The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1959-12-24
Senate Cloakroom
BY j. GLENN BEALL
United States Senator from
Maryland

Before resuming my weekly
reports to you, which | will do
when Congress reconvcnes in
January, ! wanted to tell you
about my recent tour of military
installations in Europe, As men,
Der of the Senate Committee on
Armed Services and a member of
the Subcommittee on Military Con-
struction, had been asked to
make the inspection tour.
| shall not attempt here to give
a detailed report, such as | pre-
pared for the committee and sub
committee which represented.
incidentally, Chairman Russell of
the Armed Services Committee has
been good enough to state that
my report would prove to be most
helpful in the deliberations of the
committee Here l will skip lightly
along, touching the high spots.
Gibraltar, Madrid. Rome-Our
trip started with Gibraltar-the
harbor. the shipyard, and some of
the miles of tunnels in the interior
of The Rock" The control of Gil
braltar, guarding the entrance to
the Mediterranean, has world
wide psychological significance. In
this strategic location, Anglo
American cooperation is excellent.
found our base at Port Lyautey,
in Morocco-our only naval in
stallation in Africa-significant
not only as an important supply
depot, but also as the site of a
worthy experiment in public rela-
tons. Our military personnel there
are making every effort to gain
the respect and confidence of ma
tive MorOccans, and to sell
America, and are doing this in a
manner that is a credit to US.
Our new naval station at Rota,
Spain, with its air strip and port
side facilities. compliments Port
Lyautey in providing general sup
port for our Sixth Fleet, and with
such support the Sixth Fleet is
virtually seif-sufficient.
At our Torrejon Air Force Base
near Madrid, the headquarters of
the Joint United States Military
Group and Military Assistance Ad-
visory Group in Spain, we were
impressed with the fact that U. S.
tax dollars spent to strengthen the
Spanish defense position have been
well invested The strength and
location of tactical United States
units in Spain are classified. THAT
means it's military sccret.)
In Rome, we we're given a
thorough briefing by the Chief of
the U. S. Military Advisory AS
siStance Group in Italy-a briefing
which, added to what we saw, left
an impression of definite progress
on the part of the Italian armed
forces under the United States
assistance program.
U. S. S. Saratoga-we took off in
early afternoon of October 25 in a
U. S. Navy TIL carrier plane for
visit to the Sixth Fleet at sea
in the Mediterranean, landing
aboard the carrier, the U. S. S.
Saratoga. The whole Sixth Fleet
was assembled-a fleet at the peak
of efficiency and readiness.
We spent the night on the Sara
toga, and were on deck to witness
the first launching of aircraft at
7:30 a. m The first four air
craft were F 81 Crusader super
SOhlC JeI llSHttlS, dHu NtlG al dill
borne in less than thirty seconds.
When the entire air group of A Sd
Sky Warrior heavy bombers, A
AID Sky Hawk light bombers, F 3H
Demon all-Weather fighters, and
A DIG Sky Raider attack bombcrs
had been launched, an aerial dem
onStration was conducted which in
Guided intentional sonic booms,
rockctry, gunnery, air-to-air rcfucl-
ing. and the special tactics de-
velopcd for the delivery of high
yield nuclcar weapons.
The A Sd Sky Warrior, 10000