Hickox (DD 673) - Naval Cruise Book

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Fellow Blue Noses No junk yard. The remains of the Tirpitz, German battleship sunk at Tromso by British bombers, November 12, 1944. 0? THE ARC T 7 Po all nilorsjulicrrtifnic nuujjjf: aOhb alt polar bears. - S FOXES. REINDEER. WOLVES, HUSK raulcu. and alt Met ' Jinny 3)etugeni rf tie Jtcjen . tithe, n M ufi»Mn0XD IV. (Tha : WITH MYROYAL CONSENT PASSED THE GATEWAY TO THE TOP Of THE WORLD BY CROSSING THE ARCTIC CIRCLE , m WA and if jaee ' ei.BujjauL.Jlt k-aio. and myuad LlwfloJx . •Uoar tiu on . .19 al tm abt. J.Boreas I, I ' Wind and Sovereign of all the Froien Reaches it touches d, therein declare ■ ' ;. ,al Doma in lobe a True and Trusty Brine Entrusted BLl F.XOSE BE IT V

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TROMSO, NORWAY M Vast billowy whiteness . . . pleasant warm congeniality inBm The North Sea obeyed the laws of gravity as we steamed ' neath the shadows of the breathtaking snow-capped mountains and the cool, crisp air they brought. We crossed the Artie Circle and took pictures of it. We ' re now official (and actual) BLUE NOSES. The first American ship in Tromso in two years, found us all over the front pages upon arrival. The city and its people were ours, and we loved it. We remember much of this beautiful fishing town . . . the Grand Hotel . . . the Tirpit-z ... the Northern Lights . . . Mack ' s Brewery with beer in every scuttlebut . . . beautiful blond girls . . . climbing mountains . . . that look people gave you that made you feel you were really something ... all those kids on the dock watching every move you made . . . the earthquake that Fleishman al- most started at the Arbeiderforeningen Dance, with Coudreaut and Rosplochowski contribut- ing the sound effects . . . the few friends Howell and Carafeno invited aboard that was a whole high school. It was truly great to be an American sailor in Tromso, Norway. One Pub, one movie . . . 14,000 wonderful people.

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BREMERHAVEN AND EMDEN, GERMANY BREMERHAVEN After a picturesque journey through the Fjords, and being swallowed by the North Sea we surfaced in the second largest fishing port in Europe — in the land of beer gardens and uniforms. After a brief treasure hunt we went ashore and stripped down for Customs inspec- tion. WYLAND was sent out as a special envoy while we went broke buying 400 Day Clocks, Cuckoo Clocks and Cameras of all kinds. We ate Bockwurst and potato salad and drank schnapps, cognac, Pils Hereforder and Carls- burg. We talked a lot about the war and got the other side of the picture. Everyone from the milkman to the streetcleaner had a uniform At 2200 the last night in, we found it diffi- cult to stand at attention at quarters for mus- ter but at any rate we were all there and ready to go again. Demont and Sandifer give Fritz the word on flashing light (As if they knew.) Hey kid! . . . Ya got a wooden leg? It was worth every mile . . . just to see their faces.