Carrier Liberty Ports

[CWN89]

I'm currently working my way through the nuclear pipeline at NNPTC and have had this question for a while now. For whatever reason, no one here will give me a straight answer. My question is: What liberty ports do carriers most often go to? I know that subs have a wider variety that they can pull in to, but I would like to know what kinds of places I might see since I am going to be a surface nuke when I finish training.

By the way, I apologize if this this question has already been asked here. I did some searching, but didn't find anything.

[drayer54]

I'm currently working my way through the nuclear pipeline at NNPTC and have had this question for a while now. For whatever reason, no one here will give me a straight answer. My question is: What liberty ports do carriers most often go to? I know that subs have a wider variety that they can pull in to, but I would like to know what kinds of places I might see since I am going to be a surface nuke when I finish training.

By the way, I apologize if this this question has already been asked here. I did some searching, but didn't find anything.

Easy.... Dubai

Followed by Bahrain

Followed by your homeport.....

In that order....

Enjoy....

[HydroDave63]

Easy.... Dubai

Followed by Bahrain

Followed by your homeport.....

In that order....

Enjoy....

Or, you can...

spend tons of money in Singapore on silk nighties, Tiger Balm and cool electronic gizmos not sold in the US

catch a disease in Phattaya

get dysentery in Mombasa

get mugged in Marseilles

be flipped off in Perth (thank the past 15 years of bad behavior of others)

spend gobs of money barhopping in Waikiki and be called "haole" by 3 large guys

YMMV! 

[Gamecock]

Easy.... Dubai

Followed by Bahrain

Followed by your homeport.....

In that order....

Enjoy....

And don't forget....all those exotic sites with 6,000 of your closest friends!

[drayer54]

We always seemed to hit Naples (s-hole but close to Rome... remember the words Spanish Steps Pub Crawl) and Lisbon on the way out. Naples because they have other Navy people there and Lisbon because it has good sangria and geographically convenient. I actually liked Portuguese sangria better than the Spanish kind....

Marseilles brings up bad memories, but it's a hot spot too.

And don't forget....all those exotic sites with 6,000 of your closest friends!

You'll want to dodge the MWR tours to avoid this trap. So true though.

[Cleaver6]

Haha, not even one "don't worry, you won't even get liberty, nub" post. You guys disappoint me.

[a|F]

Carriers out of Norfolk catch the European ports.

Carriers out of Seattle and San Diego see the Asian ports.

In 4 years, I was lucky enough to see:

Hawaii
Guam
Singapore
Dubai
Bahrain
Chennai, India
Busan, South Korea
Yokusuka, Japan
Sasebo, Japan
Hong Kong

[MMM]

Here's where I've been:
East coast (Work ups and 1 deployment):
Ft. Lauderdale
US Virgin Islands
French  VI
Halifax
Crete
Rhodes
Turkey
Bahrain (x2)
Dubai (x3)

West coast (2 Deployments)
Hawaii
Japan
Singapore
Hong Kong
Thailand
Perth, Australia
Bahrain
Dubai (more times than I care to count)
San Diego (even more than Dubai)

[93-383]

Bahrain- not bad considering it was the first land we saw in 159 days

Marseilles- French merchant port city about as fun as visiting New jersey

Naples- Italian merchant port city see above

Koper (Slovenia)- cheap.... really cheap think Bratislava in "Euro Trip"

Crete- Fun... too much fun they wouldn't let us back in the following deployment

Turkey- Port city sucked but the MWR trip to Ephesus was really cool

Dubai x5- Amazing city. Probably one of the few places I want to go back to.

Carriers hit predicable ports as this thread grows we will probably name all of them. Problem is only a few of these can accommodate a CVN pier side and the line for the boat ride when at anchor can take forever

[drayer54]

Marseilles- French merchant port city about as fun as visiting New jersey

Naples- Italian merchant port city see above

But Paris and Rome are only a short train ride away! You did it wrong!

[DLGN25]

Cruisers (all nukes are gone), and destroyers which were never nukes, were the best of the surface fleet.  Bainbridge was able to go where ever with out company.  Destroyers would band together, usually 3 or 4 under a Commodore, and head off into exotic places.  When my time was up, I was "offered" warrant officer and the Enterprise as a reenlistment bonus so I passed.

Oh, as soon as a bird farm shows up in a liberty port (one carrier equal 16 destroyers or 10 cruisers), the prices for everything went up.  Not that it matters these days as I understand the liberty rules have changed since I was in.

So, if  you want to see the world, go conventional fleet.  If you want to be a nuke, than nothing else really matters.

[GLW]

....Oh, as soon as a bird farm shows up in a liberty port (one carrier equal 16 destroyers or 10 cruisers), the prices for everything went up.  Not that it matters these days as I understand the liberty rules have changed since I was in....

That's a good memory, at NPTU we were filling out dream sheets in Nucleonics and an MM-ELT Chief did the typical "What are you looking for?"

Being still green to some ways of the USN I told him I wanted Pearl Harbor and a 688.

He asked why and I told him.

He thought the reason for PH was good enough but cautioned against the 688 (I wanted to be on that fastest, newest, bestest, blah, blah, blah brainwashed propaganda).

688's were the new kid on the block.

Every 688 CO wanted to show off his hot rod to every foreign dignitary, ranking so and so, and Officer above the rank of Captain they could show it off to,.....endless field day for the enlisteds.

688's could keep up with and escort carriers,....every port of call would involve your crew and a carrier battle group.

Older boats were slower, they got sent off to do "real" submarine work (contemporary with the times) not babysit carriers against Mongo's.

You were not as likely to hit a liberty port with a carrier battle group.

You would field day as necessary ( still a lot) but not just to impress folks who wouldn't know brightwork from verdigris.

The chief was right.

He also mentioned not to go for too old a boat.

My first preference was a 637 out of Pearl Harbor.

I got it.

Who says the Navy never gives you exactly what you asked for?!?!?!?

And I was never in a liberty port with more than a destroyer or cruiser at the same time, and much more often than not we were the only ship/boat  in port. IIRC my first submarine CO actually made a point of leaving port early if a carrier battle group was coming in, or avoiding a port of call if a carrier was already there.

But then, we didn't spend much time in port at all, home port or otherwise,...

So much for that "real" submarine work,....

[rlbinc]

My prototype (MARF) Dream Sheet, 1978 = ANY Boomer, Guam.
Reality, 1979 = USS Long Beach, an old Guided Missile Cruiser based in San Diego.

[HydroDave63]

My prototype (MARF) Dream Sheet, 1978 = ANY Boomer, Guam.
Reality, 1979 = USS Long Beach, an old Guided Missile Cruiser based in San Diego.

Back when morale was still good and Talos still aboard? 

[Ksheed]

I wasn't in the Navy. I was a Marine with the 31st MEU. I got the pleasure of riding a flat bottom LST (USS Frederick 1184) from Okinawa to Brisbane, Australia to Pohang, South Korea to mainland Japan and back to Okinawa. That was the final voyage for the Frederick as a USN ship, also the last of her class to be decommissioned. That trip created memories I will never forget, even though I would like to forget some of them.

[Deuce Grande]

While I was on the Nimitz out of San Diego I got to go to

Hawaii
Guam
Yokuska, Japan
Singapore
Bahrain
Dubai
Phuket, Thailand
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Hong Kong.

Didn't get to see Hong Kong too much seeing as I was put on a liberty risk status after the first night. 

[93-383]

But Paris and Rome are only a short train ride away! You did it wrong!

I was a naughty DINQ nub for France so couldn't really leave the area.

Naples on the other hand you are correct, the best thing in town is the train station.... same thing goes for Trieste