Missouri (BB 63) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 30 text:

.-...-.-....,..,-......- -.,....,,,,, ,, , A N .V vnih f KOREA I: TILL red-faced from her grounding in January, and performing the docile duty as a training ship, the Missouri received a five day alert to prepare for reassignment in mid-August 1950. Leaving Middies in Norfolk half way through their training cruise, she quietly sailed on the first leg of a half-a-World sprint, fbattling against time and the elements, as she rode a hurricane off Cape Hatteras and a typhoon. off the East Coast of Korea. I ln September, she blasted shore targets at Samchok and Pohang and then steamed to lnchon to assist in the last stages of the invasion-, and then proceeded to Sasebo, Japan, in October to pick up Commander Seventh Fleet. The Missouri, flying the U.N. flag, returned to the combat zone to bombard the beaches at Wonsan with her mammoth 16 inch guns, while determined ground forces stormed ashore in amphibious craft. After the intervention of Communist China, and troops were being pushed into the sea, the Big Mo was rushed to Hungnam for the December, 1950, evacuation. She laid down a continuous barrage until the last defensive units were off the beach, and on Christmas Eve, she pulled out, marking 51 days of consecutive duty. ' N annum hun mmm KYUDFUUG s-mm r ' hmmm amp. ' ,.,. ' . . aa' J- at --W , s.....-.t ' 6 Immun J .v ' 1 50 ICODEA 9 1951 2 ' 0 Battleship 63 remained in the combat area blasting enemy supply lines, railroads and coastal cities, till late in March 1951. She was relieved by her sister ship the New Jersey, recently taken out of moth balls, and returned to the states. While in the Korean area, the Missouri steamed approximately 40,000 miles and fired 2895 sixteen inch projectiles and 8043 five inch shells, Weighing a total of 3295 tons.

Page 29 text:

THE MIDDIE CRUISES: HE fog was closing in and the battleship Missouri crept its way up Chesapeake Bay with approximately half of its enlisted comple- ment missing. The half that was missing, was mighty glad that they were, because it was time for the annual midshipmen cruise. ln the months that were to follow, crewmembers and middies would vie for showers, cut each other in the chow lines and make time with each others girls. Al- though more or less traditional, it is not advocated by the Navy, but this friendly sort of rivalry is ever present and it tends to stimulate training as each try to out-do the other. When the '6Big Mo drops anchor at Annapolis, some thousand Midshipmen and NROTC students will be eagerly waiting for a chance to try their sea legs. Except for the wide blue band on their white hats and the black name stenciled across their jumpers, they look every bit like ordinary seamen. Once aboard they are assigned billets and begin to square themselves away for shipboard life. .V ,,,i.,,... a fl The Navy has devised this system in order to supplement the regular classroom curriculum with this on the job training. A firm believer of the old adage HExperience is the best teacher. The anchor's up and the Missouri is underway, the first stage of the cruise is beginning. From Annapolis to Norfolk and then on to Bergen, Norway. The cruise will take six weeks, this is no speed run, her screws are not turning over with full power, her course is not the straightest, her mission is training. The midshipmen, by this time, have been as- signed jobs and duties they must perform. They have infiltrated every part of the ship, they're in gunnery, communications, on the deck force. That fellow you see holy-stoning the deck in time with the bos'n count, may be a future Admiral. These men are learning jobs that they will some day be responsible for, by actually getting out and doing them. The weeks slipped by, GQ., Fire, abandon ship, drill, drill, drill, and the middies are coming into their own. They're part of the team. Liberties have been granted in Bergen and Portsmouth and now there is that long trek to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the real test of what they have learned will come.

Page 31 text:

f, : ff , f' 5- I , ,W ,, Z? c w .s s 1 ' :xg V, , WZZW ,gy , W I ,, nf V M 9. ,M ff . ,fm . VW f ,W , ,, ff f ,, -f ff' WW! VV ' wx' wwf' ,f 712' if if f ,fm fa A ,, , f ff A J' y' W QQ A ,f f ff we iw .WM f ff if ff f f X , QW ,f K4 , if W ,, 3,5 My fgfw W, , X175 Q ,,4 4,4 - ww um ' f ,f 493' W ,Mm ,' WW V f x..x I ,, I f .4 C67 WWW 'MQW ' ,:7'WH7' Z! f iff' ,XJ L Hx - f f MQW - WZ, ' 7' U' if if . f I Wy' X yy , fyf ff, f ,f ,gf WW! 'f ff' ,W I I' WW ff' f 4 ,QM ,Q 'mf X ff' w f ff A ffl N f ,,,mv',' If I ,,LXff,gM is WJ af ,AUM'fxf' ff QW , W W