Arcadia (AD 23) - Naval Cruise Book

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FROM : COMDESLANT to : USS ARCADIA AD-23 ON YOUR IMPENDING DEPARTURE FOR THE NELM AREA, BEST WISHES OF THIS COMMAND GO WITH YOU X ARCADIA ' S TRADITION OF FINE SERVICE AND HIGH EFFICIENCY WILL MAKE HER AN EXCELLENT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE NAVY IN FOREIGN WATERS X GOOD LUCK AND GOD SPEED X RADM C C HARTMAN Wnch act with tha t message we were underway - on :ruise which for some was just another part of their tour of duty. For others it was that once-in-a- iifetime opportunity to visit foreign lands. In this cruise book, which is of you and the ship you manned, let ' s re-walk the streets of Naples, Cannes and the many other ports where we went ashore.

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m yommanded by Capt. G. Serpell Patrick, USN, the I Atlantic Fleet destroyer tender, USS ARCADIA (AD- - r 23) is the second ship in the U. S. Navy to bear this name. The first USS ARCADIA was one of the German mer- chant vessels which had refugeed in our ports during World War I, and was seized when the United States entered the war. Designed as a tender for eighteen destroyers or destroyer escorts, the AD-23 carries nearly every facility for the main- tenance, supply and repair of the diminutive greyhounds of the fleet. Built in 1944 in California, the ship was recommissioned on 1 August 1951 at Charleston Naval Shipyard. The AR- CADIA, in accordance with the Navy Department ' s policy of naming destroyer tenders for localities and areas of the United States, was named after the so-called Arcadia region of Louisiana. With an overall length of 491 ft. and a breadth of 69 ft., the ARCADIA has an approximate displacement of 15,000 tons. , r

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In May we had begun to pre- pare. Everything was accel- erated with the word of the day being issue vouchers, in- voices, and work after 1630. Supplies came aboard and were stowed; records were ver- ified and re-checked; and two weeks before we left, the H div. started giving us shots and didn ' t finish until we hit Naples.