Groupon had a great deal for customers to pay half price for tickets to tour the USS Salem (CA-139) located in Quincy, Massachusetts. My father is a retired Chief Petty Officer after serving 23 years. I knew he’d enjoy visiting the ship. He never served on a cruiser, instead serving on two troops ships, an ammo ship, and the USS Independence (CV-62). But, he is intimately familiar with ship layout and the mechanical operation.
We headed down today and spent an enjoyable afternoon experiencing the world’s last all gun heavy cruiser. One of the highlights was meeting a volunteer who served onboard the Salem as part of its marine detachment. He brought us behind the scenes to show us artifacts and areas that visitors don’t get to see. We got to see a WWII Japanese mine training kit still in its original wooden box. We walked through the last crew berth in its original condition, uniforms from WWI onward (American, Italian, German including Gestapo and SS). We got to see WWII French hand grenades, Japanese live ammo found in the Pacific, and numerous artifacts left behind by the Salem’s crew when it was decommissioned in 1959.
