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

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tx, . il f K ' of ' 9 I' x- xl K isp 3 R t . tr . ya is . X ls lla. Fz'5lzerman's wharf in the old port of Marseille about the location of the Azores Islands and a few ionized clouds in that vicinity which caused a few more gray hairs to be added to the heads of some. Two days out of Norfolk orders were received for our next trip-a return to the Pacific. To the few west coast men left aboard it was good news but to the east coasters, who were in the majority, it was like being exiled to the salt mines of Siberia. i The ADMIRAL CAPPS arrived in Norfolk in the morning of I5 December by making its way through a beautiful but cold snow storm. It was a fitting start of the holiday for the crew. A small percentage rated Christmas leave, and a slightly larger percentage rated 48-hour liberties over Christmas. Those who stayed aboard had Christmas trees, mail, dinner and everyw thing but home and family. The ADMIRAL CAPPS arrived in Panama in the after- noon of 2 Ianuary. That was the night that all of the yeomen were either on liberty or shore patrol and the Marine Corps had to make up the plan of the day. It was much better to see Colon at night than to see her only in the daytime as had been the case when the ADMIRAL CAPPS was last there. The next night all of the yeomen stayed aboard -at least there were no crossed quills seen going down the gangway. In the Copa- cabana, however, one of our yeomen mounted the stage and entertained the crowd C752 from the ADMIRAL CAPPSQ for an hour with his accordion music while a large party of HN' Division cheered him wildly. What happened to our chief en- gineer that night is still a matter for conjecture. At any rate Everybody had a good time at our shz'p's party in Norfolk

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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

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1' i l - M425 -Sinner and l'.merrx,.a m tht- A E P 3 lil Nl flirt 'r'ecN'l1en N1 with liiilfllg had ' will lwtirtt fu seg 'S'-firm .as 1.1.1 ll l W' -s Qavf there - 1-Y 'hart' were f in that K' Q iz' stage .mtl lr W5 X2 if Xl'li'Sl for 1 ' Virus 'if 1' thief in t X' .mv rate iii.. ikfrg I1 rmy. fx X , iv .ag 'A i E: .nv 4' Q Q Steaming along in Gatan Lake f ' ...A , --rf -digg il 'Jun-ae is The Copacabana Club in Colon, C. Z. he was rather embar- rassedl' when he climbed up the Iacobls ladder the next afternoon as we passed Bal- boa. It was in the afternoon of 4 Ianuary that we com- pleted our transit through the Canal and set our course for Pearl Harbor. It was nice to get into the calm Pacific again after almost Hve rough months in the Atlantic. We were enjoying the luxury of sailing with- out passengers and all hands took their share of the sun. We arrived in Pearl Har- bor I4 Ianuary, having aver- aged 19.7 knots for the trip. This was the first time that the crew of the ADMIRAL CAPPS had had a chance to get ashore in her three trips to Hawaii. They took advantage of it but they didn't have enough time to get a look at 'cbeautiful Hawaiiw. It was just one liberty for each section and then we were off again with a load of about zoo Iapanese- American troops who were going to lapan as occupa- tional troops. It was in the morning of 16 Ianuary that we set our course for Yoko- hama. We arrived there on 24 Ianuary having averaged IQ.I2 knots for the trip. The Pacific Ocean tried to make a showing of the Atlantic's weather on this trip-that's Why we were so slow. No one knew it but we entered another confusion ii' .2 . 1 . 'f-N 1 5 1 4 if ' rc 5 V , v . - av a -- gf. ! if 4 2 5 W ii., . It aa H ,,, , if f . , I 3 I. . I nl? wx 'wfw' 4 tw-- ix ,ik at V- A A street seene in C rzstobal Panama Y 'if' The Captain inspects the 2nd Division