LCI (542) - Naval Cruise Book

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, 30 Captain permitted the growing of beards, even producing one of sorts himself. On the 23d all ships held anti-aircraft practice, firing at helium balloons, of which we shot down two. On Z8 August there was more target practice, but this time we were detailed to blow up and release balloons for the port column. That was the day the engines acted up, which required dropping back out of formation to change filters. The next day we woke to see the island of Oahu's famous Diamond Head on the horizon, and at 0830 the ship entered Pearl Harbor, proceeding up into the West Loch, where she moored to the 528 at a buoy about an hour later. West Loch was filled with LCICGDS. There followed a week of inactivity and speculation as to the future. All hands enjoyed liberty in Honolulu, even though it was a job to get there: First you had to wait for the LCM liberty boat to come around, that took you to Waipio, where you had to change to another LCM or LCVP, which took you to the Fleet Landing at the Navy Yard, then you had to walk or take a bus to the Yard gates, finally you rode by bus or train to Honolulu, all of which required about two hours. The ship- spent two days in the pontoon drydock at Waipio Amphibious Base for bottom painting and the installation of new shafts, the only time she ever was out of water for more than 24 ho-urs. The next night during movies on the well deck there was a small fire on the ramp, which provided excitement but did no harm. . On 8 September, after fueling to capacity from a barge in the harbor, the ship returned to Waipiio to moo-r in a big nest at T-4. By now the main topic of conversation was discharge points, and it began to look as- if some of the crew might actually be on their way home soon. The rumor that the 542 was going backto the U. S., caused by the' fueling, proved false. Nevertheless, her complement was being cut, for the next day 7 men were transferred asho-re. On the 10th she was shifted to a mooring on the port side of the hulk of U. S. S. OKLAHOMA, and johnson departed for the hospital and discharge, to- the regret of all hands, who would miss the personality that had contributed so much. September 14 most of us repaired to the Navy Yard's Richardson Field for a softball game between the deck gang and the communicators, and for beer. That was the day the majority of the fleet arrived in Pearl Harbor from the peace signing at Tokyo, we had a fine view of them as they circled Ford Island and came into their moorings. Beloin made a surprise appearance at the game. Havlin played ball so vigor- ously that he threw his shoulder out of joint and had to go- to the hospital. The next day, Danielson, Cofer and Lunn, the lirst men to acquire enough points to get out, were transferred for transportation home with the Beet. On the 17th the ship resumed her Navy gray

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I 29, After the compasses had been compensated, we sailed for a training- shakedown cruise on the afternoon of August 9, with Lt. Com. Pinson aboard and the 417, 418, 516 and 948 in company. When we arrived at Wilson's Cove, San Clemente Island, we anchored for the rest of the night. In the morning we made speed runs, finding that conversion had reduced maximum speed, followed by anti-aircraft target practice in the afternoon and firing at surface targets at night. Those o-n duty in the conn preferred surface firing, since the muzzles of the new 40mms practically joined them there during anti-aircraft. The next day we had our first opportunity to shoot at drones, the small radio-controlled target airplanes, and we knocked one down. Following a night at anchor off San Nicolas Island we bombarded its beach target range from 0900 to 1430--the fire-po-wer of the old 542 was tremendous, even awe-inspiring, as she steamed along parallel to the shore and blasted the rocks. Anchored off the island again that night, all ships mad-e smoke for a while, which, if nothing else, filled the compartments with fog and its o-ily depo-sit. The 13th was a full day: Shore bom- bardment again in the morning, firing at towed sleeves in the afternoon, radar plotting exercise in the evening. That day the radio was full of reports that the Japanese were about to surrender--perhaps due to the wo-rd that the 542, bristling with armament, was o-n the way. At all events we returned to Pier 5 at the San Diego Rep-air Base the morn- ing of August 14, and at 1600 came the news of VICTORY! Bruce went to work on the whistle so that we should not be shamed by any other ship in harbor. All hands now wondered what would happen, we had been due to sail west very shortly and rather suspected that we still would. III. PACIFIC OPERATIONS-POSTWAR At last the orders to sail came, Washington had not seen fit to cancel them just because the war was over. 19 August, after loading ammunition at Mole Pi-er, we tied up at South Quay Wall for final preparations. At 0955 on the 20th the 542 got under way with 26 other LCIs, many of them square-conned veterans of the Mediter- ranean which had been converted to gunboats at San Pedro-. The desti- nation was Pearl I-Iarbor, T. I-I., and the convoy sailed under Lt. Com. Moore, aboard the flagship 514. Word of o-ur departure had appeared in the San Diego papers, so many of the families of the flotilla bade us farewell from the shore as the ships paraded single file down the harbor. Outside the 542 took up her position as leader of the port column of five columns, with four ships astern. The sea proved calm and following, making for a pleasant voyage. Not only were movies shown every night, but for the Hrst time the

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31 coat, when the last of the wartime green, yellow and mud color was painted out, the Pacific camouflage she had carried since Charleston. Finally the word came that all the LCICGDS were to be reconverted to troop carriers for use in demobilization in the forward areasg 20 ships were to be done every twof weeks. On the morning of 19 Sep- tember all ammunition was unloaded at the ammunition depot, and in the afternoon the fog oil was p-umped into a barge. The same afternoon Mr. Buchan successfully detonated the cap of a .50 cal. cartridge while his hand was in the wayg medical treatment was necessary. A busy day was climaxed when we tied up to LST 126 to discharge excess fuel oil, a task that took until 0400 the next morning because the for- ward tanks had to be pumped out by handy-billy. After returning to the QKLAHOMA, a second big time was had at a repeat beer and ball game on Richardson Field. September 21 the complement was reduced once more to LCICLD size, when 11 men were transferred. The follow- ing two weeks were spent waiting, the ship only moved once, to get water at Waipio. On 5' October our turn came for reconversion, and we proceeded to Dock B-13 at the Navy Yard, located at the inboard end of a narrow slip, more or less plugged b-y U. S. S. SoUTH DAKOTA. It was a tight squeeze getting by her, complicated by a cross tide, but finally the ship was safely moored to the 528. After two days the yard work- ers commenced to tear the ship up. It took them 8 days, and on the 16th reco-nversio-n was done: The 40mms were gone, also the magazine in No. 2 5 150 bunks had been installed in Nos. 1,2 and 3 3 otherwise things remained as before. The same day Mr. Littlejohn left for temporary duty at Waipio and ultimate transfer homeg Mr. Buchan succeeded as Exec. Then we filled up with fuel, loaded ammunition for our skeleton armament of 20mms, and tied up at Waipio. p October 19, after Matthews, V Doc Stewart and Summers were transferred for discharge and 2d Lt. David Gilchrist, USMCR, and 20 marines had come aboard for transportation, the 542 sailed for Guam as part of TU 13.l1.19, with ARL 26, LCCFFD 627, and 20 LCIS, most carrying Marines. Once more the sea was follow- ing and not too roughg movies were shown on the well deck at night, the films being traded throughout the convoy. On the 21st the flagship came alongside to trade and rammed two holes in the crew's messhall forward 5 repairs were made forthwith by welders Winn and Sullivan, working from a bosun's chair slung from the gundeck. At midnight on the 24th we crossed the International Dateline and so never had an October 25, 19455 the next day was the 26th instead. On the morning