Belleau Wood (CVL 24) - Naval Cruise Book

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CHURCH With dignity, the deliberate tones of church call echo throughout the ship every Sabbath morning. General Divine Services are now being held in the main messing compartment. Knock off all unnecessary work. Knock off all card games. The smoking lamp is out throughout the ship. Keep silence throughf out the decks . just as frequently it's Catholic Mass is now being held in the main messing cornpartmentll. But regard' less of which it is, Chaplain F. X. Ryan is certain to be in charge. Our only chap' lain aboard, he is Father to Catholic men and a sympathetic, encouraging, conf scientious spiritual advisor to those of Protestant faith. Relieving Chaplain F. J. Pegnam in San Francisco, he has mainf tained his predecessors significant contrif bution to the morale of the BELLEAU WOCD. The religious program of the ship also includes daily morning masses, a Weekly Bible class, Saturday evening gosf pel song services, and frequent periods of confessions. This Church away from home meant a lot to those who answered the call. THE AVY HYM Eternal Father, strong to save Whose arm doth bind the restless wave, Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep lt's own appointed limits keep, O hear us when we cry to Thee For those in peril on the sea. Lord, guard and guide the men who fly Through the great spaces of the sky. Be with them traversing the air Through darkening storm or sunlight fair, O hear us when we lift our prayer For those in peril in the air. O Trinity of love and power, Our brethren shield in dangeris hour. From rock and tempest, fire and foe Protect them whereso'er they go. Thus ever let there rise to Thee Clad hymns of praise from land and sea.

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,,,,... Y.,.....-......,.......,, ULITHI 81 HUMEWARD BUU D We anchored in the lagoon of Ulithi on November 2. Almost immediately inspectors came aboard to see if the damage could be repaired by tenders present. In one way we hoped they could not fix us. We were upset over the loss of our shipmates and groggy from the shock of the attack, we were anxious to get some rest. But we knew that every carrier was needed in the Pacific and that if we did go home, there would be one less carrier to fight. You can't win the war sitting in port. While repair men from the tender began cutting out twisted girders and bulkheads, we wearily shoveled out debris from the damaged compartmenthburned matf tresses, covers, innumerable .5 0 caliber shells from the def stroyed magazine, twisted bed springs, burned papers and books from lockers-all tainted the deep green of water dye which had come from somewhere. Working parties for handling ammunition, provisions, and stores were called away, and the spiritless work began. Then came the news that we were to proceed to Pearl Harbor and probably on to Frisco. Tired men revived. On November 11, after distributing excess equipment to other ships in the harbor and after taking aboard a num' her of passengers to bunk on eots on the hangar deck, we left Ulithi in company with the FRANKLIN and three destroyers. Steaming eastward we clicked off the time zones with consistent regularity, setting the clocks ahead one hour every other day to the cadence of the bosun mate's chant, At 1900 all clocks will be set ahead one hour to read 2000 To that accompaniment, one could be going only one direction in the Paciiic-the direction of the Golden Gate. On Tuesday morning, November 21, the ship tied up in berth Ff13 at Pearl Harbor. Two truck loads of mail from home were waiting on the dock. Planes for ferrying were hoisted aboard-PV's, Gatalinas, Wildcats, even a couple of Cubs. In the other direction went hundreds of full 40 MM ammunition cans, belly tanks, wing sections, rockets,-anything which other ships could use while we recuperated in the States. Thursday afternoon shortly after Thanksgiving dinner, a long bugle blast announced the ship was clear. On the dock a band played, Galiforf nia, Here I Come . We were goin' home . Day by day the temperatures dropped. There was no more sunbathing on the flight deck and forecastle. Lined jackets, mittens, hoods, and foul weather gear appeared on the bridge and lookout stations. To our thin tropical blood the morning of November 29 seemed mighty cold as, long before dawn, the lights of San Francisco twinkled out from beneath an extensive low cloud cover. Shortly after sunrise, and escorted by an armada of sea gulls, the BELLEAU WOGD slipped through the Gate and slowly wove her way through the Bay to Alameda where she tied up at the Naval Air Station. Leaves for half the crew had been prearrangedg hardly had the mooring lines been secured than the long file of men in dress blues with traveling bags started running down the gangway. Next morning the ship moved over to berth 3, Hunter's Point, to enter her period of repair and overhaul. 64

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' s i sig 5 as v ' SECURE ALL WATERTIGHT DOORS Lt. Cdr. Tippett had persistently impressed upon the engineering personnel the importance of maintaining watertight integrity dur' ing General Quarters. Once the watertight doors had been but' toned up, none were to be opened. During one G.Q. the Chief Engineer wanted to enter the evaporator room through one of these very doors. To his increasing irritation he noticed when he had undogged all the dogs but two that-zip--the dogs quickly snapped shut. Pat Gleason, MMZC. unconscious of the identity of the inf truder on the other side of the practically soundfproof door, had learned his lesson well. The Chief tried it again, but just as he was reaching for the last two dogs-zip-they all snapped closed again. He tried to be cagey by undogging alternate dogs cattyfcorner from each other, but as soon as he took his hand off a dog it closed quickly. He would undog one quickly-it would snap shut quickly. He would undog one slowly-it would close slowly. Banging on the door with a length of pipe brought only the same response from the other side. Angered by this situation, the Chief rushed to the Log Room and called Gleason by phone. Lemme in the evaporator room. This is the Chief En- gineer! Oh, yeah, this is Admiral Clark, chirped Gleason, not recogf nizing the voice. After hanging up, Gleason began to consider that maybe it was the boss. He allowed the door to be opened. It was. L , f LYAX X I Q ' Gx 4 yi , N we Fil fxm l -rf ll .I WE fly ' . H s af HA TCH -HOPPFQ i 12, 'R' ' fa . 1415 -. f ' 3' f 'C Wir D Q , . - ' f L7 .f . - ' in . f ' i ' ,P ,g ' . N a ' a Q X -o f-.aw ' Ns, N Wg .2 - - V h' f X!-ll ' ' I ' A ' G ,-V W 1 l ' f 0' , ll G JZ? 4 hu 5 U ia' f l U 7 S i X ' x 4 f Pr 1. 5, , Xxx V X ' X i D x f A' . X' lgfxs..-.'i'-: 3, I Jw -5 NN ff iw. JM 'A' ---fr' ffw:-s mff1fAfgfF1-ji5i,: N - J' ,N 35- 77115 I5 af :fer entgme room, :3f7j ' ,, l 'i ..'m '3'.i: gg , - F?2QllZ5Z' PZf777fQ55f0f7 tb fgffyfg bi-kgs 66