HMS Averof - Heavy Cruiser / Visit to Faliron Naval Museum

[Wulfmann]

I have visited many ships and even the later ones would be a nightmare to evacuate in time of peril.
In 1993 I went on the USS Texas and being a travel writer got them to open many places not viewed in decades. We climbed the latter down to the bottom of the empty 14inch gun magazines, eerie!. I even got to sit in the captain’s chair (Bridge is locked because the only person to die was on the bridge when a 240MM shell hit at Normandy)
My friend was an naval architect and I encouraged him to volunteer and he became their top guide and now many of those areas have been opened to the public for special tours with signed releases (dangerous, a bit)
My Uncle George was the only Greek on the USS Missouri in WWII and he met my aunt Georgia on the tour to show off the surrender plaque when some Greek girls asked if there was a Greek on board. They went for coffee and were married for over 50 years before they passed away.
It is with some irony that the USS Missouri sits in Pearl Harbor close to where my father was on Dec 7 1941. Well, I find it ironic.
I was at a Navy day event in 93 in New York at the USS Intrepid Museum (Big Russian DD was there) When I mentioned my father was at Pearl and my Uncle served on the Mighty Mo nearly every officer stopped talking turned around and wanted to know everything I could remember.
I remember my father yapping when I was a kid and we ignored him. Now I wish he were alive so I could do a every minute he could remember tape recording.
In that it is easy to see how each day going by makes ships like Averoff a bigger treasure.

Wulfmann