As I mentioned, I pretty much grew up on that ship. I feel lucky to have been aboard and to have been exposed to so many positive things at such an early age.
My first cruise was a Med
Cruise in 1964. I flew out of New Jersey on a cargo plane stopping at Sao Miguel in the Azore Islands, Nice France and then to Rota Spain, where I boarded the ship. From there we visited the following ports:
Cartagena, Spain - 14-15,26-28 July, 10-12 October
Barcelona, Spain - 21-24 July, 5-7 December
Genoa, Italy - 4-7 August
Suda Bay, Crete - 16-17, 28-29 August
Ancona, Italy - 2-7 September
Augusta Bay, Sicily - 11 September, 1-2 October
Catania, Sicily - 12-16 September
Rhodes, Greece - 19-27 September
Palma, Mallorca - 15-23 October
Cannes, France - 3-8- November
Naples, Italy - 14-17, 23-26 November
Cagliari, Sardinia - 1-3 December
Rota, Spain - 9-11 December
After the med cruise, the ship returned to Newport, RI. and in May of 1965 we went to support the U.S. forces in the Dominican Republic. Most of 1965 and 1966 was spent in the Caribbean and we visited ports such as:
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Mayaguez, Puerto Rico
St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
Aruba
Hamilton, Bermuda
In the summer of 1967 the ship left for Northern Europe and the following ports:
Hamburg, Germany
Campbelltown, Scotland
Lochewe, Scotland
Invergordon, Scotland
Oslo, Norway
Gottenburg, Sweden
El Ferrol, Spain
My last cruise aboard the Kankakee and probably my most exciting, was North again but this time the only port we hit was St. Johns, Nova Scotia. We had been told before we left that we were heading for Bermuda but it became apparent from the icebergs we started seeing, that that was just a cover story.
Our real purpose was to refuel a cable laying ship putting down a secret cable of some sort on the floor of the Atlantic.
On this cruise, we were followed all the way by Russian fishing boats and a Russian guided missile destroyer. One night a Russian submarine surfaced without warning only a hundred or so feet off our port bow, a very impressive and scary site when you aren't expecting it.
After refueling that cable layer for the last time, I received a flashing light message from the Russian DLG., thanking our Captain for letting them observe the underway replenishment. Within minutes of receiving that message, the Russian ships, trawlers and all, were gone like they had never been there.
