Leyte (CVA 32) - Naval Cruise Book

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YHLETIIIS LCDR M. C. RIDDLE ENS T. E. MOORE, JR. Afhlefic Officer AssT. AThIeTic Officer Your ship, The U.S.S. LEYTEICVA-321, may well be proud, and boasTTuI Too, oT iTs wide aThIeTic program which raTes as one oT The TinesT in The enTire SixTh I:Ie.eT. The carrier glories in The TacT ThaT iT Tields Teams in every maior sporT wiTh The excepTion oT TooTbaII. The aThIeTic program is iusT one parT oT The Special Services OrganizaTion aboard The ship buT wiThouT doubT is iTs mosT popular acTiviTy. Base- ball, baskeTbaII and boxing ane The ToremosT oT The TiTTeen sporTs acTiviTies, buT as The seasons change so does The popuIariTy. For insTance, while The ship was on iTs SixTh IVIediTerranean cruise, baske+baII and boxing en- joyed The spoTIighT, The LeyTe Team puTTing on exhibiTions in almosT every porT. The maioriTy oT The baskefball games played are in The inTra-mural class, buT, whenever possible, a Team Trom The shore oT ThaT parTicuIar porT was inviTed aboard The ship Tor compeTiTion. Iviore' TreguenTIy Than noT, The hangar deck courT oT The Leading LeyTe was The scene oT a baske+baII game in The aTTernoon while The ship was in porT, especially whenever a holiday rou- Tine was declared. One oT The highlighTs oT The baskeTbaIl schedule occurred beTween The LeyTe and The Turkish All- STars. A Token oT Triendliness was exchanged be- Tween The Teams in The Torm oT a gold-Tringed Turkish TIaglpresenTed To The LeyTe's Team cap- ann During The TirsT Three monThs oT The cruise The I.eyTe's mosT successTuI baseball Team ever, sporT- ing a season's record oT 32 vicTories wiTh only IO seTbacks, was absenT, buT Tor an ample reason. The Team was back aT Camp Leieune, INI.C., baTTIing Tor The championship oT The ATIanTic EIeeT, rep- resenTing AirI.anT, whose Tourney They had pre- viously won, AT one Time during The season They had a winning sTreak oT I5 consecuTive games. We menTioned earlier ThaT There were I5 diT- TerenT sporTs acTiviTies aboard The I.eyTe, These exTend Trom baseball To archery, including .even goIT. Baseball, baskeTball, boxing, wresTIing, soTT- ball, bowling, swimming, Tennis, goIT, Tencing. archery, sailing, Track, volleyball and badminTon are The TiTTeen sporTs, and crew members swarm in droves in order To parTicipaTe. Even so There are some IeTT ouT in The cold when iT comes To LeyTe Teams compeTing wiTh shore-side opponenTs, buT This loophole is Taken up by inTramural sporTs and everyone who wishes To parTicipaTe geTs his share oT compeTiTion. Boxing Smokers were very popular during The LeyTe's Ivied cruise and were had whenever op- posiTion was available, These Smokers didn'T necessarily have To be held aboard The I.eyTe1 cruiser's accompanying The carrier also hopped on The sporTs bandwagon and aT GibraITar, aboard The U.S.S. WORCESTER, I5 Three-round bouTs made up The nighT's-program. AnoTher Smoker TeaTured Tour oT The I.eyTe's beTTer boxers oppos- ing members oT The Salonika Young Ivlens Chris Tian Associahon Boxing Team 102

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ir SIPIECIIAIL SIERVIICIES R STANLEY E. WAGENHALS Uni+ecl S+a+es Navy Special Services Officer

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Boxing, Tor many years, has been a maior sporT in all oT The arm.ed Torces and on mosT oT The ships in The Navy. The U.S.S, LEYTE is no excep- Tion. RaTher iT is one oT The leaders in The huge box-program which The Navy encourages. Crewmembers oT The l.eyT.e boasT proudly oT iTs boxing Team, and This is well warranTed, be- BOXING cause Their record and excepTional sporTsman- ship in The Tield oT boxing has been ouTsTanding. During The sixTh Mediterranean cruise oT The l.eyTe, bouTs were To be seen oTTen, A Tew oT The programs included bouTs sTricTly beTween TighTers oT The l.eyTe, buT Th.ere were also bouTs wiTh Teams Trom oTher ships. T The boxing schedule included numerous bouTs wiTh TighTers oT counTries visiTed by The ship, ce- menTing good-will beTween The UniTed STaT.es and These parTicular counTries. The largesT program in which The LeyTe Team parTicipaTed while on iTs Med cruise was a I5- bouT smoker aT Th.e Rock oT GibralTar. AT This smoker, Three oT The LeyTe's Tour TighTers were vicTorious. AnoTher smoker Took place aT Salon- ika, Greece on board The I.eyTe, The opposiTion represenTing The Salonika YMCA boxing Team. OT The Tour bouTs The l.eyTe was vicTorious in Two. Obvious and well appreciaTed, buT cerTainly noT incidenTal, was The appearance oT many specTa- Tors aT These bouTs. They cheered our TighTers and showed Their appreciaTion oT a good bouT by loud, vigorous and TreguenT applause. FronT Row, Leff To RighT: Fries, Diaz, Bilyeu, Lay, SouThern, Jorgensen, Back Row: Albohn, Brown, Disbrow, Chief KeTTIe lCoachJ, ENS WaTTs lCoachj, Breininger, Rowe, Gassen. . sw, --A---f-, --x .-,-'.a::.-la., - - - .- . .'--' -- ' .-'.