanding Officer, U.S.S. Missouri, Naval Aide fo fhe Presidenf of fhe Uni- fed Sfafesg Commander, Cruiser Division Four. REAR ADMIRAL RoBERT L. DENNISON, usN I l ,i .Q . l l 'fx lf l l i l if 1 l 1 . 1 I r I l I l l 3 l 2 l l i L. b ,A