Columbus (CA 74) - Naval Cruise Book

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MALTA 7m MalTa shorT Tours oT The ciTy were conducTed Through The courTesy oT The Royal Navy. The maioriTy oT Val- leTTa's beauTy was desTroyed in World War ll, ValleTTa was The principal obiecTive oT The unparalleled, bombing raids on lvlalTa by boTh lTalian and German aircraTT, which commenced on June I I, I94O, and conTinued Tor Three years on a scale unequalled elsewhere in The world. There is a sTory oT how aT one period There were only Three anTi-aircraTT guns in commission aT one Time, and aTTer each raid The guns were loaded on Truclqs and moved To a diTTerenT secTion oT The ciTy To keep The enemy Trom locaTing and desTroying Them. The Tour began aT a Tiny memorial park seT on Top oT a high bluTF overlooking The harbor, and Trom There wenT To The ancienT ciTy, which is noThing more Than medieval casTle compleTe wiTh moaT. The lvlalTese are highly religious, The KnighTs oT lVlalTa being world-Tamous. There are a number oT beauTiTul churches in ValleTTa perhaps The mosT Tamous being ST. Paul's CaThedral wiTh iTs mosaics and caTacombs underneaTh. l.iberTy here was generally whaT you made iT. All hands however enjoyed The drives Through The ciTy in beauTiTul horse-drawn carriages. The people here were very Triendly, and much could be enjoyed Though liberTy was shorT. The walled ciTy of MalTa

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ly AA IBY, C SGLI Rl, ARDINIA NoThing bui- barren mounTains We ioin The COLUMBUS aT her anchorage in Cagliari, Sardinia, where she arrived SepTember 29Th, 1950. on a sTricTly business , mission. On The 3OTh, The Commans-in-chief of The French and lTalian Navies, CinClv1ED, ComSixFlT, and Their sTaTis emloarlced, and The nexT day ll OcToloerl we were underway again. We sTopped by ValleTTa early on The morning of The 2nd, long enough To Transfer The Tlag personnel To various desTroyers, where They had grandsTand seaTs Tor The aTTernoon's shore loombardmenT and anTi-aircraTT exercises. We reTurnecl To ValleTTa, and The various Commanders-in-chief meT Tor a criTique of The previous olay's exer- cises. Noon 'Found The COLUMBUS underway again wiTh The TleeTs To observe The French Torpedo exercises. She reTurned laTer ThaT aTTernoon and olisembarlced The various Flag uniTs. CinCNFLlvl reTurned To London The Tol- lowing day. Looks a liTTle like The Rock Halian Iighf cruiser Halian heavy cruiser

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an Q Y . ATHE S f4Thens is rich in hisTory, much Too long To be included here, buT There are a Tew poinTs worTh menTioning. IT was orig- inally builT on The plaTeau oT The sacred rock oT The Acro- polis, and was inhabiTed I6 cen- Turies beTore The birfh oT ChrisT. ln The 6Th cenTury B.C. a lower Town was Tormed aT The base oT The Acropolis. Alex- ander The GreaT broughT pros- periTy To The ciTy, buT Tinally in The 2nd cenTury B.C., iT Tell under Tew cenTuries laTer iT Tormed The ByzanTine Empire, and during This period The spiriT oT ChrisTiani'l'y began To replace The worship oT The pagan gods. AThens Tollowecl The TaTe oT The ByzanTine Empire, and in l456 bcame parT oT The Turkish OTTornan Empire. lT was conTrollecl by The Turks unTil I833, when They wiThdrew, and AThens was chosen To be The capiTal of The newly esTalolishecl Greek kingdom. ln a way Greece was unique, Tor people There were much inTeresTed in buying, as well as selling. A Tew opporTunisTs Took aclvanTage oT This To dispose oT baTTereol pea coaTs aT prices averaging around SI5. BUT a Tew days laTer'They Tound Themselves Tacecl wiTh The prospecT oT doling ouT 40 shekels Tor a new one ..., The new price lisT had come in. When one visiTs AThens, especially on Tour, The dominanT TeaTure is The hill oT The Acropolis lliTerally upper ciTy l crowned wiTh The world-Tamous ParThenon, and a number oT oTher renowned examples oT Greek archiTecTure. In l687, during The war beTween The Turks and The VeneTians, a shell exploded some gunpowder sTored There, and blew iT To ruin. aTTer iT had sTood inTacT Tor over Two Thousand years. ln AThens iTselT There are a number of museums housing various works oT arT and sculpTure Tound in The excavaTion of The ruins. AThens and Pireaus sTand side by sicle, and While visiTing one The oTher always looked Te-mpTing. On visiTs To Greece liberTy was always enioyed. Birdseye view of AThens Roman clominaTion. A