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

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-unsung- l T 'l+ 3' Our First Customers-1200 Marines first port of call was San Diego, where we took on more cargo and 1200 Marine passengers. We sailed from San Diego on Thanks- giving Day, 23 No- vember, 1944 for Noumea, New Cal- edonia. The big event of the first trip was crossing the equa- tor. About QOKX, of the crew had never been to sea before let alone cross the equator. That made it tough for the Shellbacks who had to carry out the initiation. It 1 ff f ! X s' X' ,J 4 if fi 1 Davey? Calling Card K . nf f f f f X 2' 1 2 f I f I 3 iw Davey lone: presents King Neptune? compliments Zo the Skipper i . .fi X . rs.. S. s lib. V I l Pollywogs Crawl Past the Royal Court in -- - ,, .qi Il zum easier g6ZZZiiZg Wasnit that the Poiij:v.'0gs it just wore the Slielibaek wogs had all the fun VVe arrived in was our first foreign port anxious to get ashore and l never been to Noumea but on the streets was as heavy. on Broadway or Market Str mand ears, ambulances, sta the crew got liberty but thi most riotous liberty of the cargo aboard that night. The next morning we

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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

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L E'- Y.. YUPP0 It was easier gettzn g into the pool than it was getting out wasn't that the Pollywogs fought back to any great extent, but it just wore the Shellbacks out by the end of the day. The Polly- wogs had all the fun and the Shellbacks did all the work. We arrived in Noumea in the morning of 7 December. This was our hrst foreign port of the first voyage and everyone was anxious to get ashore and have a look around. The Iapanese had never been to Noumea but the Americans had taken over. Traffic on the streets was as heavy, considering the number of lanes, as it is on Broadway or Market Street- all with army trucks, jeeps, com- mand cars, ambulances, staff cars and bicycles. Only one-half of the crew got liberty but their four hours ashore stands out as the most riotous liberty of them all. The cargo nets carried strange cargo aboard that night. The next morning we departed from Noumea and set our 5. A Noumea Scene with a touch of the CAPPS the Zig-Zag pattern were usually visible. 'WW its-a.i.6b Smit course for Guadal- canal. lt was on this leg of the voyage that we passed through the Coral Sea and saw what a Uzero seal, looks like. The water was so calm that the big- gest ripples Caside from our wakej were made by the flying hsh. Our wake was visible all the way back to the horizon and since we were zig-zag- ging, three legs of hnlip In Noumea harbor the passengers bring their pier with them