Shangri La (CVS 38) - Naval Cruise Book

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. . the highlight of my professional life. Captain H, R Poorman Farewell Address September 6,1970 w.v-,.-.-nf.v.-.qpu...4.....-.,..---f....,4.,-.....v...,,......1.,1-,Q-ax--fi-..-Q4-,,.m,,. ,,, .... , ., ., ..,....... - ---- V--Y Y V V f 253

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i 1 V - 1. , 3 l , FI AL The words of decommissioning descended from the IMC in clear, crisp tones. The announcement was expectedg only the time- liness startled what turned out to be Shangri- La's last crew. It's always a sentimental journey . . . a fighting Man-O-War's last sea voyage with her entire crew. Perhaps it was fitting Shangri-La carried her 3,000-man comple- ment - most of whom were younger than she - around the globe, proudly displaying her aging steel bulk to thousands of people at seven ports. It's easy for seafaring Navymen to talk of their ship as a living, breathing edifice of TRIB TE men themselves. But it really doesn't breathe. Instead it steams . . . in our case, in the defense of the free world. While other ships are often legacies of namesakes from bygone days, there is only one Shangri-La. It is doubtful there will be another. When the final news releases and tributes are long forgotten, Shangri-La will live on - for better or worse - in the hearts of crewmen she once embraced. Such is the complex, sometimes confusing magnetism of fighting ladies that once ex- isted . . . but who exist no longer.

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