Mauna Loa (AE 8) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 9 text:

off the strongly held Japanese Island of Babelthuap which permitted many night raids over the area by Jap planes. Nevertheless the Third Fleet was re- armed on schedule even though night operations were suspended. MAUNA LOA reloaded in Pearl Harbor and in mid-November 1944 set sail for Ulithi in the Western Carolines. During the late winter MAUNA LOA made pre- parations for attempting the new experiment of re- armed underway. This had never been assayed be- fore and men of the MAUNA LOA saw the familiar shores of Ulithi slip below the horizon as the Logis- tic Support Group put to sea on ISMarch 1945. The first rendezvous with Task Force 58 for rearming was made on 22 March and the MAUNA LOA entered upon what soon became a familiar routine: Replen- ishment at Se a. MAUNA LOA replenished the 3rd Fleet at sea until its return to port in Mid June 1945. On 8 July 1945, MAUNA LOA was off again with four of her sister ships to resume her servicing of the fleet during the final campaign off the Japa- nese mainland. After nearly a month on the line, she was sent back to start loading for the next op- eration. The Japanese surrender found the MAUNA LOA loaded and ready for sea once again. During the course of the rearming at sea opera- tions MAUNA LOA ammunitioned 99 ships with a total of 5,257 tons. From commissioning to the end of the war, she steamed 69,093 miles, was at sea 236 days, rearmed 201 vessels and handled a total of 58,733 tons of ammunition. Rearming is hard, monotonous, hazardous work but every man on board knew that the bombs and shells and rockets that MAUNA LOA provided the fleet were not among the least potent factors in bringing the enemy to uncon- ditional surrender. 1947 brought about a new life for MAUNA LOA - on 2 June of that year she was decommissioned and berthed in San Diego. Her life was not to come to a close berthed in a shipyard as a decommissioned ship. Eight years later on 31 January 1955 she was recommissioned in San Diego and proceeded to the East Coast. After visiting the Norfolk Naval Shipyard for alterations she conducted refresher training opera- tions out of Newport, Rhode Island. During the course of the next two years MAUNA LOA was a frequent visitor to the Mediterranean and the East Coast Naval Shipyards for routine repairs. In December of 1958 the Navy once again placed MAUNA LOA on the decommissioned at Orange, Texas and assigned to the Texas Group of the U.S. Atlantic Reserve Fleet. After temporarily joining the National Defense Reserve Fleet on 12 November 1960, she was again reactivated and recommissioned on 27 November 1961 under the command of Captain V.P. O ' NEIL. MAUNA LOA has spent the time since her re- commissioning conducting various type operations, and making a Mediterranean cruises. As we can readily see, MAUNA LOA has been through quite a bit and has had a very full and use- ful life in the Service Force of the United States Navy. She is a good ship but any ship is only as good as the men who sail her. The men who are serving on MAUNA LOA have made her one of the best in the FLEET, as evidenced by the awards she has ceived and the work she has accomplished.

Page 8 text:

United States Ship MA UNA LOA Two Decades of Ammo Trades USS MAUNA LOA is a Lassen Class AE, built as an ammunition ship from modified maritime com- mission C-2 plans. Named after the largest volcano on the island of Hawaii, she is 459 feet in overall length, with a 63 feet beam width, and a 13,876 ton full load displacement. She is a single screw ship of 6220 shaft horsepower and is powered by two 9 cylinder Nordberg Diesel Engines. April 1943 witnessed the launching of MAUNA LOA from the ways of the Tampa Shipbuilding Com- pany, Tampa, Florida under the sponsorship of Mrs. Robert E. Friend, wife of the President of the Nord- berg Manufacturing Company. The ammunition ship was placed into commissioned service 27 October 1943 at the command of George D. Martin, Comman- der, U.S.N, who was the first a list that now totals 14 Commanding officers. After completing shakedown exercises in the Chesapeake Bay, MAUNA LOA pulled into Naval Operating Base at Norfolk, Virginia and took aboard her first cargo of ammunition. Her holds full and her crew eager for the open sea, MAUNA LOA set sail for the West Coast and ultimately Pearl Harbor. On 1 February, 1944, MAUNA LOA departed Pearl Harbor for the Marshall Islands, and her first mission into enemy waters. In the space of a few days she was able to replenish the COLORADO, TENNESSEE, PENNSYLVANIA, NEW MEXICO, IDAHO, MISSISSIPPI, PENSACOLA, INDIANAPOLIS , SALT LAKE CITY, LOUISVILLE, CHESTER, PHELPS, BILOXI, THRATEN, and several others. A few days later a near disaster almost terminated the MAUNA LOA ' s career as well as that of the cruiser INDIANAPOLIS and the battleship PENN- SYLVANIA. ThePENNSYLVANL was taking aboard fourteen inch powder from MAUNA LOA ' s No. 3 hold; at 1653 one of the many powder cans stacked on deck exploded and started to burn showering grains of burning powder over the ammunition stacked deck and into the open No. 3 hold of the nearby MAUNA LOA. Without a moments hesitation Chief Boats- wain F.B. Wilson grabbed a fire hose and played it on the burning can, checking the progress of the fire and enabling one of the PENNSYLVANIA ' S men to throw it overboard. MAUNA LOA ' s second mission into enemy wa- ters Started on 10 April when she set sail from San Francisco bound for Espiritu Santo in the New Hebri- des. She was there for a month and then proceeded to Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands where she supplied the fleet with ammunition for the Marianas operation. August found MAUNA LOA in San Francisco for what proved to be her last wartime visit to the United States. On 28 August 1944, she passed under the Golden Gate enroute to Manus Islands. On arri- val there she was ordered to proceed to the Palau Group in company with SHASTA (AE-6) and the de- stroyer escort MCCOY REYNOLDS. Upon entering the Kossol Passage on 18 September she anchored and immediately started rearming the cruisers USS HONOLULU and USS PORTLAND on a round the clock basis. The anchorage was less than 6 miles

Page 10 text:

Captain James H, Aldrich Captain Aldrich is a native of Savannah, Geor- gia. He was born there on 25 September 1920, and attended Savannah schools. In June 1940, he en- tered the U.S. Naval Academy and was graduated three years later. From July to September of 1943 Captain Al- drich was assigned to the Naval Air Station, Jackson- ville, Florida as an aviation technical observer. He then served 18 months aboard the USS AMMEN (DD-527) seeing service in the Pacific Theater. In 1945 Captain Aldrich reported aboard the USS ERBEN (DD-631) for duty. He had subsequent tours of duty in the USS O ' HARE (DD-889) and the USS JOHNSTON (DD-821). In July of 1948 he re- ported to Commander Destroyer Squadron FOUR for staff duty. In August of 1949 Captain Aldrich went to Fort Bliss, Texas for instruction of the Army, Navy, and Air Force Guided Missile School. Upon completion of this course he reported to Washington. D.C. for duty with the Guided Missile Division of Naval Operations. In July of 1952 Captain Aldrich was trasnferred to the USS MACON (CA-132) for duty as Gunnery Officer. Then, in the latter part of 1954, he reported to China Lake, California as Assistant Experimental Officer with the Naval Ordnance Test Station. He returned to sea again in August of 1956 serving as Executive Officer on the USS MURR. Y (DnE-576 and in February of 1958 he took command of the USS BASII.ONE (DDE-824). Captain Aldrich returned ashore in August 1959 to attend the Armed Forces Staff College. And early in 1960 he reported to the Bureau of Weapons as Assistant Director of the Military Personnel Divi- sion, and later, as Head of the Polaris Missile Pro- duction and Fleet Readiness Section of the Special project Office. In September 1963 he was trans- ferred to Roosevelt Roads, P.R. as Commanding Officer of the Caribbean Test and Evaluation De- tachment of the Operational Test and Evaluation Force, Atlanti c Fleet. In January 1965 Captain Aldrich returned to sea to take command of the USS MAUNA LOA (AE-8). His campaigns and service medals include the Pacific Theater with five stars, American Theater, Philippine Liberation with two stars. Navy Occupa- tion, World War Two Victory, National Defense, and Armed Forces Expeditionary. Captain .-Mdrich and his wife, the former Vir- ginia Cornell of Savannah, Georgia, with two of their children make their home in Mountainside, New Jersey. Their elder son, James Jr., is presently attending the Naval Academy as a member of the Class of 1967.