In 1989 the USS IOWA (BB-61) was my first ship and we had a GREAT cruise! Of a six month deployment, over half of it was in various ports including Kiel, Casablanca, Alexandria, Naples, and the Rock of Gibraltar. My second deployment on the USS Wisconsin (BB 64) in 1990-1991 was entirely in the Persian Gulf waiting to kick the Iraqis out of Kuwait. My last deployment was mostly off of Bosnia in the Adriatic Sea as a member of COMPHIBRON 8 staff on the USS IWO JIMA (LPH 2) in 1992.
One of the highlights for me was going to Alexandria, Egypt. The photos below are from my bus trip to Cairo and the pyramids. I was careful to only drink carbonated water which should have protected me from Montezuma's Revenge. Unfortuanately on my last night there I was ordered to go to dinner at the Egyptian Navy HQ in Alexandria. As I was eating the fish I was wondering how sick I was going to get so I asked the Egyptian officer next to me where the fish came from. His answer: "Fish of the Nile. Very Good! Very Good!" I don't remember it being good enough to justify the next week of my life. However, the Fish of the Nile is very good if you want to lose a lot of weight really quick!
"Solid as the Rock" is the old Prudential statement. Well the Rock turns out to be about two square miles with about 40 miles of tunnels in it. It was taken by the English from the Spanish in the early 1700's and the English have no intentions of giving it up because you can see Africa from its peak. Since it sits at the entrance to the Mediterranean, with the 14" guns on top of it you can shoot any ships trying to enter or exit. The only monkeys in the "wild" in Europe are on Gibraltar and the myth is that the British will not give up "Gib" as long as any monkeys still live. During World War II the monkeys started dying of some virus so Churchill had a cruiser sent to Africa to grab some more monkeys!
Gibralter is mostly a tourist attraction now (including the monkeys). The last time the English tried to test the guns in 1974, the concussion caused a rock slide which destroyed a hotel that was under construction. So much for gunnery practice!
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Guns of Gibraltar |
Me on Top of "Gib" |
As part of my third deployment I was in Athens for the Fourth of July 1992. The Greeks aren't too fond of Americans but we managed to have a good time anyway, especially since we had been at sea for 80 out of 90 days leading up to this port visit! These pictures are of me and some other officers at the Acropolis. We took the tour because... You Should Always Take the Tour!
Updated 28 DEC 05
