European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 9, 1962, Darmstadt, Hesse                                By h. George Baker staff writer they say it i it cold War but things get mighty hot aboard a Mediterranean based ship which has been blasting the communists Day in and Day out for nearly 10 years. Although unarmed this ship has Bee fighting a never ending Battle aimed at shooting Down communist propaganda. Its weapon is simply the truth. Words of truth that Are relayed by powerful transmitters and antennas to the people behind the Iron curtail in the soviet in two of a com a t9-Mem crw at work during broadcast. A t i o n Battle station on cold War front coast guard Cutter broadcasts Voa programs in 13 languages Ion the Balkan countries and the easter european satellites As Well As the free world countries in the near and Middle East this ship is the coast guard Cutter courier a floating Loudspeaker which beams a variety of voice of America pro Grams about 11 hours Dally on Throe Dif Ferent frequencies the courier itself is unique. It forms the one ship Navy of the . Information Agency. And it s the strangest biggest hottest and Only expatriate Cutter in the . Coast  september 1952, the courier has been moored some 5,000 Miles from .Soilat sunny Rhodes Greece. It has left its Aegean mooring Only for biennial dry Docking at Piraeus or other nearby ports. The Usia refers to the courier As a floating radio City. It is one of 10 overseas relay bases that make up the voice of America s world wide transmission net work and it the Only Mobile transmitting facility in the voice s network. Usia says the courier a the Only Ocean going radio broadcasting station in the  strangest ship tag was earned by the courier because of its unusual appearance and its unique role in providing the . Government with a floating radio station that can he quickly moved from one part of the world to another to meet an emergency situation. Radio towers and antennas have been constructed on the Cutter superstructure and the ship s hold includes transmitters transformers Genera tors recording equipment and other elec tronic devices used for  largest transmitter a 150-Kllowatt medium wave Fig la three times More powerful than the largest commercial broadcasting station in the United  courier was originally built for the Navy in world War ii As an attack cargo ship but was delivered too late to see any action. After the War it was transferred to the maritime administration when it remained until 1951 when it was turn Dover to the state department. After conversion and fitting out the courier was assigned to the coast guard which operates it for the Usia at a cos of about $600.000 per year. Courier broadcasts daily front 6 . To 8 . And from 4 . To Midnight. It i during these hours that the Chip really gets hot. If by Chance you stood on the broadcasting deck during transmitting hours you d get a pulsating hot foot that would t be easy to forget emissions from the antennas Are so in tense that All work above decks is knocked off before 4 . And a guard is posted to assure that no stragglers get into the hot area. The courier broadcasts in 13 different languages. Near and Middle Eastern coun tries hear the voice of America in arabic persian and turkish about six hours daily. Programs to the soviet Union and Eastern Europe Are beamed five hours daily i albanian armenian bulgarian czech and slovak georgian hungarian romanian russian serb and ukrainian. Most of the programs broadcast  courier s facilities originate in the Washington , studios of the voice of America. The arabic language programs however Are recorded at Usia package centers in the near East. The supplement programs received aboard the courier by Short wave from the unite states. The programs broadcast from the courier to Iron curtain audiences on Short we Are subject to frequent jamming although there is evidence that Many programs do penetrate the jamming screen. These pro Grams Are transmitted from the courier to supplement the barrage of Iron curtain programs broadcast from Voicul relay bases at Tangier North Africa Munich Salon Ika Greece and a of Merton England. Transmission from these different hmm help spread the jamming concentration making it possible for most programs to a heard. Although the communists Jam som of the courier s Short was transmissions they have not As yet attempted to a withe medium wave transmissions to the countries this old of the Iron  33&-foot, 9300-ton snip is manned by 10 coast guard officers and 108 Enli Todmen. A of them live ashore mostly a Small american Community they in Wood in the City of Rhodes. April 9, 1962 the stars and stripes