Columbus (CA 74) - Naval Cruise Book

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The lTTle DuTch boy and The liTTle DuTch girl ROTTERDAM, HOLL 2oTTerdam is anoTher maior porT, and like AnTwerp, has had a bloody hisTory. IT was baTTered by The French in The I5Th cenTury. The Spanish in The l6Th, andagain by The French in The IaTTer haiT oT The I8Th cenTury. In May, l94O, The Nazis subiecTed RoTTerdam To The mosT Tremendous bombing Then known, and The Tiny counTry Tell in a Tew days. RoTTerdam was used by The Germans as a TransiT poinT Tor supplies, and The porT was all buT desTroyed in The Tollowing Allied aerial aTTacics. Now iT is rebuilT, and larger Than beTore The war. While in RoTTerdam, Tours were conducTed daily To The capiTal ciTy oT AmsTerdam, and The nearby Tiny Tishing village oT Voliendam, which sTiil clings To The dress and TradiTions oT The ancienT DuTch. The Tair, RoTTer- dam Ahoy was visiTed by a maioriTy oT The crew, and again The Triendiy people made The visiT a wonderful experience' and puT RoTTerdam on The lisT oT good liberTy porTs. There was one Thing ThaT many people noTiced, which aTTer subsequenT Trips abouT The MediTerranean, greaTly added To The opinion oT The DuTch. ThaT is, oT course. Their cleanliness. Every morning The DuTch housewiTe was ouT scrubbing The sidewalls, The'sTeps. and The windows. JusT goes To show you ThaT The Navy isn'T The only place wiTh a passion Tor geTTing rid oT dirT. Fishermen and Triend

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ANT ERP, BELGI l4TTer our TirsT visiT To France we Tound ourselves in AnTwerp. Belgium, aTTer a TorTuous Trip up The Schelde River: Tor alThough iT is one oT The major European porTs, iT lies more Than 50 miles Trom The-sea. Large crowds gaThered To see The COLUMBUS ThroughouT The daylighT hours, and remained well inTo The nighT. IT was probably due To The TacT ThaT The COLUMBUS was The TirsT major American warship To visiT The porT in years. Because oT her greaT value as a major porT, The hisTory Cajhedraj and panorama oT Anhzverp has been a bloody one. In The middle oT The l6Th cenTury iT Tell To The Spanish, who plundered The Town and massacred 7,000 ciTizens. During The French rebellion in The l9Th cenTury, The ciTy was besieged Tor Two years beTore iT Tinally surrendered. The ciTy Tell To The Germans in boTh World Wars aTTer Tierce, buT TuTile, resisTance. AnTwerp was severely damaged in The lasT war, buT The majoriTy oT The damage has been repaired. During our sTay in AnTwerp, Tours were conducTed To The capiTal oT Brussels, and The war-Tamous ciTy oT BasTogne, now known as NuTs . lT goT iTs name Trom General lvlcAuliTTe's Tamous reply To The German surrender Terms. In AnTwerp iTselT. There were a number oT places To see. Add a Tew bars, a Triendly populace, shake well, and you'have a wonderTul liberTy porT. Museum To The dock Some of The crowd of curious specfafors

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The Roclc GIBR LT R 6inCNEI.lvl reTurned To his headquarTers in London on The 22nd July, and The nexT day we leTT RoTTerdarn Tor PlymouTh, England. The morning oT The 24-Th Tound The COLUMBUS again Tied up aT Buoy No. 9. Days passed, and each one saw The Tlames oT war creep TarTher over Korea. Then on SaTurday, The 29Th OT July, iusT as The liberTy parTy was To leave Tor The weekend, The word was passed ThaT The ship would geT under- way aT 2000 lvlonday nighT - desTinaTion 7 And how The rumors Tlewl Monday nighT, 3l July, and we were underway again. ShorTly aTTer clearing PlymouTh l-larbor, The command- 'ing oTTicer CapTain E. R. McLean Jr,, inTorrned The crew ThaT The ship was heading Tor The lvlediTerranean To ioin The SixTl1TleeT, and ThaT our nexT sTop would be aT GibralTar. ' We arrived aT GibralTar on The 3rd oT AugusT, and immediaTely began loading on sTores and ammuniTion Trom The BELTRAMI. There was no liberTy granTecl, and load- ing conTinued on inTo The nighT. AlThough iT has an 'area oT roughly Two square miles, iT enjoys a presTige greaTly ouT oT proporTion only To iTs size, Tor iT commands one of The Two enTrances To The lvlecliTer- ranean. lT has been a BriTish Crown Colony since I7I3. The Spanish aTTempTecl To capTure iT in I779, buT aTTer a Tour year siege, which ended in The sinking oT The maior porTion oT The Spanish FleeT, leTT iT To The BriTish. IT was while in GibralTar ThaT CapTain McLean congraTu- laTed The crew on Their winning oT The Ba+TIe ETTiciency Pen- nanT, on The basis oT The excelIenT showing made on operaTions aT GuanTanamo Bay, Cuba, in April and May. l950. Close up of The Rock