Quincy (CA 71) - Naval Cruise Book

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THE LA D OF THE O E EYED I DIAN 3? .. is FD I tp' ' iv' Guantanamo... a small bay near the southeast tip of Cuba. An American outpost community. A spot where the sun bums and hakes without mercy throughout the day, and then rises clear and hot again the following morning. Dry grass-covered hills. Water divided hy imaginary lines into numbered sectors. Military vehicles. Military zones. Drills. Exercises. Observers, che:-king and watching and correcting. We were there six weeks. Ours was shakedown training. A new crew had to be shaped and worked into a fighting unit. There our repair parties learned every tilting and corner of the ship. They discovered that damage can be fought and a wounded ship returned to battle. It was a period of experiment. 'We set and reset every material condition. We simulated ruptnres in the steel skin of the ship, we feigned flooding and tires, while designated groups worked with growing skill and increasing speed to repair the pretended damage. We went through the frantic motions of main V: F'1if,r14,'F Ulf engine failure, of steam smothering and power loss and boiler casualty, and of all the dozens of less dramatic but equally hazardous catastrophes that are a constant threat to a complex, 120,000-horse- power engineering installation. We were introduced to the rudiments of atomic warfare. We heard of Geiger counters and film badges, and learned the human danger of such laboratory abstractions as radiation . There, too, the last traces of shipyard dust were blasted We fired at towed targets. We shot up the targets they had shot them up too. The roar of big guns ceased to be a novelty. and fire controlmen more accurate. The ship began to work the repetitive grind of rigorous routine, we came to do our jobs Recreation fell somewhat short of the sailor's ideal. But a blistering Cuban sung with horses, golf, G.I. bars, swimming from our guns. Yve fired at drones. and they brought out more, and we Loading teams grew more proficient. together as a cooperate unit. Under naturally, and with a new confidence. we managed, with hall games under pools, ship's outingsg and, inevitably, with Guantanamo City. A dry, sun-baked community where dogs wander dirt-covered streets, where guides badger unmercifully, and where chattering natives beckon the Americanos frantically into their uuwashed establishments -- but nonetheless a City, a dream of purest heaven in contrast to the too-familiar Bay. We went in eager droves. But, after all, we were not there for pleasure. And Guantanamo was not only work, and training. It was also a revelation. It showed us beyond all doubt that our ship could fight if necessity arose, and that we could fight with her. That was why we had gone. ' bi.- .T ' , I . ,'....' .-.cl --,.' '2a',,f'1'

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JUNE 1952 THE Sun. Mon. Tue. Weil. Thur. Fri. Sat. 2 w 3 w M W M - new M-M 28- BUSY ' ' .. , - I ' -' ,T - 34- ' 5 ,n ' ' - C 5 -Q, ul - ', ' Ai 4 A ll ' D 1 T H M n , Q 8 Q Q v YV , :I A L. Q. 1 ' X ,.J . , '. k I Yi : I 'I X. V lv. f , --4, he .-, , V, . Y 1 f , Y L1 x ' dA ., , Rv xv NA X. l , , Q- L

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LEARNING THE HARD WAY! I we WHERE ARE THE OBSERVERS?