Kenneth Whiting (AV 14) - Naval Cruise Book

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CHANGE OF COMMAND ON 3 AUGUST 1955 CHANGE OF COMMAND CEREMONIES WERE HELD ABOARD THE USS KENNETH WHITING (AV-14), IN KEELUNG HAR- BOR. REAR ADMIRAL G. W. ANDERSON, USN, RELIEVED REAR ADMIRAL F. N. KIVETTE, USN, AS COMMANDER FORMOSA PATROL FORCE , COMMANDER FLEET AIR WING-ONE. DISTINGUISHED GUESTS INCLUDED VICE AD- MIRAL A. M. PRIDE, USN, COMMANDER SEVENTH FLEET, CAPTAIN G. R. DONAHO, CHIEF-OF-STAFF, COMMANDER SEVENTH FLEET, AND MANY SEN- IOR MILITARY AND CIVILIAN OFFICIALS ON FORMOSA. Admiral Kivette bids gcod- bye. Officers seated (left to right); Lt. J. E. Williams; Cap- tain L. M. Stevens, USN, Com- manding Officer USS Kenneth Whiting, AV-14; Captain G. R. Dcnaho, USN, Chief-of-Staff, Commander Seventh Fleet; Vice Admiral A. M. Pride. USN, Commander Seventh Fleet; Rear Admiral G. W. Anderson, USN, New Com- mander Formosa Patrol Force, Comander Fleet Air Wing-One; Captain L. H. Mc- Alpine, Chief-of-Staff, Com- mander Formosa Patrol Force, Commander Fleet Air Wing-One. Rear Admiral Anderson reads his orders and says hello. Vice Admiral Pride gives pnn ipal address. The Kenneth Whitmg crew and visiting guests (seated). w

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WE TOURED (when not raining) What little tune we were aitorded to tour the island we saw that it is a strange mixture of modern and the aboriginal. The major cities — Toipeh, Keelung, Kaohsiung — are an overlay of modern western architecture on simple and frequently shoddy buildings of Chinese and Japanese design. But, except for electricity, the modernity is confined to the coastal plains and the foothills of the high and rugged mountains, many as high as 13,000 feet, that form the physical backbone of the island. Here, in the interior, the aboriginal natives of Formosa still live much as they have for centuries. The only difference is that they no longer engage in headhunting. Many of us looked for the oppor- tunity to travel high in the mountains to photo- graph these unusual and colorful people, but the time afforded during our three trips deemed this impossible. The one of the many don ' ts imposed on us by regulations that was the most noticed, yet the most justified, was that we were not allowed to eat or drink food and water in native establishments. A few of the restaurants have excellent food and have been approved by the U. S. Medics as a safe place to eat. To these the Whiting sailors flocked in droves, for the Chinese are the best cooks in the Orient. Native Formosan food is rather unimagina- tive. Their ideas of hygiene are a far cry from our own. It is easier, they believe, to do the entire day ' s cooking in the morning, and then serve it as required. Imagine how the Formosan flies can make a morning-fried egg look by evening. Undoubtedly Formosa — especially around the major cities — is the noisiest place on the globe. Many of us thought this of Hong Kong, but after one hour in Keelung or Taipeh, Hong Kong seemed I by comparison likened to a mon- astery for Chinese mutes. It matters not whether any accessory works on the thousands of autos — mostly taxis — so long as the horn will beep. And beep it does, too, 24 hours every day. We found that a single ride in a taxi was sufficient to render us to complete exhaustion and near .. ' z -— SUPREl.lL :.... . ,:,,■.. -.lERS BUILDING — Located in the hocrl cl Taipei, it is ihe seal ol the Chinese Nationalist Government. gg fSBBtb Port Control Building guarding the narrow channel entrance oi Kao-Hsiung. Wilson takes a tour of the sprawling Kao-Hsiun j Stonecutters hewing granite bloclcs outside of Keelung. Seeing Kao-Hsiung the hard way. !S:

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One of the few gates and Confucius Temple nervous collapse, so most of us played it safe and hoofed it. Of course, the real reason for the incessant horn-blowing is the law. It mat- ters little how many pedestrians you run over so long as you sound the horn first. However, this applies to people only. After leaving this strange land and its greatly overcrowded people, it is difficult to appreciate the opalescent waters, silvery rivers, and maj- estic green mountains. Somehow the oozing mud of the city streets, the filth from over-popu- lation, the poverty from not enough land, con- tinued to be the indelible stigma. But with all this we learned that it is a free land, and as little as it is, it ' s all these people have. And being aware of the great problems that face them, as we moved out of sight into the For- mosa Straits we could not help but wonder how they will eventually resolve them. tjBi . . .ki Nixon and guide peer down on patio that has been site for many an execution. f tl Uc Seventeenth century deer Tabaka, Miertschin and Nixcn inspect Long Terns cf 300 years ago. INSIDE THE WALLED CITY H INSIDE THE WALLED CITY — Located in Tainan, it is the oldest city on Formosa. Built by the Dutch in 1650, Fort Providenlia served as the political center and bastion of defense. The bespattered walls depict age and many wars.