Tirante (SS 420) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 10 text:

We arrived in the rain as usual, but received a hearty welcome from the Iraklion Air Force Detachment. They quickly answered our questions and provided us with other assistance we needed. The highlight of the visit was the Temple of Knossis, about h,ooo years old. Purchases of souvenirs, coupled with our very successful Hrock huntn enabled Iraklion to become TIRANTE's most weight gaining POTP 50 far' We ran out of weights utilized to sink trash at sea. The local populations thought we were sort of wierd loading the crew's Mess with 500 five pound rocks. Prior to leaving Monday. l November, our swimming list was shortened considerably, with LTJG Elmer MANN and LTJG Ed STINSON receiving belated dunkings for ss quais and making LTJG, SNCSS7 Dave KOENIG' and FTG3CSS5 Randy RHYMAN tested their dolphins in the IRAKLION blue. Tuesday we commenced our last big operation of the MED deployment. This was a large exercise CNational Week? with the majority of the U. S. SIXTH Fleet units participating. Once again, we played the role of the opposition. Much of our times was spent submerged, with snorkel battery charges becoming as common as eating. At the completion of the exercise, Tuesday, 9 November, we surfaced and headed north for two days in Toulon, France. The transit was the longest of our deployment, with waves no smaller than large houses. A few of us, in one degree or another, paid tribute to HMr O'ROURKEH. Finally arriving in Toulon on Saturday the 13th, we received a warm welcome from the French Submariners. Sea stories as well as uniforms were swapped to such a degree that some, to us, appeared more French than UQS. The visit was short but fun and the sun, for a change, shined brightly in a crisp fall atmosphere. Unfortunately, our mail has not gotten to us for about three weeks primarily due to short inport periods. Please bear with us as we attempt to have it catch up with us prior to our arrival in Fort-Mahon. We departed Toulon, France l6 NOV-l DEC Monday morning, l5 November l97l after our brief two day visit and proceeded to participate in our final exercise of the trip. Isle D'or, a NATO exercise involving many ships of many nations, and as usual, we were the opposition. It was a good operation with which to complete our schedule. Upon surfacing at the end of the operation, we were faced with the roughest seas and weather seen this far. After several cold and wet watches , with the OOD and lookouts chained to the bridge, the watch was moved to the conn for the remainder of the night and we proceeded enroute Port Mahon, on the Island of Menorca.

Page 9 text:

After receiving a message to ENFN Cssb ROSIAK concerning a death in his family, arrangements were made to fly him to the States on emergency leave. pf Our last MED moor of this trip was executed smoothly by LTJG Lance KISTLER in bone chilling cold in Port Mahon. Once moored to the pier, the hunt for our long overdue mail began. By late evening the efforts of many paid off in the form of twelve large bags full. Oh, how fine it was to hear from home, with three more days of sightseeing and shopping under our belts, we departed Tuesday, the 23rd, for Barcelona. Rough seas met us again as we left the harbor. Not to have our long planned for Thanksgiving celebration upset, we submerged' to the calm depth of 200 feet and enjoyed a truely magnificant feast in peace and quiet. Somewhat stuffed, but nevertheless content, we surfaced and completed our transit, arriving in Barcelona the following morning with the weather clear and brisk. The city has a most distinctive, but somewhat garish Cgaudyl architecture style, however, our sights were set on heading home more than to looking at the interesting sights. Among places visited in the city of nearly three million were the Cathedral, Picasso Museum, Lalonju fthe exchangel, Monument of Columbus, replica of the Santa Maria and Montjuich Castle fun Fair. Saturday morning we departed for Rota for our turnover to USS CORPORAL and were on our last leg prior to returning to Key West. After pulling into Rota we began the turnover of pubs and passing on of useful information which went quickly and smoothly. Unfortunately, we must bid farewell to one of our real asset and great shipmates, QTMQCSSD Tommy BISHOP, who will be enrolling in college in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We wish Tommy and his wife Emily, much continued happiness and success. Our crossing may not be the smoothest, due to the winter weather but we'll certainly make it just as quickly and safely as humanly possible. Our scheduled arrival time is set for 1500 on the lhth of December. Marygrace, my wife will be contacting each of you as definite information concerning our arrival becomes available. ' Leaving Rota Wednesday morning the lst of December we operated several hours with the spanish and then commenced steaming full on three towards Key West. Encountering only several days of bad weather, we arrived at the Sea Bouy about 0830, Monday the 13th of December, thus ending our four months, MED deployment. It is wonderful to be home in Key West.

Page 11 text:

STATISTICS Miles steamed surfaced in Med ............. Miles steamed from homeport to homeport... Miles steamed submerge Total dives d ............ Simulated t5ig5A5 firings:::..'.... Total ports visited... Days in port ......... Days at sea ........... Officers qualified .... Enlisted qualified .... Total money spent on camera.eduipment:::. Total meals fed ....... Officers onboard ...... Total enlisted onboard Lisbon,Portuga1 Rota, Spain San Remo, Italy Naples, Italy Athens, Greece Iraklion, Crete Toulon, France Port Mahon,Menorca Barcelona, Spain Rota, Spain PORTS VISITED Aug Aug Sep Sep Oct Oct Nov Nov Nov Nov ....5001 ...15965 ....2224 .....70 ....2O0 ...10 .33.1 ....59.8 .....1 ....14 S2554 ...'.9729 .....8 ...72 Aug Sep Sep Oct Oct Nov Nov 71 Nov 71 Nov 71 Dec 71 71 71 71 71 71 71