Those were no liberty port cruises, from what I gleaned. They were full of spooks in intel collection mode, very hush-hush. The crew would not discuss their other missions, not to us frogmen or other embarked troops. My understanding is they would typically spend on the order of 3 months driving “gator squares” in the same patch of ocean, fair or stormy, summer or winter. They were an optimum “modular platform” to pull the duty, as long as you totally disregarded the human factor in terms of sea-keeping and a horrible motion.
“the human factor in terms of sea-keeping and a horrible motion.”
and don’t forget the wonderful chow...