LCI (542) - Naval Cruise Book

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n I. L41 1 Jul ll li li P . 1? l 1 W 1, . l , li 1 1 r W I lwg 1 'L li . 'A 1. , 1 l ll 1 r 1 r J l l li l rl ll l l ' . . 1 F E l l ll ll li l l :- 2? ,I 5 li il, . 18 The next day we returned to Weymouth with 401, 403 and 413, mooring to the docks, where a top overhaul of the engines was begun. There the ship stayed for ten days, except for short runs to test the engines and compensate compasses. December 1 was spent fueling to capacity at the Portland Fuel Pier. The Captain had forgotten how much added momentum a full load of oil gave to the ship, con- sequently, when mooring to the 414 back at Weymouth he did not back down soon enough, and we nudged the flagship right at the com- mander's porthole. Commander Patrick, who was sitting under the port, was knocked out of his chair to the deck. The Captain had to do some fast talking. Luckily, no harm was done beyond a few scratches on the new paint Qlt always was newj of the unmoving 414. The follo-wing week passed in last-minute preparations and rejoicing that we were still going home, when twelve ships C401, 403, 412, 413, 414, 415, 538, 539, 540, 541, 556 and 4081 were being held in Europe for further cross-Channel trips. QThey did not get home until june, 1945.5 December 7 Ensign Paul E. Allen, former Communications Offi- cer of the 411 and Group 34, reported aboard for transportation home, so did Vahlbruch, BM 2c, an ex-small boat coxswain. Two days later we bid goodbye to F lot 12' and sailed fo-r Plymouth, leading 417, 418, 419, 420 and 421 through high seas and arriving at Saltash in the afternoon. Lt. Pinson, who had been skipper of the 491, lost on D-Day, was now Commander of Group 35 for the voy- age home and would travel on the flagship 420. The next morning the 1 Captain attended the convoy conference and learned that we were to go in a towing convoy 'consisting of 4 damaged LSTS, one wrecked tanker, tugs to tow them, some extra tugs, 2 net-tenders, a Navy oiler, and 4 DEs for escort, convoy speed was to be 4 to 5 knots, if all tows could make that speed. At that rate it wo-uld take four weeks to get to the States. Since weather prevented sailing on the llth, we topped off with water and also took aboard Y lc Menagh of Group 35 Staff as a passenger. December 12 at 0922 the 542 left Saltash, our old stamping ground, slipped under Royal Albert railroad bridge, and passed through the Plymouth Harbor nets for the last time. The convoy assembled in Cawsand Bay and sailed at noon, with the 6 LCIs bringing up- the rear. At 2318 Lizard Light was passed, our last glimpse of England. By the next morning the convoy had formed into seven shallow columns, with the 542 as third and last ship in the sixth column 5 the convoy speed o-f four knots could be kept using one-third speed on one engine in each quad. The convoy commodore was the captain of U. S. S. MATTOLE, the oiler, while the escort commander was the DE division commander

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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-

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19 aboard U. S. S. F OGG CD'E57J 5 the destination was Charleston, South Ca1'01i11H, With 110 Stops 011 the WHY- Thus we continued at walking speed for two- days, whereupon We ran bows on into a moderate two- day storm. In this it was at times impossible to maintain headway, and the ship was forced to travel in circles in order to keep- station 5 ,convoy speed dropped to almost nothing, but even at that a couple of the tows- had to give up and return to- England. As we traveled southwards, the seas abated, leaving us in calm, pleasant seas. ,y When, at 1045 on December 20, Mr. Littlejohn, the o. o. d., rang general quarters, everyone thought it was a drill, everyone except those in the conn. They had seen a white spout shoot up amidships in LST 359, which was in tow a few hundred yards on our po-rt beam. The LST had been torpedoed but did not realize it and sent up a Haghoist that they had had an internal explosion. The FOGG immediately came back from the van at Hank speed to investigate and when well astern of us took a torpedo in the fantail. The other DES started off to hunt the submarine, aided by two RAE liberators, which appeared overhead at that point. The whole port side of the LST looked to be blown in QShe was cut adrift and later sunk by guniirej, and the stricken FOGG was way down by the stern. The LCIs steamed back to her and lay to for a couple of hours, while most of the rest of the convoy p-roceeded. Finally the 420 went alongside the DE to take off her wounded and instructed us to take 417, 418 and 421 back to the convoy, which We rejo-ined in midafternoon. By night all excitement had died down, whereupon the 420 loomed close aboard out of the darkness with loud- hailer orders to go back and stand by the FOGG, which had been taken in tow and was- now some 50 miles astern towards England. There was nothing for it but to start back before dawn-the 542 all alone in the Atlantic Ocean with hostile submarines in the vicinity! We set off at 0412 steaming at full speed in Ta following sea, until at 0730, to the Captain's great relief, the crippled ship and escort hove into view on the starboard bow. The escort was U. S. S. IRA JEFFERYA CDE 63D, which suspected us of being a submarine, even tho-ugh she computed our speed as 17 knots and too fast for a submarine, luckily she waited to challenge visually. The EOGG was being towed in tandem by the net-fender U- S- S- CHINABERRY and a small army diesel tug LT643, with the 419 abeam to port, we took station abeam to starboard, speed about three k110'CS, destination the Azores. Later in the morning we moored to the. star- board side of the JEFFERY, which, being unused to LCIS, g1'9-C10US1QY slowed to her two-thirds speed--about the equal Of OUI' Standard. If was quite a job, especially since the swarms of men on the DE's deck