Macomb (DD 458 DMS 23) - Naval Cruise Book

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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

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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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, KISMET A conflagration not so disastrous as Pearl Harbor, yet occurring at the same place, oc- curred on the Mac in February, 194-5. It had been only a few weeks since the Mac and her crew had seen the States fand the natives who reside therej, but that incessant longing that every sailor knows had already become ap- parent. So the movie audience that night waited impatiently between the stacks, crowded into every vantage point around the screen. For the movie was HKismet,w starring that sinuous siren, La Dietrich. Finally the opening scenes, lush and sexy, flashed upon the screen, a few sizzling situations had developed, and the kindling point of the screen, the film, and the audience. became immi- nent. Which would break hrst? linfortunately it was the film itself that couldnit hold out. and lurid orange flame suddenly engulfed the pro- jector. All hands beat a hasty and somewhat dis- orderly retreat. with no casualties. Ah. well. there will be other KlSIllt'fS in other places. but House that fag. Mac-li' 'MOYE TIIAT ENGINE ROOM Once again the Niue was at fl.Q. An un- identified plane had been picked up by our radar not ten miles away. Now it was in sight. It was a .lapl ln the after engine room. Howard. CMM, nursed his throttle up to thirty knots. and won- dered if he would eyer again see his ranch full of beef critters in California. ln the forward engine room. liiayer. CMM. looked longingly up the ladder and thought of the days when he had wanted lu become 3 4-om- but sailor. Suddenly the bark of 5 battery jarred through the ship! Then the rattle of the machine guns told them that the foe was close aboard! liabooml :X terrific blast on the port side lifted the Mac halt out of the water. ln the after engine room a fuse blew from its clips and shot across the desk like a bullet. The bulkheads bulged and roared like thunder. 60 Howard rose from his knees where he had been thrown by the blast. Dashing to the throt- tle, with one terrific twist he ran it against the limits. Grabbing his phones, he yelled, iiBayer?i' uSpeaking,i' said a shaking voice. ulsisten, you: -move that goddam engine room over, eaugg lim comin' through! MEK Mers El Kabir is the complete name of the Macombis mascot, a brown and white fox terrier picked up in a town in North Africa. He was named for the town in which he was found. but it proved too much of a mouthful, so the first letter of each word was taken to provide the name of Mek. Some of the men try to pin a nationality on the pooch and call him Arab. but he answers only to his ofhcial name of Mek tif he answers at alli. The story of how Mek came to board the Mae is a tale in itself. lt was one bright African after- noon when several lVfacomb men were out scout- ing around for something to buy with their newly acquired francs. Suddenly, Williams. Coxswain, spied a small pup sitting on a door- step. looking extremely sad and forlorn. Wil- liams, with his pals Booth, Kazlowski and liois. all lN121iSWZ1llliS mates, decided to adopt the little mutt. Now the problem was to get him back Ull board without detection by the eagle-eyed UD. Fortunately the dog was so small that he could be snugly htted into a jumper without a notice- able bulge. Williams was elected to carry thc male. as it were. But he reckoned without tht! alert OD., Mr. Lawrence taffectionately known as Larry the Lump t. Mr. Lawrence immediately detected the animal. and forthwith sent them to the captain for permission to bring the pup aboard. Captain Hutchison gave his approval provided he be logged in at the gangway, df?- loused. and adequate quarters provided for him. Nlek immediately showed his appreciation by shifting into gear and wetting the captainis shoe. So time passed and the Mighty Mac steamed out into the blue Mediterranean, and we find OUT mascot slowly gaining weight and his sea legs' He became salty enough to overcome the motion of the ship and to climb out of his box and wan- der about the ship. During this time his diet Q