Macomb (DD 458 DMS 23) - Naval Cruise Book

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2 Y 1 i i t 4 t 1 l J l l All this was not without repercussions. The skipper, fearing that the whole war effort might be jeopardized if this soaring into space became a fad, declared all points of the ship that had any take-off possibilities at all, to be out of bounds. THE GAME When the Macomb was converted to a mine- sweep in November, 1944, her complement was augmented by the addition of two sterling char- acters, namely, CBM Brunson tThe Sailorl, and CPHM Sullivan tjungle Jiinfl. Both of these men were salts of the old school, and both were passionately fond of that old Navy game, acey- deucy, known to polite society as backgammon. There was nothing polite about the way these guys played it. The uSai-or'i tso-called because, as he said, 'lim one of the few leftfit and 'clungle Qliniii lealled thus because ol' his strange habit of climbing trees while on libertyt were engaged in a game calculated to decide. once and for all, who was the master. The title carried with it a considerable sum ol monex to be donated bv the loser. This classic contest was taking place just outside the port door of the erews head. The game had reached a erueial point. ,lnngle Jim had just executed the famous sleeve move. This more is well know to dexotees of the game. The idea is to reach at-ross the board for the diee. and at the same time drag the sleeve across the checkers. moving one or more to a position ol' greater adxantage. lle carried out this maneuver with great dexterity. lint the Sailor re- taliated with the complex deception pass, This more eonsists of distraeting the attention of the opponent with a casual gesture of one hand, is hilt- the other plaeing several men on the board in strategic positions. ln spite of this counter- play. the Sailor it as behind. lie must have an aeey deuey to win. It is as his mote, He raised his hand to throw the dice. ,lust as they left his hand. with his renowned Chinese twisti the sig- nal for general quarters sounded through tlie Ship! .lllllglv .lim dashed for his battle station, located in the erewis head. The Sailor looked at thi' diCt'- il-Keep' deueyf' he shouted triumph- antly. and took off for the fantail. S8 , x I . N X x t Ag N X t , -if 't ,g Xu R ss-rm is 2 . tg AY p g i 1 6:55, Rx Q ty wwf - - fs Xl, T-b',i'3'i'.vo V i X f ri t .v i .st 4 ir ii- t i l X W X lf! tl . ,I V, , I, t 1 l X lt if l N, y From his battle station underneath the port paravane, the Sailor glanced aloft. A horrible sight froze his more-than-ample innards. Diving straight at the ship came a ,lap plane. The lVlac's guns were thundering their song of death. The Sailor ducked his head. As he did so a peculiar sight met his eyes. Out of the door of the lieutt stretched an arm, which he immediately identi- fied as belonging to Jungle Jim. The arm reached for the acey deucy board. The hand on the end of the arm picked up a dice, and set it down again. just then, whaml A bomb ex- ploded not fifty feet off the port quarter. Thc arm suddenly withdrew. The Sailor saw no more. The Mac leaped out of the water, hcclcfl over and quivered in every strake. But she kept going. As soon as the excitement was over, and as soon as his legs would support him, the Sailor dashed forward to the scene of the game. There was the board, miraculously unharmed. And there lay the dice, but no acey deucy. Irlfifead a six and a one met his infuriated gaze! Thus ended all acey deucy games between these two former friends. And thus commenced

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asm-nl Over the TBS, Captain Hutchinson urgently put out the warning. There were some dgubters on the bridge, however, but not after Ensign Harry blurted out, Wfhere it goes again! Callously, machine gunner Jackie Wynn reported that the 'ftorpedoi' was nothing more than the ufoxeri' gear, under strain of the 28 knots the ship was making following from side to side far astern of the ship. All was reserve again in the underway life of the Mighty Mae for many months to come. AUSTIN'S LEAP TO FAME William Henry Austin had as wicked a gleam of mischief in his eye as would be found in that of any fox. He had many forms of amusement. his favorite being, on his return from liberty.. In heap abuse upon the head of the officer-of-the- deck. One of his stock quotations was, lull chiseled a free education out of the government. und, lt took an act of Congress to make a gen- tleman out of you. fle also delighted in chal' lenging the 0.D. to diverse forrns of athleti- cornpetition. such as l'll race you around the deckhouse for ten bucksf' 'l'hese. and like antics. kept him in continual hot water. but did not pre- vent him from becoming one of our most popu- lar characters aboard ship. It was a lovely day in l'alerrno. Sicily. when our hero, well-lubrir-ated. returned to the ship with his bosom buddy. lieggie Sherrnan. who was also well-lubricated. After dishing ulli the proper allotment of abuse lu the ollicer--of-tho deck. these two inebriates swaggered their w ai to the fantail. Presently those topside heard a loud barrage of taunts. jeers. and insults. orig- inating on the fantail. It seemed that our friend Austin was trying to pursuade Sherman to do a little post-liberty high diving. fle was getting nowhere. lfach verbal explosion left Reggie more indifferent to Austirfs scheme. lfinally. thoroughly disgusted. Austin left in a decided huff. A few minutes later found our friend poised on top of the flag stand on the director deck. about sixty feet above the placid surface of Palermo harbor. Great contempt showed upon his face-contempt for his friend Sherman who had deserted himg contempt for the laws of grav- ilrr and ,lllfi plain contempt for all earth-bound mortals. Before anyone could question his in- tention' PUP 'BS he was called aboard shipi thrust himself out into nothingnes. His first 19315 WHS the laziest journey into space ever. He seemed lu literally defy the law of gravity by 5U5Pf Nlillg himself in space in an armchair posi- tion for long impossible seconds. 'lihen suddenly llt? llfuppetl all r'Xpt'r'Ss-lraitt speed to lik' Sllt'f:ll't' f llltf llllflnir. liacl-tlvorre first he cleaved a gap- r trip wound rn the sea and disappeared from the ken nf man. lip this time. all hands had rushed In the port side' to ln-hold rtns spectacle. lhcy neednt have hurrir-dl l'op ex idently had no intention of leax- ing the bottom until he w as gunil and readx. XX e had about nrade up ultt' minds that he was breaking through the crust ral tlnna. when a A, v sight disturbance was tioterl rn the water. lt was the livin: carpenter s mate. alright. but not l'li' tltttl uf llitll lllgtl he ll1trlr'Xlu'r'lr'il. lllht't'ltil1g with bi- di-r'cp.rrrl for the inrpo--ible he carrie to lin- -rrrface fr-ct fir-ti lfxcntuallx riplrlinp hint- -r'll-. lla- pitlllctvul up lllr' lift'-lite'-r'tXr'l's tu' lliltl tiirown hint. and -warn nonchalantlx lvack to the Slip. ' iff p I A ' 4' fl Q f 1 wilt rt . t i f u'l . 1 ' ,J 5711 li l l xi 2 il 1 A ', a, A' , N - ,-. j . f -, L., L ,- 57

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Argument which raved on for many and many on Jungle Jim denied all accusations and turn accused the Sailor of making up the story ln . X . .i f not avinfr off. 'lhe Sailor said as an excuse or P . o that anY man who would cheat under such cir- cumstances should be punished with an awful Punishment. lHe suggested shore duty at Nor- fotkj The argument continued until the Sailor was transferred. Some say this came about due to the expiration of his enlistment, but we have it gn good authority that the exec initiated his transfer by popular request, so that peace could once again be restored to the HMighty Mac. WEST COAST ARRIVAL Proceeding from Panama to San Diego in seven days, the Macomb arrived January 17 with vague orders, issued on the preivous day to prepare for arrival inspection by operational training command, Pacific fleet, then stationed at San Diego. The inspection was made on time, and it covered personnel and material in a man- ner to which wartime personnel, we are happy to say, were not accustomed. One Captain Roger Simpson, USN, conducted the inspection using unforeseen methods calculated to endear himself to the hearts of all ollicers and men present. His tact, and low, well-modulated voice held all hands spell-bound, as he pointed out the Mfew' deficiencies he noted among the personnel. His gracious manner of addressing division of- ficers, concerning the business of their divisions, gave one the distinct effect that each oflicer felt he would like to work in the gentlemanly aura surrounding this most unusual hero of the battle of Vella Lavella Gulf. Capt. Simpson completed his tour of the ship, and it was with 'csad hearts' that we saw him leave the ship for his lair on the beach. We spent four arduous days on the firing ranges in the vicinity of San Clemente, and San Diego, firing the guns almost constantly in an effort to perfect personnel and materiel, then returned to Desbase, San Diego, for minor re- Pairs. This period ended on 24 lan. Our final eXC1'C1SCf the battle problems. again brought us in contact wlth Capt. Simpson. who again distin- guished himself by the self-etlacing manner in which he conducted himself on the bridge throughout. His organization helped bring home to the Macomb the serious difference between Atlantic and Pacific war. and was of great as- sistance in pointing out expected problems under simulated conditions. We like to think that the methods used were all necessary. 'lille general objective certainly was achieved. any coni- placency felt. concerning the change from :Xt- lantic to Pacific war theaters. was shattered. and the need for constant training was estab- lished. On january 20. 10-LS. the Nlaconib look her first definite step toward the war area. then we left San Diego for Seattle. lo join at convoy which was bound for Pearl llarluor. i i liinlffz fi V1 1 if . ftfqtfzstdvsen scgazssi Aww F-.gp CQi,ffsffi' fait' -lk ,-, ,' ' ',' -1 , 1 Aix, AJ X56 ff'-'firms aatsc To slr Q INT - S7 Yzbfc 3 at 't'woSE5X?'g'LU! -QSM i EI: R 4 tNgi3 zg6'! f ff it rw ff 16, li!! 1 . f Areas G f ff. f. I 6 C tug 4 , x 'Vie 6 if :nf 'I 1 .9 X .Z I f Q' ff K, ry 8 n -ll f ,, tht' 'f I ff fi 3 ff 5' f:, ,fig.f 1 l l 'TN kk. O QS? U tf' X, t lv V' :kill IJ If , ffff A , f 'A qi i n A f . . .1 p 5 0 w L P +':lf-- ft l in-1 t ' ,JZMAM .. - g V K 'T .. 59