Hickox (DD 673) - Naval Cruise Book

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NAPLES, ITALY See Naples and die someone once said. We thought we might die BEFORE we saw Naples. The Irish Sea had its temper up and tossed us around a bit so we were glad to see the outline of Naples with its sheltering harbor, and brilliant sunshine arise before us. Anchored in the shadows of Mt. Vesuvius, our stay here was just a two day lay over to prepare for opera- tion Italic Sky. The fleet was in and you could tell something big was up. Within shooting distance of such fabled spots as Sorrento, Pompeii and Capri, let alone Naples r itself, there was much to see and too little time in which to see it. But Naples has its effects on you, no matter the time. We remember the thousands of people walking up and down the torn up Via Roma and wondered if Italians ever went inside. We remember the Gallaria Umberto and its displays and knick knacks. We remember roaming vio- linists in restaurants, and people singing in the streets. Spaghetti, ravioli, Italian sausage, and Provallone Cheese found its way into the messhall. Rumor had it that Malvica, Cimino, Carafeno, and Mr. Sollecito put it there. We fueled on Sunday morning, which didn ' t go over too well, and continued getting ready for our next twelve days of operation. We left Naples with much undone and unseen but much remembered — a little apprehensive about our coming exercises but determined nonetheless to do good.

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BELFAST AND LONDONDERRY IRELAND Mr. Brown kisses the Blarney Stone to obtain the gift of sweet persuasive eloquence — and one buck from Mr. Dodge. BELFAST Faith and be ' gorra but it rained from the minute we hit the old sod till the day we left. Nevertheless, the beauty of this country couldn ' t help but show through it all. As soon as we moored in Belfast Mr. Brown and Mr. Moynihan were off to spread the faith in Southern Ireland, while the rest of us stayed up north in Ulster to do the same. Mr. Moyni- han went to find his long lost relatives. Mr. Brown went to kiss the Blarney Stone for he bet Mr. Dodge he would. We mostly spent our nights ashore at the Palais dance hall where we did the Irish Jig and tried to adopt ourselves to their ballroom style of dancing. Till now we thought the Scottish girls were the prettiest, but there was something about these young colleens that made it questionable. Maybe it was that brogue you could cut with a knife. We felt important when the Irish Republican Army of Southern Ireland wrote to the govern- ment asking why we couldn ' t go south and visit them. We drank gallons of wonderful Irish made tea and bought yards and yards of Irish linen. We talked and talked with these Irish people, in the stores, on the street corner, everywhere — we just liked to hear the sound of their voices. They had an irresistible charm all their own, and it wasn ' t hard to realize why they, and their country are sung about so much. LONDONDERRY Only two full days were spent in London- berry but it was a milestone in our cruise. This was the halfway mark. It was now goodbye to Northern Europe and an unforgetable experi- ence. We were relieved here by the USS er and the USS Dashiel. We were now to our efforts toward the Mediterranean. Blarney Castle, Country Cork, Eire

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ITALIC SKY Operating with the Sixth Fleet Fast Carrier Task Group off Sardinia and Corsica, the Hickox became a superior fighting machine. The sonarmen found the subs, and the torpedo- men hit them. The fire controlmen found their targets, the gunnersmates hit them. The radar- men kept us on station, the radiomen and quartermasters kept us informed. The deck- force refueled and replenished us, the supply men kept us fed and payed. The snipes kept us moving. We replenished, replenished and replen- ished again, at all hours of the night and day. The IMC became Public Enemy No. I and kept bellowing Now set the special sea detail on the bridge, in after steering and in the •Engineering spaces or Now Second Division rig out the Motor Whale Boat. We operated with many different ships. The replenishment group looted like New York City at night — lights as far as you could see. Admiral 31 Knot Burke kept us jumping but he couldn ' t frighten the snipes. They stayed right with him all the way. We were openly congratulated by a sub- marine. Carrier personnel thought at times we were going to submerge. We thought the exercise would never end but finally we were detached to proceed inde- pendently to Genoa, Italy. We had worked hard, were dead tired but were proud that we had made good. Mr. Dodge lays down the law Hey, whirlybirdl Any mail for us? Sometimes it was like this . . Fueling at sea . . . all the drama and tenseness of a Hollywood thriller but most of the time it was like this See Mr. Cobb, no pain, no strain. We took 60 doz. eggs on board like this without breaking one.