Admiral W L Capps (AP 121) - Naval Cruise Book

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To the black gang, who had been getting acquainted with the engine rooms and plant for two months or more, there was nothing particularly new about the ship, but to the rest of the crew it was big and easy to get lost in. For days men continued to be late for muster because they had lost their way from their quarters to the division parade. However, there were no reported cases of malnutrition because of anyone losing his way to the mess deck. Another trouble was that no one knew anyone else and if a man didn't want to work he could quickly lose his identity and no one could find him. This confusion lasted for about a week, then things began to settle down, or should I say shakedown? The morning after commissioning, the ADMIRAL CAPPS was moved across the bay to Naval Supply Depot, Oakland, for her initial loading. The two catch-phrases and pass-words of the ensuing week were, round-the-clockv, and all-hands evolution . The first referred to a system of working in shifts, 24 hours a day. The second referred to everybody working at the same time. The combination of the two will make everyone who participated remember that week as the toughest on the ship. Everything from 5 shells to paper clips had to be loaded and when one considers the expanse of the No. 5 hold and the fact it was filled with beans, flour, sugar, coffee, and numerous other edibles, one will realize that it was an enormous job. After ship was loaded we went out into the bay to swing compass, adjust deguassing, perform several other necessary evo- lutions before starting out on the shakedown cruise. It was on 29 September that we sailed from San Francisco for San Pedro to begin the shakedown cruise. We took our time on the way south so that we would have a chance to get the crew organized and acquainted with the ship and have a few drills so that there wouldn't be complete confusion when the San Pedro Shake- down Group started running us through the mill. Port 20 mm. BATTERIES open up on TARGET A brief description of the shakedown period is as follows: DRILLS, DRILLS, DRILLS, liberty, DRILLS, DRILLS, TESTS, DRILLS, liberty, TESTS, DRILLS, DRILLS, TESTS,'1iberty, ffor ten daysj General Quarters was our fa a day. Fire, abandon ship ar If there were actually a Bri every time there has been 2 Simulazc' Fire in cfm diesel Generator R hill than at any other per average daily number of A' someone would get tired of someone else would go out come back until the follow from a shore bound civilia little too difficult for some of was to be expected and per quently light.

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THE SAGA OF THE CAPPS The U. S. S. ADMIRAL CAPPS QAP-1215 was built by the Bethlehem-Alameda Shipyard Inc., Alameda California in 1943 and 1944. She was outfitted at the Bethlehem Shipyard, San Fran- cisco, California in 1944. It was while she was being outhtted that the crew began to form at the Manning Section on Government Island. As early as March, 1944, officers and men were assigned to her precommissioning detail and sent to Government Island to sit and wait and go to schools. There were damage control schools, fire fighting schools, gunnery schools, tactics schools, anti-aircraft schools, recognition schools, telephone talker schools, lookout schools, engineering schools, compass schools, firecontrol schools, chemical warfare schools, etc., ad infinitum. When one had finished all the schools which his duties aboard ship would require, he was started all over again to see if he had learned anything the Hrst time through. It was good duty though. The beach has always been preferred by those who love liberty and never let it be said that the men of the ADMIRAL CAPPS didnft love their liberty. The First commissioning date of the ADMIRAL CAPPS was set as I5 August, 1944, the second was set as I5 September, 1944, the third was set as 1330, 18 September, 1944, and finally she was placed in commission at 1530, 18 September, 1944. At 1330, 18 T Q . 4 a.,,.,,, W The CAPPS after cornmzssiozzzizg September all of the crew and officers were in formation ready and Waiting for the commissioning, but there was no commissioning party from the District Office and the irrelevant information that the commissioning ceremonies had been postponed was received for the first time. Everyone relaxed for another hour and then fell back into place for the real thing.

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' 1 't Wl'kwa7:m tsl' tiff' ww 4 int mirlh no fha ,htm 'htm mf Pfdfh Hgh- 'K' the mall 1 , Q, -.1 ,, ' 'V' ' ,., my f 4 f, 5 .1 , :Ay :I ,gh vga K Q A. VM ,WWE E aff! If 'QQ e.,4:l.FreQf1!l'!'i 5-mm! H 35 ft. :mint IJllLLS.Tl15T5' ts. nut A ts. 11513. bbw, T 5 -1-:fum v. :ferment-':: 1. 1. it an 'hvhtwn-57:2 t iv. am ya. ww i General Quarters was our favorite drill. We had it at least twice a day. Fire, abandon ship and collision ranked next in that order. If there were actually a fire in the decontamination locker for every time there has been a simulated fire there, it would look worse than a fire school boiler room mock-up. We fin- ished the shake- down drills on I3 October and passed the Final examina- tion on the 14th. Then we went into the Naval Dry- docks, at Sari Pedro for the post shake- down availability. We were in for alterations and re- pairs for a full month during which Simulate Fire in emergency time there were diesel Generator Room more men over the hill than at any other period in the history of the ship. The average daily number of AWOL's was about twenty. Whenever someone would get tired of civilian life and decide to come back, someone else would go out to take his place. One of them didn't come back until the following February. The sudden transition from a shore bound civilian to a seagoing military man was a little too dillicult for some of the crew to adjust themselves to. This was to be expected and penalties for being AWOL were conse- quently light. . f 3 i Stand by for a port ran When the availabil- ity was completed, we went hack to San Fran- cisco to load up for the first trip. Our cargo consisted of 1,000 tons of Christmas mail for men in the South Pa- cific. We Hlled up the holds and then filled up a lot of troop compart- ments. No. 5 hold, which had been so full of Hour, beans, coffee and sugar had to be emptied to make room for more cargo. Our 1 0 at i is 't e N ' 7 s sq-A hw- - f sx-ws1-is.wfzi - it .isa . . '- WX ' ,spy lege. at .- X1-is-A ics: ff ..,,.. ,H . 1 s- - X rf 2- - - -- 9,-X -r X - . t r . bvuncpp We leave the Golden Gate behind for the first time