LCI (542) - Naval Cruise Book

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16 and bedded do-wn, followed later by 4 Frenchmen. After waiting all the next day for the weather to subside Cthese waits on the weather were becoming too commonb, we set off, leading three ships to Utah, where we beached after dark and unloaded. Upon our return we stayed in Lymingto-n for an unprecedented nine days, there was plenty of room, since most of the Flotilla was at Southampton, fully loaded and waiting, some for a week, until the storms subsided. Shifting from pier to anchorage and back again, we remained idle for sixteen days- our longest period of leisure since the Invasion. Gctober 25 was elec- tion day aboard, between 0900 and 1100 all hands who were of age had an opportunity to sit alone in the sacred wardroom and vote. A few days later our new Group Commander, Lt. Reed, held another materiel inspection-to his dismay he found the hand whistle in the conn inoperative, because it was full -of water. Then o-n October 31 to- our dismay we were told to load up with supplies for another tour of duty off the beaches, which were supposed to be closed by then. Commanders Patrick and Henry came aboard that evening for haircuts, their conver- sation cheered those who happened to hear. November 1 we departed for Utah with the 537 and upon arrival moored to the RoBE.RTsoN so that Lt. Qjgj Scanlon and his gear could be transferred to us. The waves were running high during the fifty minutes alongside, causing four of our lines to part as well as some bad dents o-n the port edge of the gundeck. Finally we cast off and anchored, only to be disturbed at an early hour the next morning by Lt. Newman, Commander of LCT Group 11, who boarded us with instructions to escort 15 LCTs to Le Havre. The voyage across the Bay of the Seine at 6 knots took nine hours, so we anchored off Le Havre for the night. When we sailed the following morning, we were chased and turned back by a PT boat, for no reason that we could see, but after a co-uple of hours they let us go. Back at Utah mooring to the 537 inside the gooseberry proved difficult, since she and her stern anchor cable took up most of the distance between block ships and shore. Consequently we lost a few stanchions. We gained Lt. Cjgj Casey and six more or less ragged fugitives from abandoned beach signal posts, part of the Utah Port Director Party, the rest of which was remaining on the 537. We also received a large pile of rusted and useless firefighting gear to weigh down the gun- deck. We could not do much about that, but Mr. Littlejohn told the ex-beach-dwellers that they would have to shave and clean up now that they were back in civilization 5 at Beloin's insistence they did. When they came out from behind their whiskers, they proved to be a line group of men who added a great deal to the ship in the ten days they

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15 Weymouth High among the thousands o-f troops jammed on deck, After the 8th we had LCM 102 all to ourselves as duty boat, except when someone else wanted it. Johnson was delighted and soon learned how to run it 5 in fact he practically relieved the coxswain. Finally on September 18 the 489 relieved us, and the next day we returned to Lymington with Group 35, led by 420, departure being delayed some- what because 421 brought up a truck with her ancho-r. There followed 'a week of relaxation, except perhaps for the black gang, who overhauled the engines. On the 24th Major General Sir Dfonald Banks, Chief of British Petroleum Warfare, came- aboard for Sunday breakfast and his first p-ancakes, which he pro-nounced excellent. It was the only time a Hag officer trod the decks of 542. Two days later Colonel Mears, Britis-h Army Retired, came abo-ard in British Home Guard uniform to make a trip across the Channel at the invitation, off Com. Henry. After picking up 160 Canadian ordnance troops at .Royal Pier, we sailed from Gilkicker Sailing Area in a group of 7 LCIS, with 500 as SOP, on our first trip to the British artilicial harbor at Arromanches. We m-oored to the 420 at a floating pier at 0953 the next morning, and by 1005 all troops had disembarked. Departure was delayed for another hour though, due to clogged fuel lines and injectors. Nevertheless, by 2100 we were mo-o-red to 539' at Lymington anchorage, having made the round trip in less than 24 hours. October 2 was notable on two counts: First, while painting the bow at the p-ier Cseripko took a neat tumble into Lymingto-n River 5 second, Mary Moss, the local American Red Cross representative, was our guest for lunch. 201 mo-re s-oldiers were loaded at Royal Pier on the afternoon o-f 6 October, and there we stayed all the next day due to bad weather. We s-ailed, leading three other ships, on the morning of the 8th and by night- fall were anchored inside Omaha mulberry. The 505 was not, how- ever, and in the process of anchoring collided with us and fouled our cable, finally she moored to us, bow to stern. This made it difficult to unload her passengers into- the LCT along our side-it was far into the early morning before all were off and we could sleep. The follow- ing afternoon found us back o-nce more in Lymington anchorage. Two days later, having scarcely rested and with wet paint on the compartment decks and a near hurricane blowing, the ship was o-rdered to Royal Pier. The Captain refused, Operations insisted? SQ Off We s-ailed, andsailed was the word for it that day, when the W111d ll00k us off Calshot Castle and even hard right rudder could not keep the ship from edging into the wind o-n the port beam. The .same wind slammed her into the 408 while coming alongside at the pier, denting her sponson and plucking some of 408's stanchions. 176 troops boarded

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.17 were aboard- The 542 'Chen 3SSUI'HCd , her duties as standby Port Director, which meant touring the anchorage twice a day in good weather, signalling the few remaining cargo ships, and finding out how unloading Qby DUKWS onlyj was progressing. The .RO'BERTSO'N, with her amusements, had departed, so we only got to the movies once, aboard the ARL ADONIS. On the 6th the ship went out to the British LSD O'ceanway to pick up the crews from the LCMS she was loading. As soon as we were alongside, almost all hands swarmed over the rails, to the consternation of the Royal Navy. ,They soon came back with the LCM crews, so-me food and two bicycles, of which we were to hear more later. On the morning of November 10, to our surprise, the 509 relieved us, taking over the four officers and twelve men of the Port Director Party and even the firefighting gear. ,By ,that after- noon we were anchored off Lymington, only to find that We Should have gone to Plymouth for drydocking. So the next afternoon the ship jo-ined a slow British convoy of coasters off the Needles, LC1s were no longer permitted to sail alone along the Coast-too dangerous! November 12 found her moored once more at good o-ld Saltash. There followed two days of rest while we waited our turn in dry- dock, we did not mind, for by now we knew the repairs were being made for the voyage home. Many ships, including the 488, had been turned over to the British and their crews released to the general pool. On the afternoon of the 15th we were hauled out on the QAB marine railway fthe first drydocking since April, when we had undergone the air raid on the same spotj. All hands turned to in below-freezing weather to scrape and paint the bottom, 23M hours later the ship was waterborne once more, with paint scarcely dry. Ordered to Baltic Wharf for the night, we moored to the 413, with two YMSS and an abandoned LCT inboard and the 412 outboard. A bad southerly blow had been forecast. It came in the early morning. The untended old lines of the LCT began to part, and soon the whole nest of ships was perpendicular to the wharf, bows out and broadside to the driving wind. When the last line snapped, they began to drift towards the rocks on QAB. It was impossible to maneuver against the wind or to see in the hard rain. Engines were started, and tugs came out to help. The nest broke up as 412 and 413 cast off to blunder about on their own. The 542 was almost on the rocks, when, all else having failed, the engines were backed full speed. She slowly drew out of that danger, miraculously passed clear of the other ships, and backed into the wind. When she was well clear and approaching QAB O11 the other t2lCk, the stern anchor was dropped, and it held. EverYO'ne relaxed until after daylight, when we returned to SaltaSh-