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JIM DICKINSON, RDSN : 1961 ORIGINAL SUPER 'BELOW DECKS' MANUSCRIPT DIARY HANDWRITTEN BY A RADIO OPERATOR ABOARD THE STORIED USS SHANGRI LA ON ITS SHAKEDOWN CRUISE PRIOR TO SERVICE IN VIETNAM

16mo - over 5¾" - 6¾" tall. On offer is a super, original group of two [2] 1961 diaries and journals of a noted aircraft carrier's Mediterranean shakedown cruise handwritten by Jim Dickinson, RDSN, [a radar man] aboard the storied USS Shangri - La. Commissioned in 1944, the Attack Carrier Shangri-La participated in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations in World War II, earning two battle stars. Like many of her sister ships, she was decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, but was modernized and recommissioned in the early 1950s, and redesignated as an attack carrier (CVA). She operated in both the Pacific and Atlantic/Mediterranean for several years, and late in her career was redesignated as an anti-submarine carrier (CVS). She earned three battle stars for service in the Vietnam War. Between 1961 and 1970, Shangri-La alternated between deployments to the Mediterranean and operations in the western Atlantic, out of Mayport. She sailed east for her first tour of duty with the 6th Fleet on 2 February 1961, and this is the handwritten account of her first, we believe, Mediterranean tour. The 6 by 3.5 inch diaries are each approximately 146 pages, the first book being full, second perhaps half are a real below deck 'swabbie' account, much on drunken nights, fights and police chases, a lot of shakedown blues, lousy chow, heads that don't work and the like, and a modicum of writing about actual duties by a personable US Navy Serviceman. Overall G.. Manuscript. Book Condition: Good

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