LCI (542) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 8 text:

4 especially after narrow brushes first with an unknown ship and then with a column of destroyers. The next morning we proceeded to Nor- folk, docking alongside the 409 at Pier S, Lambert's Point. All the other ships there were Boston-built and all painted Pacific green 5 were we headed for the Pacific? Welders, some of them small boys, swarmed aboard to alter the ramps and make other repairs, while the rest of the ships loaded overseas stores. and later were repainted Atlantic gray. For a while they still said we were to be a training ship, then they said maybe not-we'd better stock up. So we did, and as many of the ship's company as possible went ho-me for a couple of days.. At last they told us we were to go- to Europe with the other ships 5 we were now in Flotilla 12 and Lt. Com. L. R. Henry, in the 408, our temporary commander. On 3 March we moved to Little Creek anchorage, where a convoy conference was held ashore-ten of us were to- trail a UGS fGibraltarj convoy as escorts . There were the LCIS 408, 409, 410, 411, 412, 401, 403, 539, 541, and ourselves. At 1034 on 4 March 1944 the anchor was raised and housed for the Atlantic crossing, a trip that only ,three of ship's company had made before, the Captain, McCabe and Roberts. After passing out through the Capes the ship took up her co-nvoy position as last ship in the 12th of 13 columns, astern of the liberty ship'r Wm. E. Borah g before long almost everyone was seasick. For days a head wind and mod- erately rough Northeast sea bounced the 542 about a good deal, but sometimes the rolling Borah seemed to be having a worse time of it. The sky was rarely clear, so that navigation became mostly a matter of following in the wake of the sturdy Borah , a most courteous ship, which passed on all convoy signals and always let us know her prospective movements. S-o we continued for twelve days, most o-f us overcoming seasickness with the aid of dry crack- ers and grapefruit. LaPorte always wore his foul weather stock- ings and white sneakers and carried his bucket whenever he had to get up to take the helm. Finally on the morning of 16 March the LCIs left the convoy and proceeded due North alone. Despite a great deal of signal confusion during the night, especially on the part of the 539, we arrived safely the next morning off the island of Fayal in the Azores, escorted by porpoises-the rich green grass looked wonderful. At 1015 a gnarled Portuguese pilot clambered aboard, and we manned the rails and entered the harbor of Horta, tying up alongside the 412 at the sea wall. Horta p-roved a fine liberty port, although liberty was restricted for a day and a half until Sunday. That was the day that Bruce, Neff and Matthews had a champagne party, topped off by Bruce's lecture in French to the rabble from the top of a woodpile. Several

Page 7 text:

3 At 1405 on 2 February we cast off, proceeded down New York Harbor past the Statue of Liberty, dropped the Coast Guard pilot at 1613, and sailed fo-r the Chesapeake. We were on our own-with only our faulty compasses to depend upon, which was all right while skirting the Jersey Coast. Around midnight, however, we came to Delaware Bay, a heavy mist descended, and we were truly at sea. Luckily the water was calm, and after some fumbling the proper channel buoy was located. No one got much sleep, but from then on all went compara- tively w-ell, until late the next day we passed Cape Henry and arrived at Little Creek. Receiving orders to proceed, we set off for Solomons, anchoring off Cove Point at 0400 on the 4th. At ten o-'clock that day we made our first appearance at Solomons, mooring to the .404 at Pier 8. Five hours later Commander Martin held a most unsatisfactory arrival inspection, mainly because we had buoy-hopped rather than navi- gated from New York, it did not impress him that we had at least found the buoys and arrived safely. QThe 540 had torn her bottom out on the jersey shore a few days before.j Shakedown started on 5 February, with the 542 inaugurating -a new system of three-day independent steaming-with a lieutenant in- structor in navigation aboard we traveled continuously up and down th-e Chesapeake, holding general drills and beaching. Back at Solomons the ship joined the Shakedown Group under Lt. Com. Bailey in the 541. After two days of formation steaming the morning of the 11th was devoted to emergency hand steering practice, we rigged block and tackle successfully, but the quadrant was sprung, and the pin ,could not be reinserted for mechanical steering. This required a night at ATB for rewelding and alignment of the quadrant. On the morning of the 12th the 543 joined the formation with anchor ball bravely flying at the yardarm , we at least were not that green, nor was Neff as slow on the radio as the 411 C Radio name, Junior- Junior, junior! Please pay attention ! j. After a night off Little Creek the Group beached at Virginia Beach, returning in a snowstorm to Little Creek. The shakedown continued with more steaming, drills and beaching, ending on the 16th with anti-aircraft practice, firing at a target sleeve. That night we returned to Solomons, where Lt. Com. C. B. D. Brown, our new Group Commander, made his first appearance, by that time we had been transferred to the new training Flotilla 17. ' I On 17 February LaPort-e, fresh from boot camp, replaced -King, and after being delayed by fog we sailed from Solomons for availability at Norfolk, though no one could explain why a HCW ffaining Ship fe' quired availability. Endurance trials were held on the way down the Bay Cflank speed about 17 knotsj until a heavy fog set in at 2000. The rest of the trip to the Little Creek anchorage was nervewracking,

Page 9 text:

rf I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I , 5 of the afternoon shore patro-l shift were unable to perform, due to morning liberty. The officers enjoyed the wardroom bar of HMS Blackfiy alongside, while Howard enjoyed some Wine, Late that night the captain of the 539 hunted spies in cupboards with flashlight and .45, and the 4l2 had a fantail party of a different sort. Mean- while we found time to do a little painting, repair .the broken Seam Over No. 2, and bail out the compartment g we also took on supplies of fresh bread, bananas and oranges. The bumboats made many sales, as the result of which Clenney tried the local brandy and later tried to break down No. 2 hatch with his fists. J I Bright and early on 20 fMarch the LCIs set sail for England, escorted by the DE, HMS Dakins . The sea was rough and the sky more cloudy than ever. All went well until 0730 on the 22d, when our engines and generators stopped, due to water in the day tanks, and left us alone on the ocean. We had no way to signal the convoy, but luckily the Dakins missed us and came back to see what was wrong. After an hour of hard workhby the black gang we were able to proceed. The voyage proceeded without further inci- dent until around noon of March 25, when we reached Falmouth, Cornwall, England and anchored in the harbor. The next day we went on to Plymouth, entering the harbor at 1450. For the next hour we filed up and up the Tamar River, under the Albert railroad bridge, and at last moored to buoy T-21, Saltash, with the 412' alongside. Our ocean voyage was over, successful, except that none of the ships knew enough to render honors to U. S-. S. ANCON just before reaching Saltash. For a while we were left to ourselves, since the Base at Plymouth had not expected LCIS so soon. just before midnight on the 27th, we experienced our first air raid, but were late getting to general quarters because Clenney, anchor watch, was too busy watching .a plane fall in fiames to ring the alarm and let the rest of us see it. The following day the ship tussled with the tide, the Saltash ferry and the rickety pier at St. Budeaux in order to get fresh water-ship- handling in British harbors promised tonbe no picnic. When we went on liberty, we found Plymouth smashed, transportation to and from the city difficult, nothing to do but go to the movies or drink warm, watery beer at the pubs, nothing to eat, the blackout hopeless 'to deal with. Those were the days when the galley came i11'fO i'fS OWU HS an after-liberty club, snack bar and center for Mr. Hand's discus- sion group 3 its only rival in the late evenings was the Saltash CIQHCC- April 4 the first 72-hour liberty was granted Calso the last until. after the invasionj. The Captain, Neff, Bruce, Beloin, ClenneY: Damelsonf Hoblit, Roberts and Lazarus all went to London. I