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

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,. i 1 In ,f .. X. e, i 2 X ' . . . if . Q 5 fl ' ii ff X . QNQTNTY X ' sf-SHN 4 N-sift Our hrs! loolq at the Panama Canal The only interruption in our trip to Panama was a little diversion on IQ Iuly to give medical aid to a member of the armed guard crew of the S. S. JASPER CROPSEY. We received our orders to rendezvous with her from the Commander, Hawaiian Sea Frontier and then made radio contact with her to learn the details about the sick man. It was decided to trans- fer him to our ship using the IASPER CROPSEY'S boar Qnatu- rally assuming that their's would be better than ours.j When we met them they had trouble lowering their boat. Then they had trouble lowering the sick man. Then they brought along two other men for 'cout patient treatment - one with a tooth- ache and the other with general pains. To top everything off, when their boat came alongside, one of our seamen tossed them a heaving line which hit one of their boat crew on the head, cutting it open, thus creating another patient. As soon as all of the patients were treated, they shoved oH in their boat which promptly broke down. We then had to lower one of our boats and tow them back to their ship. The whole operation required three hours with both ships lying dead in supposedly dangerous waters. We arrived at the Canal Zone early in the morning of I2 Iuly and made the transit the same day. We arrived at Cristobal late that evening and tied up to a pier. The next day we re- mained at the pier to take on fuel and supplies. In the mean- time the crew got their first real liberty in almost three months -four whole hours for each section. The city of Colon wel- 'ii Everybody cheered when he saw this headline

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K. X . , 4' Q XX gg Q . t X X-Q t X X A A Quiet Day on the way to Olqinawa headed directly for the destroyer's midsection. The destroyer called all hands to 'cprepare to abandon ship. However, by letting go both anchors and backing down full, we were able to stop about twenty feet short of disaster. There may have been another solution to this situation which would have caused less grey hairs but since this one was successful, we will be satisfied with it. We tied up to a floating pier at Saipan, disembarked the passengers, fwho took along with them everything they could find of value which was not welded down,j and after partially refueling, cast off again and sailed with no passengers at all, for Panama and the Atlantic. This new routing was not a surprise. It had been known for quite some time that troops were being transported directly from Europe to the Pacific areas. The ADMIRAL CAPPS probably would have been in the Atlantic earlier if the third trip hadn't stretched out so long a time. X s N. R ,X A ff t ff, ,f 'uf ,ff ' P , jill? Part of our convoy on the way to Haguch Bay Oar ,riff X Nalza after the B-24,5 had passed The only interruption div rsion on IQ Iulfi to 31-U ed guard crew of the S. oui orders to rendezvous Ha vaiian Sea Frontier anc to Barn the details about th fer him to our ship using tl rally assuming that theiris we met them they had tro' hat trouble lowering the s twf, other men for bout pa' ach: and the other with ' GH, when their boat came

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If N. .. .s Wu, s t.. isasfrsjsfssseg, s,-1 - L. A X 'XR 1 ,, x .,,l p . 1 4 'Rt The mes: deck looked like this on the night the laps surrendered comed them with open arms and gladly accepted their money in exchange for liquor, beer, alligator bags, silk stockings, wrist watches, and all kinds of souvenirs. As we pulled out that evening, sick bay was heavily laden with sleeping men, and four of the crew were left behind because the shore patrol was unable to find them before sailing time. Our next port was Norfolk, Virginia where we tied up at the Navy Shipyard on the 4th of August. What was intended to be a ten day availability period lengthened into twenty-one days, and what started out to be voyage repairs turned into major alterations with the removal of the 1.1 AAimounts and their replacement with 40mm dual mounts. ln the meantime Iapan surrendered and the plans for our going back to the Pacific changed. We now entered the ferry service between Norfolk and European ports. Our first trip in the Atlantic began on the first day of September. We sailed for Marseille and had a smooth trip eastward, averaging 20.3 knots, arriving on 9 September. There we saw what had happened when the port changed from French to German and back to French again. There were sunken ships in every entrance Cexcept one which had been cleared outl, and along all of the piers. The piers and waterfront facilities were still mostly in ruins and a large section of the city just off the waterfront was in ruins from the American bombing. Liberty in Marseille was a new experience for everybody. Probably the main attraction was sight-seeing, with the cathe- dral Notre Dame de la Garde the most visited place. The I l V V Parsing the Rock of Gibraltar to starboard -.'I'f'12'?f.E. ' f- 1 ' WJ. Vt , 5, .,, , p .W V ,A f ,tptsyyf r Vygp , l The azls left this ship he? Frencl shops offered perfa her souvenirs-ail z at the Navy rate of exchar a bad reputation even in I much higher than its repi Vke sailed from Mai Army passengers bound f load if 721 passengers so the bulks during the day at nigit. Fortunately we it wot ld have been extrer assignrd bunks. They wer this small discomfort for