USS Oriskany
digital Cruise Book Project
Have you ever wished you had the Cruise Book from your time served on the USS
Oriskany? Have you lost yours or has it become damaged over time? Would you like to have a copy to send to a family member
or other loved one? Would you like to have a copy of the Cruise Book for that cruise your buddy was on?
If you have ever searched for a USS Oriskany Cruise Book, you know how difficult they are to find and how very expensive
they are if you do find one. On eBay, for example, original Cruise Books sell for hundreds of dollars. You could get a reproduction
through the Naval Historical Foundation but this would still cost well over $100.00 for a copy. This is why I started the
project.
I thought there must be a more affordable
way to purchase a USS Oriskany Cruise Book. After giving it much
thought, I hit on the idea of digitally scanning every Cruise Book and then creating a Portable Document Format (PDF) file
of the scanned book and placing it on CD. PDF files allow one to view a Cruise Book as it should be viewed.
Viewed as a book rather than a slide show. I started by scanning my own personal Cruise Book from the 1966 WestPac Cruise
and it turned out very well. I have also acquired seven scanned Cruise Books besides my own from other former USS Oriskany
crewmembers that have donated to this project.
I purchased additional books through the Naval Historical Foundation until I acquired the complete
set of 18 USS Oriskany Cruise books. Historical Services Manager Laura Waayers has been working with me and has been scanning
the books that I am buying through the Foundation so that I can create PDF files from them. Each page of
each scanned book is cropped, rotated and enhanced as needed by me to make them look as good as possible prior to conversion
to PDF. Of course, each book is used so the final quality is dependent on the condition of the original book and the scan
process itself. The Naval Historical Foundation has been kind enough to include a link to my digital Cruise
Book Project at their website here:
http://www.navyhistory.org/research/nhlinks.asp
To make these digital Cruise Books available to former crewmembers, their families
and friends, I am recording them on CD and each ‘digital book’ CD is then placed in a DVD style case. I am using
each Cruise Books cover image as the DVD case label. I am also using a small program on each CD that will auto start a menu
to easily allow access to the digital Cruise Book and other related files.
These digital Cruise Books can be purchased at my website. To help reduce the costs of my investment in purchasing these books
and the time and material it takes to create these digital Cruise Book CD’s, each CD is $19.95 regardless of the size
or rarity of the book. A portion of each Cruise Book sale will also be donated to the ORA. If you are interested
in the History of the USS Oriskany, these digital Cruise Books make a fine and now affordable collection to own.
The entire set of 18 Cruise Books is now available.
I hope you will take a few minutes to visit my website to get more information about my USS Oriskany digital Cruise Book Project.
View samples of the digital Cruise Books there and hopefully find the USS Oriskany Cruise Book you’ve been
looking for. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments about this project by emailing me at admin@glewis.us
My website:
http://glewis.us/Oriskany.htm
Gene Lewis
DT3 USN
USS Oriskany 1966 – ‘67
