Oriskany (CV 34) - Naval Cruise Book

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4 4 SWITZERLAN C.,...,i.,,,,es G Modern lighting men find this old gun in the Chateau of Chillon an artistic weapon. iPicking out landmarks on a map of Geneva, Switzerland. 5 Oriskany men in the United Nations building in Geneva. , ,, i 1 1 t:,l.'f,9MWfs'Ne?x .,g ig, .,., L Q f qv SPL yy 5. I+ V ' .FV J We ,gf w I ,K yy f ri, ' git I if 'W 2 V It ' ,f , l C ,, 3 1 r'-W 1 1 f ,f 1 L 2315, I 'Ml ll .isa 4 F :.,,. ': , 5 A 3 f ,L L , ' f iw . I' -Q.: ms . , 4 f if .ww . F n - ..are N s GL 5 ,Y sais A ' f. ' H f ' 4 Fbzwgmf fr,:i,f+eQ ' 5 W H, Ffa , 'L Q.,:fE1X,, ',' iw ,' ' ' I 'f ' V 455: ,mffxgf fig, , 5 T, V , 1, , L :Q , ,, , J, f 7 ,' 2l4..1LGi .. 9 Everyone signs the register in the Chateau of Chillon. Q? Ghosts of armored knights linger in the walls and towers of Chillon castle. 0 Fireplace in the Barons' Hall, Chateau Chillon. hi 141, . , ,A i,,i.WW I 2 U1 ff! R32 3-1:2 situ.. A. . ,gif l N4 we

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The P901 Byron wrote of a legendary priivlwf vf . . . snow under summer suns -ff? an-'Lkw 'tru Q-'L e NX xx Q K we x 'XX QSQXN X? ' rr - . Q O. -N Q X KXL. X - S X- w s at aF.W.S'.swr, t . . t . s f X s www-S' X X - -XY .gas fs, Mbnasfery in the French Alps near the Switzerland border. A stop for pictures of farmland and mountains. French Alps near the border of Switzerland. Chateau of Chillon on Lake Genevd- the WITZERLAND has no Mediterranean coastline but Oriskany officers and men L visited the landlocked nation three times during the cruise. They traveled over the Alps by bus, the equivalent of American deluxe Greyhounds. The tours were the high points of the summer in each man's book, no matter whether he visited the French or the ltalian cantons. No one tried to figure it out but the distance traveled up and down on the sides of mountains probably equaled the distance between points as the crow flies. Unlike the railroads, motor highways tended to go over the shoulders of mountains rather than through them. From high altitudes, the parties could see snow-capped peaks 50 miles or more in the distance. Below in valleys, red-roofed villages and small cities looked like toys. Despite the miniature appearance, life in Switzerland moved with the precision of clockwork. Guides called ahead to make appointments for serving luncheon and dinner. At crossing points, border guards handled the parties rapidly and courteously. Just inside the lines, commercial banks posted the daily exchange rate so that tourists knew exactly what they were getting for their dollars. Moreover, shop keepers accepted dollars for merchandise Hgured to the centime for the day unlike merchants elsewhere in Europe who favored rough approximations. This striving for exactness in time and commerce made up only part of the spirit of the country. The people were also proud of the perfection of things they made. Oriskany sailors learned the famous names of watchmakers of Europe-names seldom heard in the United States: Patek-Philippe, often called the finest watch in Switzer- land, Rolex, thc self-winding watch, Omegag Tissot, Eternag Ulysse Nardin and Vacheron-Constantin. The reputation of such names added considerably to the value of a watch. Otherwise, a Swiss watch differed only in its face and its case. The inner workings were produced in factories which sold to nearly every Hbrand namen in the trade. For the picturesque rides between cities, the parties stocked up on prize-winning Swiss chocolate. Suchard and Nestle originally earned their reputations in Switzerland. Compared to the States, chocolate bars in the Alps tasted bitter and felt harder on the tongue. American style, sailors recalled, was sweet and milky soft. Guides, some of them in skirts, escorted the parties around major cities. In Geneva, they stopped at the Palace of the League of Nations, the Memorial of the Reformation and a Swiss watch factory. Another important stop on the tours out of Cannes was the Chateau of Chillon. The tour from Genoa touched Switzerland at only one point, Chiasso. As a night Spot, Geneva took the blue ribbon. ln some places, a sailor could look through huge plate glass windows and sec, day or night, the snow-capped mountains, the cold black lake and miniature villages along the valley.

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NCE upon a time, Turkey was a land of romance, veiled ladies, fanatic Moslems and strange power as far west as Vienna. To Oriskany sailors, the new nation founded by the late Kemal Ataturk was part of the Western world, an ally of the United States. At Izmir late in July, officers and men could see how the Eastern way of life had given way to the Western. Along the shoreline, modern hotels and apartment houses gleamed whitely in the sun that set in the western sea. Ocean-going ships pulled up to docksides. Buicks and Stude- bakers and brand-new Fords purred along wide avenues. But an old quarter, of narrow winding lanes, bazaars and fezzed mer- chants, reminded officers and men that the curious spirit of the Arabs still lingered. Here and there, a minaret shot up cleanly to the sky. Despite mosque and fez, there was remarkable tolerance of non-be- lievers. Muezzins welcomed sailors into rug-strewn halls of prayer, guided them up interminable steps to balconies from which the call to the faith- ful was voiced several times each day. ln line with custom, sailors re- moved shoes when entering the places sacred to the people. Around mosques, outdoor cafes strangely lived up to their names, serving little cups of thick black coffee. According to Mohammedan doctrine, a believer was forbidden to touch liquor on pain of endangering his soul. Sailors noticed that many Turks were tempted to stray. But they would warn the soul first, with a loud shout before drinking, to steer clear, that brandy was on the way down. Bazaars of rug merchants opened without walls or doors directly on the little streets. Butchers and candy peddlers also displayed their wares in the open air. Plate glass a la American was reserved for tailors, hard- ware stores and bakeries. After walking the cobbled lanes, almost every sailor made his way to the Navy Canteen, located in palm lined fairgrounds. To get there, the city of Izmir hospitably permitted Americans in uniform to ride trolleys and busses without charge. Carriages drawn by narrow-Shanked horses charged a couple of hundred kurus, nearly a dollar. In the shadow of u muezzin's tower Oriskany chiefs shop for bric-u-bruc. fs -f . . . Turkey faces west The American and British colony at Izmir put themselves out to make Ill our visit pleasant. Wives of these engineers and businessmen volunteered to pour coffee, serve sandwiches and answer questions. But better than the refreshments, in the opinion of Oriskany men, was the dancing. To music by ships' orchestras, the ladies-mostly married and with young children but all good-looking--followed the steps of jitterbug and waltzer alike. Some sailors found it hardly necessary to move outside the canteen except on the way to and from Fleet Landing. A souvenir shop, an unofficial post office, and a bar offering a large cold bottle of beer or of lemon soda completed the set up. For weeks afterward the men remembered the fancy carving on meerschaum pipes at prices far below the twenty dollars charged by American tobacco shops. Tours through the back country to ancient Greek and Roman ruins at Ephesus reminded sailors that many other civilizations had passed through Asia Minor. The recent shift of Turkey from facing East to facing West thus seemed only another in a long tradition of keeping up with the world.