Des Moines (CA 134) - Naval Cruise Book

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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.

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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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Preventative shots. Preparing medicine. FRONT ROW: R. W. Kutz, HM3: A. N. Glenn, HM3 .... SECOND ROW: O. R. Steen, HM2p D. D. Davison, SN7 R. E. Miller, HMC, R. L. Bryson, Lt. li.g.l7 J. L. Hud- son, HM27 C. J. Kuebler, HM2. . . . THIRD ROW: J. W. Stirling, HM17 W. J. Flaherty, HM3: G. R. Terwilliger, HN: B. J. Turner, HN: H. L. West, HN: J. S. Zarior, HN: T. J. Doran, HM3, W. A. McLeod, HM1. H D'vision DIVISION is the Medical Division of the ship. There are sixteen hospitalmen and two doctors in the division. Many of the hospitalmen are specialists in their field. There are pharmacists, laboratory work. ers, X-ray technicians, operating room technicians and medical technicians. The Medical Department is charged with and responsible for maintaining the health of the Navy through the promotion of physical fitness, the prevention and control of disease and in- juries and the treatment and care of the sick. In our department we have a sick bay with thirty- two beds to provide adequate treatment and care for the sick and injured. Closely associated with the sick bay is the laboratory and pharmacy. In the laboratory many tests are run to assist in diagnosis and treatment. The pharmacy has charge of obtaining and keeping records of all our equipment and keeping a good sup- ply of medications. Our treatment room is open twenty-four hours a day for men who need medical care. We of the Medical Department are very fortunate to have the opportunity of seeing each man at least once a year. Most fellows feel the men in H Division just love to give inoculations but instead we know what could happen if the men didnit receive the inoculations. Therefore, it is just one of our duties in practicing preventive medicine. The X-ray Department of this ship is quite small, but for treating fractures and other diseases it main- tains a high priority. The Medical Department administrative Work is done in our clerical office. Here, health records, records of immunizations and special examinations are kept up to date. On the starboard side of the ship is a room known by all, but we hope few will ever enter it as a patient. This room, of course, is the operating room. The op- erating room is equipped to do any and all kinds of surgery. There will be found in the room many sterile instruments ready for immediate emergencies. We, the men in H Division, are proud of the out- standing work performed in this division in the past year and will endeavor to continue our good record.