John Q Roberts (APD 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIllIIIIIIIIIIllllllllllfflllffllfflIEEEEEIIiiilfiiilIIIEEEEZIIIIfiililIiiiYfiHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Illllllllllllllll American made tools and instruments which had been -used to manufac- ture of our' enemy's most formidable machines of war. After a short rest in port we were sent out to our Harbor Entrance Con- trol Post. Our task was to patrol the entrance to Ise Wan, the approach to Nagoya Harbor. We were to pass charts and entrance instructions to all incoming ships, and send reports by radio to the Port Director on all ship movements. We made two such patrols at Nagoya, each of a week's dura- tion. After our second patrol, our commanding officer, Lieutenant Comman- der Bavier, was ordered back to the United States for separation from the naval service. On the seventeenth of November, Lieutenant Gross, then our executive officer, relieved Captain Bauier of his command, while Lieutenant O'Donnell succeeded Mr. Gross as executive officer. At this time the Roberts got underway again, this time for an insignificant place in southern Honshu called Hiro Wan, for more HECP duty. Ourrouting to Hiro Wan took us through Bungo' Suido, a narrow, con- gested passage between Shikoku and Kyushu. The passage is ninety miles long, and filled with small islands, rocks, reefs, and treacherous currents. It was not yet completely free of mines. The'islands of Bungo Suido were

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llllrl ll Illll Illlllll 'lllllll llllll Illulll 'I Il F IllllllllllllllllllllIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIL.....II..II:::..IIIll..lllIl..:!!:..Il.....:!IIn..nIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII + IAPAN ' Before we had a chance to wonder where our next assignment would take us, we were once again on our way to Iapan. This time, as escort to thirty LST's and one LCFF, were bound for Otaru, Hokkaido, Iapan, a-distance of about 2500 miles. It was a long, slow, and tedious journey, with little to break the monotony except the fringes of a storm off Okinawa. During our passage through the Tsugaru Straits, which had been heavily mined by the Iapanese and our own B-29's, we sighted and destroyed by gun- fire our first mine. Gun No. 41 placed the telling shot. Before long another mine was sighted, and with very little time wasted, Gun No. 41 scored again! After twelve days at sea, we reached Otaru. From our anchorage, the city appeared to be a picturesque place. The quaint little dwellings, the intricate rice terraces, and the strange temples of their religion were a pretty sight. Much was added to the beauty of the place by the light snow that fell during our stay. However, we soon revised our opinion of Otaru. On our first liberty we discovered that the streets were paved with mud, the dwellings that looked so quaint from a distance were really miserable hovels, and about the whole place was a pungent odor which we later learned was characteristic of all Iapanese cities. Everywhere we were pursued by the local citizens, all of whom, it seemed, wanted to buy American Cigaretto. After a short stay in Otaru, we escorted a portion of the LST flotilla to Hok- odate, in the Tsugaro Straits. At Hokodate we found one of the best har- bors in the world, and one of the most modern of Iapanese cities. After com- pleting this mission, we returned to Otaru, and from there escorted the re- mainder of the LST flotilla to Tokyo Bay. From Tokyo Bay we were ordered to Nagoya for HECP duty. Upon our arrival in Nagoya early in November, we found that the natives in that area had ceased hostilities only a few days before. The city of Nagoya was the home of the well-known Mitsubishi airplane. In eliminating the aircraft fac- tory, our airmen had destroyed half of the city. We were among the first ships to enter the harbor, and so were able to obtain some interesting and valuable souvenirs from the ruins. It seemed ironic that we should find many

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small and numerous, rising abruptly from small sandy beaches to great heights. When we reached Hiro Wan, we found a small fishing village whose only importance was its proximity to the great naval base at Kure, and to Hiroshima. Our control post was at the entrance to Bungo Suido, where we anchored this time rather than patrolled. While anchored here we had numerous steak fries and mine hunts on one of the small rocky islands which dotted the chan- nel. In this way we added four more mines to our list. When we returned it was to Kure, where we found the ruins of the lm- perial Iapgnese fleet. One large battleship of the Nagato class had run aground just off shore and had been riddled by our aircraft and by direct bomb hits. Few of the ships there were in operating condition, and probably none of them will ever be underway again. The shipyards at Kure were leveled, as was most of the city itself. A few days later, a sightseeing trip to Hiroshima was arranged. We made the two hour trip in LCVP'S, and crossed the harbor to the village of Ugine, a suburb of the city. In trucks which carried us around the ruined city, we were able to see the vast 'damage done by the now famous atomic bomb. The bomb exploded in the center of the city, near the City Hall, and the surrounding area of about five ,square miles was wiped completely clean, except for the skeletons of a few sturdier buildings, and the scarred, blackened trunks of trees rising grotesquely from the ruins. At this time we went alongside the repair ship Vulcan for more boiler repairs. But after five days, we were on our way out to Bungo Suido to re- sume our entrance control post. ' ' ' 'id'- - - ' A ---W M- '-' --M 'U' ' i ' ' ' '-