Sixth Fleet May Move To Spain

The Guardian (UK) ^ | 2-7-2004 | John Hooper/Giles Tremlett

[Spruce]

Hmmm. Let's see. Move our whole Mediterranean fleet, and all the support, from Italy to Spain. No brainer. Goodbye Italy!

[tracer]

Damn. My shipmates laughed when I suggested and predicted this some thirty-plus years ago. Sometimes the Navy takes a while to catch on to the extent that they would abandon the terrorist-bait hell-hole that is Naples.

I swear, we could tell when we were approaching the port by night -- you actually could smell it, plain and simple.

Any of you old green-water swabbies out there remember an old working gal who bore the nickname "Humpty Dumpty" (because she could generally be found sitting on a specific wall near the fleet landing rather than walk the streets of Naples or be just another "campfire girl")?

Well, I overheard a young Navy guy talking about her at a dinner last December. "Humpty Dumpty" apparently is plying her trade to this day -- far beyond the years when she reputedly needed to work to pay for her daugter's education in Switzerland.

Italy will have a new national holiday and monument when she dies, I'd wager. This is one for Ripley's, I tell ya.....

[oyez]

I had a friend stationed at Rota for 3 years. He claimed it to be the finest 3 years of his life.

[dvwjr]

"The Sixth Fleet comprises some 40 ships, 175 aircraft and 21,000 military and civilian personnel, all commanded from the aircraft carrier LaSalle, which is based at Gaeta, midway between Rome and Naples."

Except the La Salle is NOT an aircraft carrier, it is designated the AGF-3, and is a 'Miscellaneous Command Ship' which provides the 'HQ' for the Sixth Fleet. You have to wonder when articles like this get info so wrong, what else is bad about their facts...

dvwjr

[blam]

"I had a friend stationed at Rota for 3 years. He claimed it to be the finest 3 years of his life."

I stopped through there once in the early 60's, I can't remember one thing about it.(?)

[tet68]

I always heard Rota was great duty.

[Don Carlos]

Just damn! There goes my old neighborhood! Any sizeable new group would drive already high living costs through the roof.

[Consort]

Yes, the La Salle was built in the old Brooklyn Navy Yard as the LPD-3. I think it had an additional deck on the superstructure to support it's role as a flagship.

[dwilli]

I spent two years at the NATO hdq. in Bagnolia. Remember
Humpty-Dumpty, $20 Rita. many more of the well-known hookers.

I lived with a Italian woman for a year or so on Via
Carrivagio (sp?) who, as far as I know never turned
a trick but hustled drinks every night. Her Mother
did the same thing when she was younger, The mother
and daughter owned the 6 villa building we lived in.

[SalukiLawyer]

Pozzuoli Pete and Humpty Dumpty ... why does my brain retain things like this when I can't remember my zip code? :-)

(And LaSalle isn't an aircraft carrier. It's not even haze gray.)

[xrp]

the aircraft carrier LaSalle

Stupid journalists...

USS LaSalle

A REAL AIRCRAFT CARRIER!

[okie01]

You have to wonder when articles like this get info so wrong, what else is bad about their facts...

It's The Guardian. What the New York Times aspires to be.

You were expecting a fact-checker?

[John H K]

Also, at any moment the entire Naples region could be annihilated by Vesuvius, which isn't much of a selling point for Naples.

[Scipio]

I can't believe Humpty Dumpty is still alive. Her legend has to go all the way back to WWII. I know when I went TDY to Naples in the early 70's, I was always shown her location on the road leading into the Navy base. I don't know what Naples is like today, but back then it was noisy, dirty, confusing and just my least favorite city in the world.

Rota on the other hand is really great.

[oldsalt]

I can't believe Humpty Dumpty is still alive.

The original isn't, but I believe it's now a franchise operation.

My first Med Cruise was in 1959 on Forrestal and Humpty Dumpty was there then. My last Med Cruise was in 1983 aboard Nimitz and Humpty was still there, but she obviously wasn't the same woman.

I have many pleasant memories of Naples. Where else could you get a drink from Lucky Luciano himself? He came into the San Francisco club, which he owned as he did ALL the bars back then, one night in 1960, or maybe '61, I forget and bought the house a round.

[tracer]

"Also, at any moment the entire Naples region could be annihilated by Vesuvius, which isn't much of a selling point for Naples."

But it speaks volumes about the existence of a just and wrathful God....... 8~)

[CDHart]

Quid pro quo for Spain's support in Iraq?

Carolyn

[leadpenny]

Even as an old Army helicopter pilot that caught my eye too. Now, if I just knew what AGF-3 and LPD-3 meant.

You Navy guys and your funny names for things.

[Mo1]

FYI