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

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Mil il-BNWT P0-lVhf1gj3n fnwklbfi jfh' 3 if twhcr we nm qinaluhfwl In explain. Ar si! t-lygng shin an-nt, nf ug CY' H milk U l Wits bf!-an to W f' V 'ii as the targo W at sg eff the pas. A 4 5 Vttfltftf QRS were Y ' LV Vt' Vilfll spaces. k 4 W Nfvu .xml llifhl- 3 ' -if fha. if mm home A have helped il , mania.-sand K W - ,M 4 . rss..- LL- -- - - N- u Loading Casualties in Espirita Santo We sailed for Esperito Santos, New Hebrides Islands, on the 14th of December and arrived there in the afternoon of the 15th. Unloading of mail and embarking of passengers Was completed that night and the next morning, and We sailed for San Francisco on the afternoon of the 16th. We were diverted to San Diego on the 23rd and arrived there in the evening of the 26th. Thus we had sailed on Thanksgiving Day and arrived back on the day after Christmas. All of the casualties and most of the passen- gers Were unloaded at San Diego and in less than 24 hours we were on our Way to San Francisco again. We arrived in San Francisco late in the evening of the 28th of December, 1944, completing the maiden voyage. lt was dis- covered in the inspections of the ship during the following Week that at some time or other, Qprobably in the crash stop tests Navy Barracks on ESPIRITU SANTO 1 Tlze casualties get tlzeir first loolq at the states - San Diego, Cali

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E 1 1-9-Q.. . -- .- A ., 3, W .nv fs -f Pr-rw. if 3, .... ' 2, Q 'Cf V ., . - . ,ss . . Y, ,' 'ln M, ,-,,, EQ? , A f 1 if? law' f Q - - - . 'f f .agp a ,, S ,aft 4 Q ., ,-' 1, t . ,. ,.x K t . Wa. . ,, .1 . I , t - , Qu? 'wk V D , f- gr-. gg, V T' 5' 'ff' af, it , f. . tt ,X ,nf ,Q , . ft ,,.f, A lap Transport under obsc'rvazz'0n on Guadalcanal We arrived at Point Cruz, Guadalcanal, in the evening of 20 December and stayed there for three days unloading most of the mail. This was our first good contact fand the bestj with the Pacific Island natives. The Solomon Islanders were too lazy and unintelligent to work as stevedores so ia labor battalion had been imported from the Gilbert-Ellice Islands to work the cargo on the ships. They had learned to operate Winches and lifts but their greatest accomplishment was their skill at their version of foot- ball and their singing. Football to them was like volley ball to us, except that they played it with their feet with a ball of paper wrap- ped with twine to hold it together. Only their Sargent wore shoes and the rest of them had feet big enough to give them perfect control, of the ball. Their singing and dancing always drew a crowd at noontime. They sang their native Polynesian songs which had harmony, solos, counter-melodies and a lot of other musical qualities which this writer is not qualified to explain. At least, it wasn't the drum beating war chant that some of us ex- pected. It was at Guadalcanal that the ADMIRAL CAPPS began to feel that she really had a part in this war. As soon as the cargo was unloaded, the loading of passengers began. 353 of the pas- sengers were casualties- unable to walk. Another 358 were ambulatory casualties, who were quartered in regular troop spaces. Those who saw the number of missing legs and arms and band- aged eyes will never forget it. If we could take these men home quickly and safely we felt that we at least would have helped a little. Marine Cemetery on Guadalcanal it eff Loading Caszf We sailed for Esperito rah of December and arri' Uiloading of mail and en' th it night and the next mo or the afternoon of the nit th.: 23rd and arrived there hzd sailed on Thanksgivii afier Christmas. All of tl gtrs were unloaded at Sai wire on our way to San .l We arrived in San Pr ol December, 1944, comp covered in the inspections tlat at some time or ot

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during shakedownb, too much strain had been placed on the main propulsion motors and that the pole pieces had been pulled out of shape to such an extent that they would have to be re- placed. There were several other desirable alterations and nec- essary repairs, which would have warranted an availability period, but because of the large number of ships in the San Francisco harbor at the time, it was deemed necessary to repair only the motors. Thirty-five days elapsed before the ADMIRAL CAPPS was ready to sail again. This was regarded by many as the best in-port period of any that we ever had. Being close in to town made liberty very con- venient as well as enjoyable. It was there that we got our first dock. It was about 0730 one morning, when the marine officer had the gangway, that the bollards and cleats on the pier began to pull out, one by one, and the ship drifted out into the slip. The marine officer didn't know what to do so he did nothing-thus greatly reducing the amount of confusion which is customarily present at such operations. The day's duty officer ordered the anchor dropped to hold us in our displaced position and then lowered a boat to carry lines back to the dock. These lines were then used to warp us into the dock. We were ready to sail again on 5 February, loaded with 3215 passengers bound for New Guinea. Our first stop was Finchafen, British New Guinea. We entered the harbor, received orders to go to Hollandia, turned around and departed. If you call that an in-port turn around, that was our fastest. We now thought that we were getting into the war zone. There were Iaps all around us- they were all starving and hadn't fought back for months but they were still Iaps. We thought that there Troops Relax on the way to New Guinea Entering the harbor at Hollandia, New Guinea ff' ,! sf! .f' 'S' 0, Z! sf' Z' 5 A QQ 4 ,t 1 fha W .i-7t.g, 'Q-Lg' , -WAY W Relievz wculd still be fighting at H Nc submarines attacked us strfed us and no surface ra wc found that the closer w ligits burned at night. Lc ou than Hollandia or any We arrived in Holland 1-ugfy, There we waited fc proceed to Leyte, but the c milk a week to form and ir sergers, 157 tons of hold c