Belleau Wood (CVL 24) - Naval Cruise Book

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P U Pi I ' P1 U UTI Shortly after the bugle's blast for dropping the hook, the main enf gines were secured, the UHicerfoffthefDeck shifted his watch to the quarf terdeck on the hangar, and the in port watch was set. So much different from sea routine was life in port that in spite of strenuous physical work we looked forward to every visit. With reduced gun watches, no underway bridge watches, diminished watches at thc boilers and engines--we enjoyed a break in the monotony of sea life.

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L. S. 0.-LANDING SIGNALS OFFICER By Lt. Frank Green Stand by to land aircraft roars over the bull horn from fly control, and the fox flags are two blocked as tha ship turns into the wind. You can feel the signal platform begin to vibrate under your feet as the ship picks up speed and the first plane breaks off into the landing pattern. The observer hands over the two flags as you take your posif tion for the Hrst plane. A quick look at 'the wind indicator shows that the ship is still too far out of the wind. The first plane breaks off a little too soon and has to be given a wavefoff. At fly control the red flag is still up and you couldn't have taken him anyhow. It's all down, deck clear from the observer as the second plane starts into the cross leg. You pick it up with a Roger fboth arms out horizontallyj but switch to a High when it starts to climb slightly. As he rolls out of the turn into the groove, the pilot takes off too much throttle and settles badly. You wave him off and instinctively crouch down as the plane roars over the signal platform. He settled in the groove , you yell down to the man who makes the proper notation in the book where a record of all landing approaches is kept. The next plane looks good and rides a Roger all the way into the groove with a little slant signal to line him, up before the cut. Your heart skips a beat when the plane bounces on land' ing ,and the hook misses the first few wires. But it finally does catch a wire and rolls to a stop. With a quick sigh of relief you pick up the next plane already starting its approach. You didn't hear General Quarters because of the roar of the engines, but when you notice the gun crews rushingf for their stations you know there must be bogies in the area. However there is not time to worry about that now as you pick up the next plane with a Roger. 1t's a good pass all the way and, as the plane swoops down and catches a wire, you notice that they are firing over in the next group. Simultaneously the telephone talker yells up that our planes have been instructed to circle outside the screen until after the attack and that you are to run for cover. Hey! hand me my mae west. The BELLEAU WOOD's landing record: 1 Landings .................. 13,161 Crashes .................... 121 Per cent crashes ...... .9fZp or 1 out of every 108 The majority of crashes were not serious, few were fatal. For instance any landing plane which even touched the barrier was counted as a crash. The BELLEAU WOOD's landing signals officers were: Lt. A. 'Harp'er, March, 1943-April, 1945 Lt. W. F. Wujcik, April, 1945--August, 1945 Lt. F. E. Green, and Ens. W. O. Blake, August, 1945- November, 1945. y l Jocicsr IITTERS The ship was at General Quarters. One of the bridge lookf outs was an excitable little man whose fearful eyes constantly scanned the skies. On the other end of his phone, which was in C.I.C., was Hilarious Harry Krovitz, an exfjockey. Sud' denly, from out of nowhere, came six Nip Torpedo planes. The diminutive lookout screamed, This is it! Oh, dear God, don't let fem hit us! They canit miss! They're almost on us! Help! This is really it! Down in C.1.C. Harry was seated on a high, backless stool, a.nd the louder the screams, the faster jockey Krovitz rode that stool. He resembled the small boy on his first merryfgofround ride. However the Jap planes missed. Those in the know say that 'iHi!arious Harry turned in one of his best an l Awe -'eff' - 5 K. , track performances. l K , A r K7 -in Wi if! Q I XD n, js. f , 1 fs A! ,jf M ful ' f f ' s ! :J 'i Q 4. ' ,Cixi g X ff' XX -2 W, 4-ff L if ,W ag if 'c if-if t ... ' ' A s- N ' f X-'Ili g-L INDEPENDENT LADY George Elliot, a new JuniorfOfficerfoffthefDeck, leaned back on his heels and whistled a few bars of Anchors Aweigh . On the bridge with George were the 0.0.D. and Capt. Pride. We were in a task group steaming towards Majuro. Suddenly the whole group started a starboard turn-all but Beulah , who maintained her course. Elliot, still on his heels, whistled All the Things You Are , his thoughts were thousands of miles away. Capt. Pride's voice broke through the low murmur of churning engines and subdued radio speakers. Mr, Elliot, do you know where we're going? L'Yes sir, Captain, we're going back to Majuro. We'll be there early tomorrow. Yes-1 know, but can you tell me why the rest of the for' mation 1sn't going with us? fMoral--never miss a zigfzagj LOTS OF AIR The Ship had been at General Quarters for hours. As usual all air, conditioning was off. and men inside the ship were sweltering, especially those whose stations kept them far below decks. The Executive Ofhcer was checking up on the readiness of all departments. On the bridge squawk bgx he Called Cen' tral4Stat1on, .-This is the Executivc Qmccr. A,-C you ready to receive a torpedo down there? The deliberate answer crept back from the First Lieutenant. Lt. Cdr. Wexel, Commander Lyons, if it will help the ventila' tion any, well accept two or three. 68

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Here's Raymond Lee jones, Jr., QM3c, with a slant cn Port Routine. Say, what time did we drop the hook, quarterf master? 1532? Warren, 2nd division wins the 350.00 anchor pool. And it isn't long before the quartermaster on watch is called again to settle other anchor pools. The quartermaster gang breaks out soap and water on the bridge, but it seems that they always end up by painting the entire place. Lambert says he canlt figure out which division he is in while in port-has a paint -brush in his hand more than a pencil. The Engineers secure the main engines and commence making repairs. The boilers and bilges need cleaning-one of the hottest and dirtiest jobs on the shipf, The hull of the ship got hot, sitting in those tropical anchorages with little breeze except the trade winds. Heat rash and the creeping crudn broke out in fresh attacksg the sleeping compartments, engineering spaces, oilices, galley and passages got hotter than ever. K' 'Stand by to receive LCM underneath the airf plane crane., Then it starts-'20 hands from the 2nd division, 20 hands from the 3rd division, 10 hands from Vfl division report to Chief Gandolfo on the forward elevator., Boxes, boxes, and more boxes. L.Porty for the storelqeeper means nothing but work. directing the unloading and stowing from reveille to taps. When the time comes to weigh anchor and leave port, the Supply Department is probably the only one that is glad to be under way again-glad to S