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  • US Navy visits to Cork...

    Hi all
    As a yoof, I used to visit the foreign vessels that docked right up close to the city (Horgan's Quay?) and I remember some US Navy or Coast Guard destroyers came in (three or four) one day and stayed for about a week. They were quite old and we were told that some of them were survivors of Pearl Harbour, had survived WW II, Korea,etc and were on a final cruise before being struck off charge. Does anyone remember these ships or have any pictures?
    regards
    GttC

  • #2
    Maybe if you were to give a year .maybe the Examiner or some news paper might have them archieved
    Covid 19 is not over ....it's still very real..Hand Hygiene, Social Distancing and Masks.. keep safe

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    • #3
      The earliest one I remember was USS Truett(a spruance class) which went to anchor in the harbour back around 82 or 83. Spartanburg County also visited around the same time, as did Charleston sometime later. The only one I remember at Horgans Quay was USS Pharris though,(FF1094) and that was about 85..(there was a Soviet Cruiser in the same time).


      Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing.

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      • #4
        Hi Goldie
        I remember that last-mentioned visit well.The Soviet ship was the " Sobrazitelny"(or similar). It was an absolute crock compared to the USN ship. Both crews shot miles of film of each other's vessel. The Soviet crewmen were led into town by officers and were chaperoned in and out of the shops. If they saw anything they wanted to buy, they simply pointed at it and the officer paid for it out of a briefcase of fresh punts! I remember the Yanks were a great hit, as they were hitting the nightclubs and the pubs and spending, big style. It is alleged that they recieved an "honour guard", quayside, of ladies of negotiable affection as they pulled away. They also spent an inordinate amount of time twirling the "Goalkeeper" gatling cannon on the front of their ship, much to the delight of the permanent throng of quaysiders and the Russians. The Russians were "selling" anything that wasn't welded to the deck of theirs. That visit was the talk of Cork for ages afterward.
        regards
        GttC

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        • #5
          Yeah, remember it well. My impressions of the soviet ship was that while it appeared much older than the Pharris, it was bristeling with every sort of gun and missile, with any spare deck space taken up with either those items, or some form of Radar.
          In fairness to the Soviets though, they did put on a good show, with the ships band, dancers and Balalaika players entertaining those waiting to view the ship....while the yanks watched jealously.

          I was mistaken earlier on the Spruance class.The vessel to anchor in Cork harbour was the Comte De Grasse. Truett was a Knox class and visited on another occasion.


          Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing.

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