Quincy (CA 71) - Naval Cruise Book

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b y X SALO IC , GREECE We arrived in Salonika, Greece, on 20 November. Again a canteen had been set up, sponsored by local Americans, and much of our time was spent within its hospitable walls. And in Salonika, too, we were met by a smothering but friendly curiosity: wherever an American sailor stopped, he might expeet in a matter of moments to be surrounded by twenty local citizens, One, who spoke English, would pry with questions, and his answers would be relayed to the anxiously waiting group. Their complete lack of reserve was a phenomenon to which we were unaccustomed, but nothing could more speedily have promoted the international good will that was our announced purpose in coming. In was they who made the overtures, and we who responded.

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' -2,1145 , 'E' -:ff 'W if F.-..-,f-.-? .g'f - if -.. , if ,W JL,- -sa' Izmir... what sort of city, we asked ourselves in desperation, could have such a name? Roll it gently over the tongue: it puckers the mouth like gooseberries. We first saw the mountainous Turkish coastline, and were caught unprepared for the majestic beauty of the crescent- shaped harbor. Then the city came into view - it once had huddled on a small plain at the water's edge, but as it grew had been forced to expand up the mountainside, Its rough cobbled streets wound in hairpin bends up impossible slopesg noisy vendors hawked their wares in the public market-placeg and, in the outskirts, men mounted on tired-looking donkeys led trains of camels, their backs loaded with bundles of faggots, along the dusty roadside.But with all these age-old ties to the East, Izmir's streets roared also with automobiles and trucks and jeeps, and the people's lively zest for life was matched only by their intense curiosity about all things Western. The American Colony Club had rigged out a canteen for the visiting Fleet to use, with music supplied by the Quincy's own band, where we were greeted by the wives and daughters of Americans living in Izmir. But COMCRUDIV SIX was SOPA, and the Quincy was caught in a whirl of ofiicial activities. A hundred children came aboard for a special party, with movies and cake and ice cream, and entertainment by the Quincy's own crewg and later we rigged the forecastle with its complete awning, we draped signal flags over the lifelines and set up lights and a bandstand and tables and chairs, and onto the transformed and barely recognizable Quincy streamed a hund- red and twenty-five people for an official reception. We danced under the guns of the forward turret, with the lights of Izmir twinkling across the water. We had come a long way since the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. Izmir had indeed given our cruise an exotic flavor. iziviia, RKEY 1,,,,. , ,,,.,,,,,,,.,,,,,,L,3.:,. s ,mf-3ft ai?f:Kg135,, HJ a-.- I, .,.,,.,,,,,,,,,,,e,,1,,,.,,,-,-, V. 'Vim WHERE' S THE BEER ? Q I: fifidilifliif ,v 'F 5'i fi?.v' A I ,K ' ,9f,4'L'Qfmf ,, , :ki-jul 9 f 715,-.W W . ff-2 i 'T ,!2xvfp,Jif+E'.-' fi , i I

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