Telfair (APA 210) - Naval Cruise Book

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ARRlVERDERCl was said to Italy and Task Force 6l began, we thought the fi,-Sf leg home, with a liberty visit to Palma on the Spanish Island of Mallbrca. We found Palma sunny, still a little chilly for beach-going, and very touristy. The first wave on the beach also found out that Palma is a favorite of the Scandinavian tourist, including many tall blond Nordic queens. Palma was a shoppers paradise with the best bargains being in leather goods and straw products. I We left the beautiful spot of Palma in a state of great excitement. We were bound for Barcelona, reputedly the finest liberty port in Europe. To our dissappointment we were allocated an anchorage several miles from fleet landing and had to watch two other ships go inside the breakwater to moor alongside the pier. We overcame the obstacle presented by distance however and very shortly had made our presence well known in downtown Barcelona. Everyone had his own opinion of Barcelona, and each person found something different to do so it would be pre- sumptuous to attempt to make a blanket statement concerning our stay there. It should be sufficient to say that all hands would welcome the opportunity to return there someday. Barcelona was scheduled to be the last port of the cruise. People had attuned themselves to the idea of heading stateside after that and many really had a fling there in memory of afinecruise.Then, the world situation and Naval require- ments elsewhere, resulted in a decision at the highest levels to extend our de- ployment in the Med. for an indefinite period. Almost without exception, the news was received without welcome, but the morale ofthe crew and Marines did not dip noticeably in the ensuing weeks, much to the credit of the involved Gators. The first item on the new schedule was a landing exercise in Mazaron, Spain. TELFAIR compounded her woe, on arriving at the anchorage, when the Starboard anchor and l80 fathoms of chain decided to keep on going instead of being held in check by the brake. It was remarked at the time that this was one occasion that the Boatswain's mate on the forecastle did not have to tell his gang to step lively! With the help of an MSO and attached EOD personnel from the salvage operations at Palomares, we recovered the anchor the following day. Meanwhile the landing itself was conducted under very heavy surf conditions. The inshore undertow caused several boats to broach and even resulted in a mismatched co- llision between a Mike boat and a Papa boat. The Papa boat was given to the local farmers for firewood. lncidentally, the villagers of the area were of con- siderable assistance in retracting operations and the squadron thanked them with an appropriate gift. ,. , - H-W . ,iii

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From Naples we had several days at sea and then ioined with some Italian Army forces to conduct a landing operation at Porto Scudo, on the southwest tip of Sardinia, the primary diversion in another week of waiting for the Marines to return was watching the low-level attack planes strafe the beach area, both by day and night. Genoa, Italy hosted us from December 20 through January 3. We found Genoa to be totally unlike Naples. Businesslike, efficient, lacking the overwhelming and undesireable element, the city was an acceptable home away from home although all would have preferred to be elsewhere for Christmas and New Years. Med- moored to the Municipal pier, TELFAlR's stern was practically in downtown Genoa and large crowds of curious people appeared daily, sometimes giving us the im- pression that we were on exhibit. The fan-tail proved a splendid place for the girl-watchers on the ship. Genoa sits on the southern end of the Italian Riviera. Even though it was not beach season, the resort towns in the area were bustling. Among the favorites were Portofino, where a coke costs a dollar, and Nervi. Some of the more ad- venturesome took leave and headed for the hills of Austria and Germany for ski- ing and other forms of the good life. New Year's eve in Genoa may be the most dangerous in existence. It is an old custom to throw out the window, no matter what floor you live on, any household item no longer needed lranging from flower pots to bathtubsl, without any warning to pedestrians in the streets below. Several sailors swore they would never touch another drop of grog after nearly being beaned by chamber pots. We ushered in T966 withaNATOsponsoredlanding exercise in Corsica. Two French ships, the LST ODET and the LPH ARROMANCHES participated in the training. Visits were exchanged by men of all ships and several beach parties livened the spirits of all hands. The squadron split up after Corsica and half of the units went to Livorno, Italy, while the GRANT COUNTY, FORT SNELLING, and TELFAIR went to La Spezia, some 90 miles south of Genoa. La Spezia is a commercial city most noted for the large Italian Naval Base located there. lt is not highly rated as a liberty port by experienced liberty hounds, but after nearly a solid month of beach time the relaxation was welcome. La Spezia was near enough to a small ski resort for some of us to take advantage of that. While we were at La Spezia, FORT SNELLING was .called to ioin other units of the SIXTH FLEET engaged in the search for the missing Nuclear device near Palomares, and would not steam with the formation anymore during the cruise.

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We learned that the duration of our extension was one month and that our next port of call was Toulon, France. Toulon is not a city noted for beauty or art. It is the principal French Naval Port of the Mediterranean. Its saving grace was that it was within striking range of the well-known riviera cities of Cannes and Nice. All who could, made a trip to these garden spots. Facilities on the base at Toulon gave the athletes on TELFAIR a chance to flex their muscles. There was a certain amount of fraternization between French and American Sailors. In general, however, the weary fighting men were simply biding time until we were westbound. To our surprise, we entered the harbor at Palma for the second time in six weeks. I think there were many surprised acquaintances on the beach who could not be- lieve that we had fulfilled our good-bye promises to return someday. Several of the TELFAIR tigers elected to remain onboard ship during this visit. After a week in Palma, we made for Rota, Spain with renewed vigor, site of our turnover with PHIBRON 6. An overnight stay there, the excitement of seeing our relief, the USS SANDOVAL appear on the horizon, and we were finally and irrevocably homebound. The passage home was without incident although the weather got a little out of hand on occasion. The barren mud flats of the Carolina coast heralded our return to the USA. We off-loaded the marine contingent in record time and turned North for Norfolk, our home port. It was a cold wet day as we entered the Hampton Roads Channel but as we came alongside the pier the weather broke slightly and the married personnel were lining the rails to catch a glimpse of their wives and children. As the brow went over many of us reflected on the experience and knowledge gained over the past 6 months, and came to the conclusion that we had enriched our outlook by being a member of Med 3-65. PUBLISHED AND PRINTED BY LISKEY LITHDGRAPH CORPORATION