Columbus (CA 74) - Naval Cruise Book

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We ' ll remember with pleasure the excellent USO canteen In Istanbul which was staffed by cooperative American men and women living in the city. A touring USO troupe entertained during our visit there and were helped out each night by the able Sixth Fleet dance band. Several basketball games were arranged between local teams and the squads of various ships present which created a great deal of interest. And this was the case despite the fact that the navy teams usually held the upper hand. As was the case in several ports, a party was held on board one afternoon for children from one of the local orphan- ages. About 60 youngsters with chaperons were treated to a tour of the ship, followed by movies and refreshments in one of the mess compartments. Yes, Turkey was different all right, but our visit to Istanbul was one we enjoyed and will remember always. -— :;

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TURKEY Narrow Street Grand Bazaar he skyline of Istanbul, Turkey, where we ar- rived on 14 November 1952. was different than that of any other port we had visited previously. The many Moslem churches, called mosques, with their flnger-IIke minarets reaching skyward made It a city In wide contrast with those we d seen in the western part of the Med. Anchored in the Bosphorous as she was, the ship enjoyed the unique position of having a different continent on each side. Off the port side was Europe while Asia was less than a mile to starboard. The swift current in the Bosphorous makes boating rather difficult. Skillful work by the boat crews, however, prevented any serious injury or damage during our stay there. Cultural and educational center of Turkey. Istanbul ' s influence over the course of human affairs is rivaled only by Athens. Rome, and Jerusalem. Roman law, Greek literature and the theology of the Christian church are closely associated with its history. An amazing piece of architecture is the Mosque of Sultan Ahmet, better known as the Blue Mosque. famous for its beautiful blue tiles and six minarets, it was built between 1609-1616, a time when the only mosque with six minarets was at Mecca. Sultan Ahmet silenced the objections to his sixth minaret by ordering a seventh for Mecca and keeping the sixth at his own mosque. Legend says the sultan was so impatient to see it completed that he came every Friday and worked in the midst of his laborers. The modernization of Turkey was started by the Young Turks in 1908 when they forced the grant of a constitution. Sultan Abdul hiamid was de- posed the following year. After the foreign military occupation of Turkey during WWI ended, the Turks under Ataturk cleared the country of its enemies and assured its complete independence with the treaty of Lausanne, July 1923. The Republic was proclaimed in October. The Sultana te and Caliphate were abolished and all members of the Ottoman Imperial Family left the country. The authorities of the new Republic, under the guidance of a surpassing genius, have brought about a surprising evolution in the outlook, morals and customs of a great Asiatic nation now enrolled, with deliberation and without reserve, in the family of world states.

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GREECE f you ' re an average sailor, you ' ll quickly remember that In Athens, Greece, there was a USO that gave away food and drinks free. What you probably won ' t remember Is the name of the nearby hill on top of which are a lot of broken- down stone buildings. But if you remember or not, Athens Is a city whose history dates back more than 3600 years. Naturally, therefore, the main points of interest are ancient ruins and the like. The Acropolis , the hill just mentioned, was a place of worship in the days before Christ. The Greeks erected temples there to the various gods in the magnificent 5th century B.C. Time has dealt hard with the Acropolis but man has dealt worse. Over the ages he has used it as a handy quarry, breaking up its statues and reliefs for stone to build new walls, hie stored gunpowder in some of the temples, Including the Parthenon, and it blew up. Later, when man ' s respect for the Acropolis returned, he carted off some of its finest sculptures to the museums of Europe in sheer artistic greed. But the attrition is done, and a great bulk of the works on the Acropolis survive, still radiant with bygone perfection. The country is chiefly an agricultural one, with little manufacturing. With American aid, however, industrial output last year was almost 20 percent better than the prewar level. Agricultural production has surpassed former output also. Greece rejected a surrender ultimatum from Italy in October 1940, and when attacked she threw the Italians back into Albania. Nazi support resulted in the defeat and occupation of the country by Germans, Italians and Bulgarians. By the end of 1944, the Invaders withdrew. At the war ' s end, Communists tried to seize power and civil war resulted. This brought help from the Marshall Plan and a special investigation by the U.N. ECA help stimulated economic recovery and civil strife was proclaimed at an end on 16 October 1949. The crew was to have manned the rail for a visit on board of King Paul and Queen Frederika during our stay there but choppy seas forced a can- cellation. One of the American Express tours, how- ever, gave a few sailors a glimpse of the Royal Palace at any rate. The USO canteen, which was mentioned ear- lier, was one of the better ones encountered in the General View of the Acropolis