U.S.S. TUSCALOOSA 

 CA-37

          This is my first cache hide and I thought it would be appropriate that the cache be dedicated to the men who served on the heavy cruiser U.S.S. Tuscaloosa, CA-37, and the ship named for the City of Tuscaloosa, Alabama.  The cache is located near the Tuscaloosa Veterans Memorial Park where there are two actual pieces of the cruiser that are a part of the military memorabilia on display there.  The tall flag pole at the park is actually the aft mast from the U.S.S. Tuscaloosa and the gray painted gun is one of the cruiser’s eight 5 inch anti-aircraft guns that made up the secondary armament.  The U.S.S. Tuscaloosa and her crew served with distinction in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Pacific Theaters during World War II.  I hope that by placing this cache here that more residents of Alabama will become aware of the service to their country of this heavy cruiser and her crew and that there are two artifacts from that ship that remain in Tuscaloosa, Alabama today.

            The cache is not at the above listed coordinates, but the actual coordinates can be found by solving the puzzle below.  The actual cache coordinates are:

N  33 ° 11. ABC

W  87 ° 31. DEF

A = Subtract 1 from the total number of Battle Stars awarded the U.S.S. Tuscaloosa during World

       War II.

B = What is the last digit of the year in which the keel of the U.S.S. Tuscaloosa was first laid?

C = What is the total number of screws (propellers) that the cruiser U.S.S. Tuscaloosa had?

            D = On June _____, 1944, the U.S.S. Tuscaloosa’s guns opened fire in support of the D-Day

                   landings on the coast of Normandy, France.

            E = The last digit of the year that the U.S.S. Tuscaloosa was decommissioned from service in the

                   United States Navy.

            F = What is the total number of guns that the U.S.S. Tuscaloosa had in her main 8 inch armament.

From the actual cache location, the mast (flag pole) and 5 inch anti-aircraft gun of the U.S.S. Tuscaloosa can easily be seen by looking toward the Tuscaloosa Veterans Memorial Park.  There can be a lot of muggle traffic near the cache site between 9:00 AM and 9:00 PM, so please use your best stealth techniques.