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

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departed 24 hours later with orders to proceed to Eniwetok, Mar- shall Islands for further onward routing. We arrived at Eniwetok in the morning of 20 May and upon entering the harbor were ordered to go alongside the tanker S. S. MARICOSA for fueling. The MARICOSA was quite a bit smaller than the ADMIRAL CAPPS and with a strong wind blowing on the first attempt to tie up, the tankeris anchor dragged and we had to cast off and try again. On the second attempt the anchor dragged again but in addition, some damage was inflicted on the tanker's boat davit, liferafts, and running light so that it was decided not to make a third try. In the afternoon the tanker, S. S. SPARROWS POINT came alongside the ADMIRAL CAPPS. This time the damage Sharpening our eye before leaving Peagiblarbor SA' 9' - , ii. Sm 5 44- nk ' 4 N v if , +V . - A AQ , ' , 4 Ac, f fgfatlg . ,ff!.,,5,,,gjH.vp mid., -,A ,kiln 7, ' f , M M ,ri is y ,- . , I ss..aa.s.., .. W . --1. ..,.e,... ,.,,, -,,....,,, ,..,., A . , , . . , . .,, 4: , , - , , ,V ,I ,,,,,,,,,,,,M,,,,,,,, . , A . , , , ...S A , 3 , I r f . I - ,f , -f 1-.f'. s f- Y .mt - MM' X V l?lS'?'f 'S .. ., 0-'Ziff as 6, i X V V-f :iff ,IM , Eniwetolq on the starboard bow was inflicted on the ADMIRAL CAPPS' life rafts and accommo- dation ladders but the fueling was Hnally completed. We lay at anchor in Eniwetok until Iune 5th. Iudging from the news reports at that time, the battle for Okinawa was not going as it had been planned-necessitating a delay in the arrival of units such as the bombardment groups which were to operate from the island rather than over it. It was also signihcant that the AD- MIRAL CAPPS sailed on one and one-half hours' notice the day following the first good news indicating the capture of the Naha airdrome. In the meantime we were sweltering in the sun and ee e t P' gli-ii Q - A K r i, 1' A T L U. ,W - a .fr 9'-in ' ' vt , is was as A W gif gs Troops en enjoying QFD a ulibertvw or QFD cent: r. Perry Island vw was giver the works by nr atoll. A. a result there wer shade. 'lhe beach was very have to s ay there too long, The ADMIRAL CAPl fore but never women passei 50 Army nurses and two Re source o pride and trouble the superstructure deck aft

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orders were Distr ns cn- as the on a :sand rsfor dw' WP y-one tbl swan ili- in 15 days or more. During this availability a hot plastic coating was put on the bottom so that she would not need dry-docking so soon the next time. As soon as the availability was finished, we moved to the loading pier to prepare for the next trip. Cur passengers were to be the 519th Bombardment Group, known in the Mediterranean area as Holzapple's Flying Circusf' after their famous commanding oHicer, who developed the system for Hying his airplanes off the ground seven Cmaybe sixj abreast in order to save fuel and thus increase their bombing range. They had two Presi- dential Citations to show for their work in Africa and Italy so that there really must have been something to the stories they told us. They were on their way to Okinawa now, to fly the new A-26,8 and win the war in the Pacific. They carried the baggage of important passengers, too. It took four full days to load their IO53 tons of equipment and our ship only carried part of it. The flyers and their supporting units came aboard on the 6th and 7th of May and we sailed for Pearl Harbor at noon on the 7th. For the first two days out of Seattle we ran into the roughest weather the ADMIRAL CAPPS had yet encountered. As com- pared with later trips in the Atlantic, it wasn't especially bad, but in that it was the first, it tested the ship out to see how sea-worthy she was. She was plenty sea-worthy, but things weren't very well secured. Garbage cans and crates of potatoes were rolling freely back and forth across the mess deck, books and papers were thrown out of desks and bookcases in the oflices and officers' rooms, but the worst of all was the safe in the finance office which broke loose from its moorings, slid across the deck and pinned a storekeeper ,s - - a ' a ' z 1 Loading the Flying Circus in Seattle between it and the opposite bulkhead. An X-ray examination revealed that he had a fractured sacrum and multiple fractures of the pubic bones, with ruptured urethra membranes. It was neces- sary to operate immediately and with the ship slowed down and headed into the sea, two doctors performed a successful operation. The patient was transferred to the Naval Hospital at Pearl Harbor. We arrived at Pearl Harbor in the evening of I2 May and

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A . i A it . -,,... one 'fe-1. t Q .g at 1 N 'U We - ' ws and aceummo- A , 9-'wi -:H lodging from f ...I f wi ,wg was not going ,L s if is fksf Jffwll 0fUI'lif5 is ,Hs '-1A -pxfratc from ihf Q Q, tagewh. gn! thi! fhf Q-Hg: more n-mer the day ,......i 'het ...rea-are nf the Nabil and me z1lixfiYf'?'2ftg in tht sun yt P .sf ii 3 ta, if E Troops enjoy the sun on Eniwetolq enjoying a liberty,' or two on Perry Island, a fleet recreation CPD center. Perry Island was one of the Eniwetok group which was given the worksn by naval bombardment when we took that atoll. As a result there were no trees left and nothing else to give shade. The beach was very nice, though, and as long as one didn't have to stay there too long, he could enjoy himself. The ADMIRAL CAPPS had carried women passengers be- fore but never women passengers like it had this time. There were 50 Army nurses and two Red Cross girls who were a never ending source of pride and trouble. The Marines had to chase them off the superstructure deck after taps at night, and later, when their hours were extended to 2300 and the O. D. would sing out a soft, melodious, lt's twenty-three hundred , on the public address sys- tem, the marines would still have to chase them below. They went ashore to the Officers' club on Eniwetok Island, the senior officers, club, that is, and got acquainted with officers from other ships. Then the ofiicers from the other ships started coming around to visit every night. Their boats would be tied up at the boat boom three deep. One of the nurses even rated a salute from a division of destroyer escorts when they pulled out. Six ships steamed by with crews at division parades in dress whites. Each ship saluted as it passed. Someone thought up a new name - U. S. O. AD- MIRAL CAPPS. From Eniwetok we went to Ulithi Atoll in the western Caro- lines, arriving there on 8 Iune and expecting to join a convoy almost immediately to go to Okinawa. But instead, we dropped .eff The nurses exhihit their acting ability