Des Moines (CA 134) - Naval Cruise Book

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N APRIL 6th 2350 A D. lohn Smith stood with his son in New York City s famous Museum of History and perused 1n their immaculate cases several ancient documents of the old diesel-engined ships Sud. denly his eye was attracted by the faded log of the histor1c USS DES MOINES, an almost legendary fight- ing, Navy cruiser He had read about lt often 1n his history books as a child, and his eyes strained to make legible the barely visible lines Actually, there were two logs side by side, the caption beneath one reading Smooth Log and the other uartermaster s Note- bookf' the former obviously being a neat summary of the other The date on the open pages was September 18 1951 and there were many signatures. There was the Navi- gator s, J. W. Newland, and the ancient old skipper s, R. B. Ellis. There were several names of uartermasters such as Wiseman, Stubenrod, Boland Cavanaugh neatly appendaged to their entries, and a wealth of weather data on one page. These were the men of N Division, it said on another caption. John Smiths heart pounded heavily as his mind 1 ' 9 - a an - as ' ' 9 . QC ao ccQ a a . 1 Q 9 1 9 S N cc as a Bearing two . . . zero . . . one. drifted dreamily back four hundred years. He imag- ined himself as one of these sturdy old Quartermasters keeping the ship's log, plotting position, navigating 20,000 tons of steel through reef and storm. He saw himself with sextant measuring the stars, carefully ticking off the error on the ship's chronometer, sur- rounded by charts, and laboriously correcting the long l-1 FRONT ROW: A. J. Dorsey, SA, P. Callia, SN: C. Tucker, SN .... SECOND ROW: J. J. Leonhardt, SN, B. P. Cavanaugh, QM1, R. A. Kendrick, QM17 Ens. W. F. Leppin, Asst. Navigator: LCDR J. W. Newland, Navigator, A. L. Hipp, QMC: J. E. Bethany, QM1: F. E. Fitz, QM27 J. L. Van Horn, SN .... BACK ROW: R. E. Haupt, SN, R. K. Wiseman, QM3p L. E. Swanisc, QM37 M. E. Fitts, QM1p L. A. Boland, SN: F. W. Stubenrod, QM37 A. E. Verrier, SN, A. D. McGhee, AGI: L. W. Horne, SA: A. C. Stout, SN.

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D O O O HE V DIVISION is composed of aviation person- nel Whose job is to maintain the aircraft attached to the ship. The aircraft attached to the DES MOINES for this cruise is a helicopter. The uses of a helicopter aboard a cruiser are many, the most important job being that of life saving for which the V Division must always be prepared. They are also called on for the transferring of personnel from one ship to another, gun fire spotting, delivery of mail to all ships operating in company, radar cali- bration, photography, and most any other job imag- inable. The men who maintain the aircraft have a rough and never ending job. The same amount of mainte- nance is required for the 'engine as in conventional aircraft. ln addition, the rotor drive and transmissions which are finely machined require hours of servicing for each hour of flight. Also there is the never ending battle at sea with salt Water corrosion which is ever present. ln training the men of the division learn the plane and how to cope with its troubles and problems. Now with the fleet they become part of the ship, Working as a team in both maintenance and handling of the aircraft. Through indoctrination, training and team Work, the'V Division, although a temporarily attached unit to the ship, fulfills the need for a mobile maintenance setup for the multipurpose aircraft. Top: Making the landing. Right: Constant repair work. STANDING: lt. Q.g.J W. V. Gar- rison: G. K. Sundborg, AD17 I-- E. Coleman, AD3: Lt. li.g-l J- V- Burfon .... KNEELING: J. G. Arrington, AT37 T. V. Murphy, AD3.

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Di ' ion lists of sailing publications. He knew he was a man to be reckoned with beside the Navigator, a storehouse of information on buoys and signals, tides, Weather and general Hknow how. He felt proud when the Officer-of-the-Deck called on him for assistance, and he could feel the eyes of the Captain on him as he quickly rang up the orders to the engine room, or spun the wheel on the helm. On watch, day and night, in port or out, a Quartermaster tirelessly navigating by the stars at sea . . . and in Words, through history. John Smith gripped his son's hand firmly as his mind returned to the present, and he pointed out to him the other exhibits of different types of compasses the Quartermaster used to constantly check and take his bearings by, and the many age-Worn instruments for plotting and piloting. He explained to him from what he had read how the Navigator was the actual responsible officer, but.Navigator and Quartermasters alike worked closely together in full cooperation for the final result. And he remembered his old school- teacher saying: uln those days you could tell the heart of a ship by the look of its bridge, and it was a poor Quartermaster, indeed, Who didn't give it everything he had. John Smith thought of the names in the log again: Bethany, Fitts, Van Horn, Haupt. He wondered if they had ever realized how far they would go in history. Evening star sights. Below right: A well tended helm.