LCI (542) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 23 text:

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

Page 22 text:

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

Page 24 text:

20 were more interested in looking than in catching lines. We transported some gear fro-m her to the Poco, which also presented mooring dif- ficulties because of her damaged stern and lack of rudder. Finally we fetched some acetylene gas from the CHINABERRY to the FOGG. That night the cripple lost 90 feet of her stern, but retained her water- tight integrity and even keel. As the group progressed at a snail's pace the sea increased somewhat. The DE began to yawg so she passed the 542 an 8-inch manila line, fashioned in a yoke, and for three hours the ship dragged astern of her to keep her steady, until the lines parted. That day, December 23, the is-land of Terceira, Azores, was sighted, and shortly after dark the convoy anchored in Praia Harbor, Terceira, in the open ocean swells. The lighted town looked wonderful after the past eleven days 5 Mr. Littlejohn was especially interested in a red neon display, which he said must be joe's Place . The sea increased during the night, until at 0420 the waves sud- denly s-topped slapping the ship's fantail, and she began to roll-the stern anchor had carried away. By the time the main engines were going and the ship under way We were within 200 yards of broaching on the beach. The bow anchor was dropped and held for two minutes before the cable snapped in the big waves. There was nothing for it but to remain under way the rest of the night, as we had no- spare anchors 5. so we steamed around in the harbor mouth until morning, when a rhino barge came out and moored us to a buoy. Later the Captain went ashore for lunch and a conference, where Captain Martin of the FOGG, as senior officer present, announced that he had received permission from Washington to keep the present group of ships to- gether to escort him to the U. S. Since Praia was a neutral port, all ships would have to move to Horta that day, except the cripple and tug, which would remain for temporary seabee repairs. While the conference was going on, our mooring line s-lipped off the buoy. There followed two hours of strenuous work by all hands, led by Mr. Little- john, after which the ship was finally secured astern of the anchored CHINABERRY by means of a yoke of lines until our departure at night- fall. Early Christmas morning the group was lying off Horta Harbor, all were ordered to anchor outside, which did not help the 542. After we convinced the British that we could not anchor, a pilot took us- in to moor to HM tug Sampson at a b-uoy, just in time for some of the officers to visit HMS Chaunticleer , the sternless headquarters ship, for some Christmas cheer. That afternoon the ship ventured out of the harbor once more to moor to the IRA I. for water. A Christmas service was held, after which most, of the crew attended the movies aboard the DE. Meanwhile some of the officers joined those from the DE at a