Randolph (CVA 15) - Naval Cruise Book

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fi L if If CDR ARCHY L LUPIA Gunnery Ojfcer LCDR GEORGE D SELFRIDGE Dental Ojicer , I 4 ns 4 CDR WILLIAM L HOOVER Engineer Ogicer

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CDR ARMISTEAD B SMITH JR Commander Carrier Air Group Seven CDR GEORGE H FULLER Navigator CDR NILS W BOE Air Officer

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7 THE E TROUBLED WATERS The history of naval power in the Mediterranean Sea is very ancient and very honorable. The cruise of the Randolph and her crew chronicled in this book is the latest page in a story of ships and men that stretches back thousands of years to a time of which our only records are legendary ones. The present dominant position of the American navy in these waters is of such recent origin that it is proper that we should bear ourselves respectfully, and begin our book by honoring the deeds of the great sailors in whose wakes we sail. There is another and weightier reason for con- sidering what has gone before us in this sea. The duty we have performed has cost us much in time, effort, money, and lives. It would not have been re- quired of us were it not of the utmost importance to our government. The events at which we shall briefly look in this introduction are the great days of naval history, when the actions of sailors dictated the course of world history. Wife shall see that it is not only in the middle of the twentieth century, and not only to the American people, that naval control of the Medi- terranean has been a matter of anxious concern and great moment. In 1194 B.C. Agamemnon, King of Mycenae, led a great allied fleet of the kingdoms of Greece and of Crete against the heavily fortified city of Troy. A beachhead was established, and a combined land and sea war of attrition was conducted for ten years before Troy capitulated, and was razed to the ground. As is so often the case in naval warfare, the question at issue in the Trojan VVar was sea-borne trade. Troy was a great naval power, and lay in a situation com- manding the Hellespont, nowadays called the Dardan- elles. Her navy demanded and received tribute from all the traffic along what was then the great East-lfVest trade route from the Mediterranean to the far shore of the Black Sea. The Greek kingdoms were young and vigorous sea-faring nations who chafed under this domineering influence, and longed to assume for them- selves control of this rich trade. They were a people given to warring among themselves, but economic necessity at last led them to combine in force sulli- cient to match the strongest and most civilized power of the time. The Greeks did not attempt to cut Troy's lines of communication to the interior of Asia Minor, but systematically raided the sea-ports of the neighboring coast-line, thus cutting off Troy' from the sea. Since the wealth of Troy derived from trade, this policy had the effect of draining Troy's treasury, and divid- ing her from her allies, the states of the interior, who no longer found a market for their goods in Troy. These allies were more than willing to do business with the Greeks, but the strength of Troy was such that she held out for ten years of siege. The legend of the wooden horse is considered to be apocryphal. perhaps deriving from the fact that Troy was carried at last by means of huge wooden engines covered with wet horsehide as protection against Hre. The effect of the Trojan XVar was the complete destruction of the greatest Mediterranean power'ol the day, and the transfer of economic and military dominance to the Greeks for a period of a thousand years. In view of the vast effort and magnificent prize involved in this war, the legend that it was essentially an affair of honor fought over a woman is considered fanciful. The first great fleet action in naval history took place on 23 September 480 B.C. in the narrow waters between the island of Salamis and the peninsula of Piraeus. NVhen Randolph anchored oll Piraeus many of us ascended the Acropolis of Athens. from which height our guides pointed out the site of this famous battle, which saved Greece from being over-run by a vast Persian army. In 4190 BLK. Darius. the King of Persia. had landed at Marathon an amphibious force of 50.000 men who were to strike at Athens. This army was opposed at its beach-head and defeated by a numerically inferior Athenian army, forcing the Persians to re-embark and return to Asia. Marathon was a great victory which led many of the Greeks to hope that the threat from Persia had been destroyed, but the wiser heads among lheni, notably 'lheuristocles of Xthens. knew that the Persian army at Marathon was only a fraction of her lil