Robert A Owens (DD 827) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 9 text:

LA T LOOK AT THE D815 PIER 16' ,,. P' 1 U 4 f-L.. X Y, ,-.wif-..--4 R Alf ,- , . ,N gl qv, 1 ,A , , ,, R . rf- .W .','.,:,, 'f Tiff.- T ..... -., M . sps,, 'H-. W.-Q Q Q, .- Q . + M --. .5 , -- .-ww -0- xiii X- Nl 3.455 nm. W' s , ---Q - .. is... A, rv X-sl' 7 I 4 Fi f Lit L 1 . 5 ' x ,T ,L Ut .S -Tw f A -L if ' LQ ,l D 1 ' C 1 9 .

Page 8 text:

In early November many of us had never been to the Mediterranean Sea. We were wild with curiosity about what the next four months would bring. Most of us were too busy to devote much time to the thought anyway. There were so many preparations to be made. We had to load provisions and stock aboard, get the engineering plant ready, see that the proper publications and charts and operations orders were aboard. And there were multitudes of other details . , . GET THE SHIP READY . . . DON'T FORGET THAT PROPER PRIOR PLANNING . . . Finally the seemingly mad confusion was astern and we were passing through the Thimble Shoal Channel in company with five other ships of Destroyer Squadron Two. The date was November 27, 1965.

Page 10 text:

h d Gibraltar. For many of us this OH December 8'ft1gl?1r2Vggen.0SiltlEicaiE1gli1 liberty was not granted we were was our iirsthglllknpsemos monklgs Climbing on ,The Rocks, Mythology has atbltehgfg iii gggtiggl will remain on Gibraltar as long as the monkeys are 1 there. After three long weeks we finally reached our first liberty port. Our stay was brief, but Naples provided an opportunity for us to relax and forget the long tedious hours we had spent at sea. Naples itself offered many interesting places to visit and there were tours to Pompeii, Mt. Vesuvius and Sorrento that gave us a chance to see some of the surround- 1ng country and to learn something about the history of the area.