Galveston (CLG 3) - Naval Cruise Book

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Soudha Bay, Crete, and Argostoli, Greece, were two island anchorages visited for a few days of rest and ship ' s upkeep. Rota, on Spain ' s Atlantic coast, was both the first and last port GALVESTON visited as a unit of the Sixth Fleet. Rota was the point where she assumed her duties as a member of the fleet and the port where GALVESTON rendez- voused with USS Columbus (CGI 2), the cruiser that assumed GALVESTON ' s duties when she left the Mediterranean to return to t he United States. Not all of GALVESTON ' S time was spent in port, however. During the seven month deployment, the 6 10- foot warship steamed over 48,000 miles, roughly equivalent to 2 1 3 times around the world. She participated in several exercises with the Sixth Fleet as well as two NATO exercises. Underway replenishments were also a regular occurrence during GALVESTON ' s stay in U '

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The third cruiser USS GAL VESTON (left) is the first of a new fleet of Talos-missile- carrying ships to hit the high seas for the Navy. Shown at the Naval shipyard in Philadelphia, the sleek Texas beauty is armed with the deadly Talos missile. Con- struction of the new GALVESTON was suspended in 1946 and she was placed in reserve status the next year. The ship was not commissioned until May 1958. On March 24. 1905, the second USS GALVESTON was presented a silver service set (below) by her namesake city in Texas. This set was displayed on the ship until she was decommissioned in 1930. It was returned to the city upon decommissioning. Thirty years later, in January 1960, GALVESTON again received the silver service set when she visited the Texas port city as (CLG3).

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' ' W the Mediterranean. The Sixth Fleet is a completely mobile force, operating without any permanent shore bases in the Mediterra- nean. All refueling and replenishing was done at sea using highlines strung between ships, or helicopters with cargo nets slung under- ■ neath for transferring supplies. Galveston ' s men were old hands at underway replenishments (UNREPS) by the time they joined the Sixth Fleet, however. They had plenty of practice replenishing at sea in the Western Pacific during the first half of the two-ocean cruise. The double cruise began on October 17, 1968, when GALVESTON left San Diego for her third Western Pacific deployment. The crew fully expected a normal tour of seven months in the Pacific, but the word was passed on the morning of November 4, after she left Pearl Harbor, that she was scheduled to return