Columbus (CA 74) - Naval Cruise Book

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BEIR T, LEBANON We arrived aT The capiTal-ciTy OT BeiruT wiTh oTher uniTs oT The SixTh FleeT. BeiruT was a ciTy oT conTrasTs wiTh iTs ancienT donkey-carTs and modern Amer- ican auTomobiles, The TourisT, and The deserT Tribesman: modern buildings and Tiny naTive shops: ChrisTian churches, and lvlohammedan mosques. The ciTy DownTown, Beirut had Ii++Ie To oTTer excepT iTs local color, buT Tours were conducTed To The ciTies oT Damascus and Baalbek. Damascus, which lies iusT across The Lebanese border, was a leading ciTy even beTore The birTh oT ChrisT. AlThough noTed Tor iTs Tine swords and knives, iT is a Trade cenTer Tor many oTher arTicles broughT Trom Through- ouT Syria. i Baalbek, considered by The ancienTs To be one oT The Seven Wonders oT The World, is a remarkable spoT. Thereon sTands a Roman Temple, The consTrucTion oT which amazes scienTisTs even Today. The sTones OT The Temple are' almosT The largesT ever quarriedy and yeT, using only The simple machines oT ThaT day, and manpower, They raised These giganTic blocks carved Trom a single piece oT rock, and placed Them on sTone columns more Than 60 TeeT high. Considering ThaT The Temple is IOOO TeeT long, iTs consTrucTion is as amazing as iT would have been iT The Panama Canal had been dug wiTh picks and shovels. ' i E.f-Zia E Hey Joe, whoT does ThaT sign say? 'ren A -7 fly J62 l 'af ,H D - 4 -+41 ' T f X -5 x iz if A2 55- gif' . a l fx 5g Y? fl '- x ' .3 ,ff 'Ta 2 ,r .i1,::f if A 1 'A -'GSK uomf' -'ifi Z X Y XIX A Frawswx , Mfr 699031 ' 9 ' 'Q X y 3 f sf? , ' I W X 5 '1 A If 15' , fi - f W, 4 s X' T s ?f' J H ff

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F TVIAGUSTA, CYPRUS 7m AugusT l95O we pulled inTo FamagusTa Bay, Cyprus wiTh oTher uniTs oT The SixTh FleeT. LiberTy was granTed ThaT nighT, and alThough There was liTTle To see in Fan'1agusTa iTselT, iT was a pleasure To geT OTT The ship and sTreTch, and sample The local vinTage. The nearby ruins aT Salamis and some local color gave camera Tans some pracTice, buT prices were high, The Town was small, and FamagusTa raTed only Tair as a liberTy porT. CinCNELlv1 Tlew down Trom London The nexT day, and The COLUMBUS helicopTer was senT To The airTielol To pick him up. ln landing on The reTurn Trip. iT sTruck The porT boom, broke in Two. and sank in I4 TaThoms oT waTer. There was no loss oT liTe, and Thanks To The quick acTion oT SN Z. C. Kleczlcowslci, who imrnediaTely dived over The side To render assisTance, There was no serious iniury. ThaT aTTernoon . CinCNELlvl made The oTTicial presenTaTion oT BaTTle ETTiciency Award To The commanding oTficer, and The E Tlag was broken ouT aT ,The main. Diving operaTions Tor The helicopTer were begun aTTer The ceremonies by QM2 R. L. Miller, and compleTed by HMI L. E. lvlapleThorpe. The helicopTer was Tinally recovered shorTly before midnighT, and The ship goT underway Tor BeiruT. Lebanon. The hard way The remains of wl1aT once was in The cify of Beirui Wham' now?

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an our TirsT Trip To BizerTe, SepTember I95O, CapTain E. R. McLean Jr. was relieved by CapTain J. H. Wellings. In The morning various emergency drills were conducTed, which gave CapTain Wellings his 9 TirsT chance To waTch The crew in acTion. AT T300 The crew Tell in aT divisional parade and aT l3I5 CapTain McLean and CapTain Wellings inspecTed. lmmediaTely Tollowing inspecTion, all hands Tell in on The Tan- Tail Tor The oTTicial change oT command ceremonies. CapTain McLean Then leTT The ship To reporT To Commander DesTroyer Forces, U. S. ATlanTic FleeT Tor duTy. The ciTy oT BizerTe had liTTle To oTFer The liberTy parTy, excepT a Tew bars and limiTed souvenir buying, buT recreaTion parTies Took up The slaclc, and iT wasn'T Too bad. Tours To Tunis, The capiTal, and The ancienT ciTy of CarThage, one oT The leading ciTies oT The Old World, were conducTed daily. BizerTe began as a Roman colony, which was capTured by The Arabs in The 7Th cenTury. The French Took con- Trol in I88I. when all oT Tunisia became a French ProTecToraTe. When The Allied armies swepT across NorTh ATrica in I943, iT was used by The Germans and ITalians as a major supply depcT. WiTh The Tall oT NorTh ATrica. The Allies Took conTrol oT BizerTe, and used iT as a iumping-OTT place Tor The Sicilian invasion. We leTT BizerTe on The I3Th. joined The FleeT, and headed To-r Oran, Algeria. A Tew hours aTTer sunrise on The I5Th Tound The TleeT Tied up aT The breakwaTer aT Mers-el-Kebir, The French naval base. Taking The family ouT 'For a ride Swabby geTs Taken for a ride mg.