Mount McKinley (AGC 7) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 145 text:

RHGDES , GREECE THOUGHT OF BY MANY AS ONE OF THE LOVELIEST ISLANDS TO BE FOUND ANYWHERE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN IS RHODES. SURROUNDED BY DEEP-BLU AEGEAN WATERS, ITS MOUNTAINS ARE COVERED NITH JILDFLONERS AND THICK VEG TATION. SEMITROPICAL FLOWERS ARE IN EVIDENCE ALL YEAR ROUND...THE SCARLET AL- THEAS, PURPLE BOUGAINVILLAEA, ROSES IN LIMITLESS PROFUSION. IN THE SUMMER ITS LANDSCAPES ARE BRIGHTENED BY MILLIONS OF BUTTERFLIES. ON MANY A DESERTED HILLTOP STAND RUINS OF GRACEFUL TEMPLES. RHODES IS THE SECOND OF ALL AEGEAN ISLANDS IN SIZE, SUBORDINATE ONLY TO CRETE, WHICH LIES SEVENTY MILES SOUTHWEST. RHODES IS SIXTY MILES LONG. THE SUNSHINE FROM ITS COMBINATION OF DRY AIR, BLUE SEA, AND DENSE VEGE- TATION CASTS A BENEFICENT LIGHT OVER THE WHOLE ISLAND, A PHENOMENON WHICH IMPELLED THE EARLIEST OF ITS ANCIENT PEOPLES TO DEDICATE IT TO APOLLO, THE GOD OF LIGHT. RHODES, WHOSE NAME IS BELIEVED TO HAVE COME FROM ITS WEALTH OF ROSES, REMAINED A CENTER OF EDUCATION AND NAVIGATION THROUGHOUT ANCIENT TIMES. THE EARLIEST KNOWN NAVAL CODES FOR ADMINISTERING A FLEET HAVE DESCENDED FROM THESE PEOPLE, AND THEIR PRINCIPLES HERE ADOPTED BY THE BRITISH NAVY. . ' 1 f, L..f,.v......,k... ........D ..,......,,....... N. uasanudwfama-new-m:.s 1-Y' -ff ' ,A :9v'-wf?-'1- '1 f '

Page 144 text:

PERSONAL CONTACT WAS MOUNT MCKINLEY'S THEME DURING THIS DEPLOYMENT WHILE EXTENDING THE HAND OF FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND THE PEOPLES OF THE COUNTRIES OF SOUTHERN EUROPE. WHENEVER WE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY, GIFTS WHICH WERE BROUGHT WITH US FROM TH STATES WERE DISTRIBUTED TO ORPHANAGES AND MISSIONARIES IN MANY OF THE PORTS WE VISITED. OUR NEDITERRANEAN FRIENDS ARE NOT FORGOTTEN WHEN NE LEAVE PORT- FOR INSTANCE, DURING A MEDITERRANEAN CRUISE IN 1959, THE CE DIVISION UADOPTEDU A SEALL ITALIAN GIRL THROUGH THE FOSTER PARENTS PLAN. CARMELLA ERRICHELLI WAS THEN EIGHT YEARS OLD, ATTRACTTVE AND BRIGHT--EVEN THOUGH HER HOME WAS MORE OF A SHANTY THAN A HOUSE. i1-111-, CARMELLA'S SISTER, CARMELLA, AND INTERPRETER ABOARD MOUNT MCKINLEY DURING OUR VISIT TO NAPLES THIS YEAR, THE MEN OF CE DIVISION WERE ABLE TO HAVE THEIR FOSTER DAUGHTER, NOW A BRIGHT, FRIENDLY TWELVE-YEAR-OLD, ABOARD FOR DINNER AND A VISIT. THIS NAS HER SECOND VISIT TO MOUNT MCKINLEY AS SHE HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN ENTERTAINED DURING THE MEDITERRANEAN CRUISE OF 1961 THERE IS CONTTNUOUS EXCHANGE OF CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN CARMELLA AND HER FOSTER FATHERS. W ALSO CORRESPOND WITH OTHER NEW FRIENDS THAT WE EET IN THE MEDITERRANEAN KEEPING IN CLOSE TOUCH, HOPING TO VISIT AGAIN.

Page 146 text:

L I w 1 I THE ISLAND SHARED THE FORTUNES OF GREECE AND CRETE, EXCEPT FOR AN ABSENCE OF ARAB CONQUEST, UNTIL THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. THEN RHODES NAS CON- QUERED BY THE CRUSADERS. THE CRUSADERS LOST NO TTME IN BUILDING A FORTI- FIED CITY ON RHODES THAT IS STILL A MARVEL OF MEDIEVAL ARCHITECTURE. HOWEVER, THE TURKS LATER PROVED TOO STRONG FOR THE INHABITANTS OF RHODES, AND IN 1522 BEAT DOWN THE DEFENSES. THE SULTANS REMAINED IN POSSESSION OF RHODES FOR ALMOST FOUR HUNDRED YEARS. IN 1911 AN ITALIAN FLEET APPEARED OFF THE HARBOR AND DEMANDED THE SUR- RENDER OF THE TURKISH GOVERNOR, ITALY AND TURKEY BEING AT NAR. AFTER WORLD WAR I ITALY, WITH MUSSOLINI AS DICTATOR, DECIDED TO DEVELOP RHODES EVEN MORE. DURING THEIR OCCUPATION, THE ISLAND'S TOURIST ATTRAC- TIONS WERE INTENSIVELY DEVELOPED, AND TH FINE HOTEL OF THE ROSES BUILT. THE RHODIANS WERE HOSTILE TO THE OCCUPATION. LIBERATION CAME AFTER THREE YEARS OF STARVATION AND BOMBARDMENT DURING WORLD WAR II. ITALY SURREN- DERED TO THE ALLIES AND GERMANY SEIZED RHODES. A LITTLE NAR BETWEEN BRITISH AND GERMAN COMMANDOES LASTED FITFULLY UNTIL VQE DAY. AT THEIR SURRENDER, THE BRITISH HANDED RHODES AND THE DODECANESE OVER TO GREECE.