Macon (CA 132) - Naval Cruise Book

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MACON RELIEVES NEWPORT NEWS Who asked you »o come here? Gibraltar! The beginning and the end. For us the beginning — It is the £irst land in many days; all hands are topside to view this ancient watchstander, This inditterent warrior who has served so many masters. This solid, impregnable Rock, Gibraltar! Before we can muse too long on the okl fortress we are ashore on the narrow winding streets, Sho})i)ing, and sampling the warm musty English ale. This is oiu lirst lesson in bargaining, and we find apt teachers. After a short time we are convinced that we are dealing with the self-same merchants who may have haggled so vigorously with the Phonecians over some treasured Indian ivory cen- turies before. Here we relieve, Our predecessors hand over all the necessary paraphenalia; And some of the rumors. The anectdotes. The little tips, the tips we never follow until too late and then carefully pass on to our own unknowing and eager successors. And then, Before the last gift is bought, Before the last information is garnered. We are underway. The great rock echoes GOD SAVE THE QUEEN, then ANCiHORS AWEIGH, As two mighty cruisers sail olf in opposite directions - cme west and home, one cast to adventure yet unknown. We ,nc liii.illv in ihc Med., eager to know her and her history, antl to make some of our own.

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A quartermaster ' s job goes be- yond just assisting in the naviga- tion of the ship. He must learn to keep an accurate record ol all events occurring within the ship in his Quartermaster ' s Notebook, a log which is an in- valuable part of the ship ' s rec- ords that must be maintained as correctly as possible. .Vnother big job is keeping the ship ' s clocks correctly set. At least twice a week every clock must be com- pared to the standard chronom- eter — a painstaking job! In their spare time the quarter- masters also manage to be bug- ler, helmsman, fathometer op- erator, coffee maker, publication corrector, and enough of a sig- nalman to send and receive flashing light. Thus you can see that to be a part of navigation department — one must possess a large measure of patience, ac- curacy, neatness, and preciseness, plus a cheerful enough disposi- tion to resist all the verbal blows from the people he awakens in the middle of the night!

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i - ' V- • ' ' ' - i -»»,rf 2 .. ' H ' ' Two mighty cruisers Gibraltar ' s apes