The Fleet's In

A thundering 21-gun salute from an unseen man-o'-war rumbled in the fog off Barcelona harbor. Ancient Spanish cannon in the fort protecting the harbor bellowed their reply. Out of the mist loomed two U.S. cruisers and three destroyers. It was the U.S. Sixth Fleet's first operational visit in Franco's day, to Spain's well-sheltered Mediterranean ports. All told, 30 U.S. warships, including the 45,000-ton aircraft carrier Franklin D. Roosevelt, the carrier Tarawa (27,100 tons) and three heavy cruisers, steamed into eight Spanish ports last week.

The Spanish, anxious for U.S. aid and hospitable by nature, worked hard to make the fleet feel at home. A U.S. sailor's white hat was enough to get him free streetcar rides, free tickets for movies; wine was on the house in many flamenco joints. No one took exception to U.S.N. wolf-whistles at the senoritas. The Falangist Informacion Nacional helpfully printed, in its own enthusiastic English, the complete text of President Truman's State of the Union "Speack." Falangist party bigwigs were ordered not to wear their black uniforms, or to give their Fascist salute while visiting U.S. ships.

Both sides made pretty speeches. In Majorca, Rear Admiral William S. Parsons announced: "The two most anti-Communist nations in Europe today are Turkey and Spain." Said pudgy Mayor Antonio Simarro of Barcelona, with a beaming smile: "We are looking forward to our future alliance."

Then U.S. technical officers got down to the real purpose of their visit: to inspect Spanish port facilities. The Sixth Fleet has no real home in the Mediterranean. It wanders from Gibraltar to Suez, usually refueling at sea. U.S. admirals are dissatisfied with their allies' bases: Naples, the fleet's present headquarters, is too close to Russian bomber bases in the Balkans; Gibraltar and Malta are too small and too crowded.

In many ways, Spain's long, indented Mediterranean shoreline is ideal. But Sixth Fleet staff officers ruefully noted last week that not one of Spain's east coast ports has a deep enough channel to float the carrier FDR; Spanish cranes are too small, and drydocks, fuel tanks and warehouses are hopelessly inadequate to service U.S. capital ships. If Spain is to become a U.S. naval base, it will cost many pesetas.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.