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

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ld r 6 si wb 4 s'xX N W -4-dt j 'iiW2 was the first ill? of ' tttt V19 fiat' A sniurwth INP , i ,. 'iriwiffnyhfr There i ' 'T' ' if-wn French as xsrr Q15-,kfn Shws int - 2-Atari tlllfil, it Y' 4' f'Yfi 1T fatilmes ' ' -ff 'ht' dh' 31151 l 4 'Q F'--nrbmg, Q 1 tr 5 sr exffvlxllv. -fr AQ Aff. 'ht carb:- 'S gist: The in Hifi! I l i X c A , . X ' . x in X S-LY :AVAxfXL.' The Nazis left this ship hehind when they returned to Germany French shops offered perfume, hand-made figurines, silk scarfs and other souvenirs-all at their price, which was prohibitive at the Navy rate of exchange for French money. Marseille has a bad reputation even in France, and our opinion of it Wasn't much higher than its reputation. We sailed from Marseille on II September with 5,496 Army passengers bound back to Norfolk. This was an over- load of 721 passengers so that they had to sleep in shifts on the bunks during the day and on the decks in the passageways at night. Fortunately We didn't have any rough vveather or it would have been extremely uncomfortable for those without assigned bunks. They were happy enough to get home to bear this small discomfort for nine days. We arrived in Norfolk on the 20th of September, stayed five days to load stores and passengers, and then were off on another trip, this time to Naples and Marseille with a load of 3780 Italian Service troops. This was a real confusion drill which could well be called, The Battle of the Public Address System. The Italians furnished interpreters Qwho could hardly speak Englishj to stand Watch on the bridge and make all announcements for the passengers in Italian. By the time the trip was over the crew had heard all the standard announce- ments so many times that they could have made them them- selves. Attencione, Attencione, sei due, i sei tre a la Mensa'.'7 We arrived in Naples on 5 October, having averaged 18.7 knots. The loss of speed was due mostly to having to slow Mt. Vesuvius in iz quiet mood

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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

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The eizfy of Naples, Italy down for two days of bad weather., We rolled so badly that 34 life rafts were lost from the sides of the ship and we had to turn into the sea at mealtimes so that those who were eating could keep their food on their trays long enough to eat it. The Italians were so sick the Hrst day that their mess detail didnlt show up to prepare their food, and all they got to eat that day was bread and coffee. They were so hungry the next day that mess detail showed up whether they were sick or not. Sight-seeing was by far the main attraction at Naples. The main trouble was that we didn't stay there long enough to really see the best sights. Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius were seen by everybody who had a chance but the Isle of Capri, Rome and other highly interesting places had to be passed up. Naples itself wasn't in very good condition after all the fighting which The Ruins of Pompeii The C oliseum, Pompeii Th shipper zelfs Genera vvcrzi in there. The Viale the ci y appeared more massise architecture of th very iapressive. The souvf openii g jewelry boxes. Ei made iis cameos, but all of had tl e same design and 5 have sery large families. ' from :he 'crnain drag , l obtain some very good C21 Tie children of Napl streets were crowded with them fvanted to sell or bu