Valcour (AVP 55) - Naval Cruise Book

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View from the sea. View from land The Rock as we saw her I 1 USS VALCOUR, Gibraltar ,NNN-xivkvw Zh x V I I Q-wmv W, N X x Q ffff f ...-1wf,,,,,W.x ,.x .

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ki Q F -n fy tx Quite a few moons ago, long before Nero learned to play the fiddle, a mountain range ran from Gibraltar across to the tip of North Africa, sealing oil' the sea. According to scuttlebutt, a local strong man, Her- cules, not having anything else to do, wrenched the mountains apart, joining the ebbing Mediterranean with the Atlantic. The result of this sinewy manifestation gave us what is sometimes referred to as the Pillars of Hercules. It was through these majestic portals that the VALCOUR sailed into Gibraltar on 23 February 1953 to begin the tour outside the United States. Since the time that Hercules performed his amazing feat, an almost immeasurable portion of water has circulated through this strait, and when the VALCOUR moored alongside the HMS Crossbow in the harbor at Gibraltar, we found' it not at all like Hercules left it. Of the twenty- five species of animals that once inhabited his domain, including the elephant and the rhinoceros, only the tailless monkey known as the Barbary Ape remains. Has everyone mustered? And instead of a barren pinnacle, there is a thriving, impregnable fortress, accommodating ap- proximately 23,000 people within two very crowded square miles. Exactly what the Rock itself contains is a military secret, but it is known to be honeycombed with passageways, gun positions, magazines, and a number of natural caverns. After fueling, the VALCOUR sailed out into the historic blue waters of the Mediterranean, next port of call, Athens, Greece. -

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' ns Jwflin On the cold, windy morning of 28 February 1953 the VALCOUR moved into the port of Piraeus, Greece. The Greek pilot and Mediterranean mooring gave us a new experience to remember. Late that day the USS WATTS moored across the slip from us and gave us a chance to exchange movies. Piraeus is the port city for Athens and oifered very little of entertainment value to us. However, over half the crew joined the tour parties which enabled us to see the Athens of our history books. Even though the skies were overcast, cameras recorded for us the trips through the ancient and modern 'parts of the centuries-old city of the Creeks. Standing high above the city is the Acropolis and crowning that fortress-hill is the Parthenon. Probably no work of man has caused more favorable comment as to architecture and durability and we added our words of commendation. We visited Sling Stadium-home of the Olympic Games, the Palace, Constitution Square, the Parks, and the Academy of Science. On Monday, 2 March, with our first collection of souvenirs, we set sail for Izmir, Turkey only a 'gstone's throw away.