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

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1 tl ll Ellis., Our pier at Le Havre it rather uncomfortable with wind up to 45 knots. She en- countered her first mine in the channel leading to Le Havre harbor. It was a horned type mine which had broken loose from its cable due to the rough water in the bay. It was sighted - about 200 yards dead ahead -in time to turn the ship to star- board and clear it by 25 yards on the port side. A The turn-around in Le Havre was the quickest of all for a full load of troops. 4329 passengers were embarked in less than 24 hours and the ADMIRAL CAPPS was on her way back to Norfolk on the afternoon of Ilth of November. Anyone who thought the weather was rough on the eastward crossing remem- bered it as a very pleasant trip when he finished the westward crossing. This trip from Le Havre to Norfolk can be marked down as the roughest of all for the ADMIRAL CAPPS. Every- thing was well for the first day, but between 2000 of the 12th and 1300 of the 13th the barometer dropped from 30.14 to 28.83 and the wind on the port beam rose from I5 knots to 58 knots. Then the wind hauled across the bow to starboard. Those who know their weather can tell that we passed mighty close to the center of what the weather central termed a vigor- ous depression. As soon as the wind shifted ahead we had to slow down in order to keep the ship in one piece, but the sea calmed down enough to go back up to standard early in the next morning. This didnlt last long however. Early in the morning of the 16th the seas slowed us down again-this time to a mere 9 knots -for several hours. We didnit get back up to cruising speed again for a day and a half. The last two days of the trip were bearable and the ADMIRAL CAPPS arrived The city of Le Havre killed by Allied bombs , 4 51,5-Wt' is - . . 1 was t .. 1 r a-l' 'W wfmfm- like in T orfolk in the afternoon for he eastward crossing li warl crossing 16.6 knots. After spending Thank CAYPS sailed in the afternr seill '. Rough seas were ent not suflicient to necessitat was 19.9 knots which broz ing of 2 December. The completed in the evening t marie to get undervcaff on whe'e things stopped thou E 5

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li Chnl? Wiki I1-rt tating K1 s V .ws lung fiixligh to cat ir, in dn fha their mess detail and .xml all thu gm to eat his-iv 4k1'!'e was hung-rv thc next i'irfh.f.f -Lhfi were sick or nm, 'l W ii?w-if .AZ Naples. The is their i-wig enough 10 Q xl X13 W, ,.,,,!,U,,Jx WEN, Scsn lilf' 14' V-lpfi. Rome is . he jmhwfri Llp Naplc-S if fhr hghtmg which '. 1,..iA'u' .v Z ,Alqv The shipper tells General Black to mczlqe himself at home went on there. The waterfront was the worst damaged, while the city appeared more in need of repairs than in ruins. The massive architecture of the buildings and the art work were very impressive. The souvenir trade was in cameos and in trick- opening jewelry boxes. Every street vendor said that his father made his cameos, but all of the necklaces, bracelets, and brooches had the same design and setting-indicating that some Italians have very large families. Those who went to small shops away from the main drag , Via Roma, were occasionally able to obtain some very good cameos at very reasonable prices. The children of Naples were also an impressive sight. The streets were crowded with them - in gangs and singly. All of them wanted to sell or buy anything, and if they wanted some- thing which wasn't for sale, they did their best to steal it. One of them came to the ship selling the Mediterranean issue of Stars and Stripesl' for the exorbitant sum of two cigarettes. He said that he bought the papers for a nickel each and would sell the cigarettes for ten cents each, thus realizing a profit of 57.50 on a 32.50 investment. He did his figuring in American money and he really had it figured out. He said that he sold his cigarettes to German PW,s who got their money by selling on the black market the loot whch they pilfered from American trucks. We left Naples on the 7th of October and arrived in Mar- seille on the 8th. Liberty in Marseille this time was much like the last except that the city had been cleaned up considerably ,and there were fewer Gl's crowding the streets. We embarked SIQI passengers, fan overload of 4205, and sailed for Norfolk on the Ioth of October, arriving there on the 19th. After unloading at Newport News, the ADMIRAL CAPPS moved to the Navy Yard for boiler cleaning, voyage repairs and alterations. Permission was obtained to remove all of the life rafts which were mounted on the sides of the hull, Qsince they were the ones which were being lost in the rough seasj, and at the same time permission was obtained to remove all of the armament except two zomm AA machine guns. All of the repairs and alterations were completed by 3 November, 1945, and on that date, the ADMIRAL CAPPS sailed for Le Havre, France on her sixth voyage. Good weather was encountered for the first three days and then the wind shifted ahead and stayed there for the rest of the seven day trip, making

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Bl 1 4 W' ' 5' lu' u 9 has ng ly? B lam' Q tl .mmm tk Q' N n 1 I .w wil :kg gg pad many efeillwai -fntfrii Pgfggd 3 visa. 'ae-Q9 ihihfii ahfgj pf hd to fe iw swf. but the ru U +5 dumber! Carly in ihg H14 Niweifvr Fuh in dm f in Mmm :gain--this timg v. if .kilns get back up to iff 1 HN The lm rum days if NEWQERM- CAPPS arrived iiiunnua--u Weather like this slowed as down to 9 lqnozs in Norfolk in the afternoon of I9 November. Her average speed for the eastward crossing had been 20.2 knots and for the west- ward crossing 16.6 knots. After spending Thanksgiving day in port the ADMIRAL CAPPS sailed in the afternoon of 23 November, bound for Mar- seille. Rough seas were encountered on this trip, but they were not sufficient to necessitate slowing down. The average speed was 19.9 knots which brought her into Marseille in the morn- ing of 2 December. The embarkation of 4604 passengers was completed in the evening of 3 December and preparations were made to get underway on the morning of the 4th. That was where things stopped though. A high Wind which the French have named miszral started blowing from the north and the pilot said that We would Wait until it died down before we tried getting out of the harbor. Such winds frequently blow for several days, but fortunately for the ADMIRAL CAPPS this one died down during the night and we sailed for Norfolk on the morning of the 5th, On this trip we thought We would fool the weather and take a southern route home. lt would be several miles longer but it was thought that the saving of time due to less rough weather would make up for the difference. We don't know what the weather would have been if we had taken the northern route but it certainly couldn't have been much worse than on the southern route. We slowed down so much that the average speed was a mere 16.6 knots. There was also a little trouble Thanksgiving chow and decorations on the mess deck