Belleau Wood (CVL 24) - Naval Cruise Book

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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

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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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HE T Break out the cal0mel and phenol, Doc, this itches like . . . . . Lined up outside of sick bay was a file of itching humanity with acres of heat rash and fungus, burning for relief. In the heat of the tropics a variety of skin irritations-collectively dubbed the creeping crud - gripped with unrelenting tenacity the hides of the tender. And there wasn't much you could do about it either- except hope the war would end soon and you could get back to some cool dry air. For months in the tropics the BELLEAU WOQD was in hot water. H83 Degreesn, hummed the messenger on watch as, deep in the engine rooms, he observed the water injection temperature-the temperature of the water in which the ship was afloat. That temperature fre' quently bounced above 830, many a time it flirted with 860. The Gilberts, Marshalls, Carolines, New Guinea, Philippines-they're all bathed by 800 currents. Not until the last few cruises off Japan did the hull cool off enough to produce a comfortable temperature in the engineers' spaces, passages, and lower berthing compartments. In your rack you awoke from hot naps with that clamf my feeling unique to the tropics. Sweating, sleeping men filled tiers of bunks. Air circulated to the low whir of neverfceasing fans and the constant purr of ventilation blowers. The boiler rooms and engine rooms got so warm that the rails of the ladders were too hot to grasp. To ventilation ducts were rigged dungaree pants, funnels flapping in the draft, conducting every bit of precious air to the dripping snipes on station. Month in and month out, they stood the toughest watch schedule on the ship-usually 1 in S . With no view of the outside, no opportunity to see the fleet in action swatting down at' tacking japs, with extremely meager word of what was going on around us, the engineers lived what was prob' ably the most monotonous existence aboard. For over a year and a half these engineers, the men who are seldom glorified on a carrier, endured the dripping heat and the itching, creeping crud to keep the screws turning. TIMES VVHEN MURDER. as Jus'raFsED i 'Xf' ' NEVER HAD X N4 You N x A BETTER LIFE fx 4 l fnv15ZEi 1 ,Z 'QQQZK3 raclm l Wlmnnmaf ,ai .f rtmpi 4f llill ,A SL'Wi?'ingwMb K T i a U 6 5 WE u T .W 'TR 11' orro swnoi DtR JI frifr Nlff .fffvff WE BEEN HA WN6 Wffffk Hdlfff r 67 f - -5 ,-7,+ V . A - i' Z . Af g +A - ' ' .uf if ll 5 6 -T I W l r V' 1 ri - 5 ' ' X NPN Q fl ', 7 5 1 Q .iisllll -if rl- gtg BW Kf!l gvd- I 'f 5 Y i ' Axxxx ff. K - x- - Q,.Il-fl. , Hxr- -'41 V 1' -v - iff in gf ' I 'W ' x - I .b 3 f , A - -4 K rib f I' , 2 ' lo f'V K1l' I 1 ij CX' l 1 - ,J -H-ws . ' , f 4' f T , 4' if ff' ,,.l.,,, M v ' ' - if-. iaf,..,,.' 1 - ' - . v 'r f. ,Z . '-Q5 , p T N x xx, i f. -fwaf cars fff: r 4 L . .9 A fame si afff . 'er 3 - - .' 5 - -lui x? if - 0 Q x I Nl