Washington (BB 56) - Naval Cruise Book

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Pacific Convoy. The Washington arrived at Tonga Tabu, Friendly Islands, 011 Sep- tember llfth, but only after several hundred lowly polywogs had been properly and thoroughly initiated into the secrets of King Neptune's reign and emerged as tried and true sbellbacks. This time-honored cross- ing-the-Line ceremony was to be repeated four times, once each year, before the Wasliington finished it's Second World War career i11 the Pacific. The stay in Tonga was short and all hands left with regret, for, of all the islands in the Pacific, the people of Tonga were the friendliest and the island itself closest to a touristvs conception of a South Sea Island. For the next five weeks the Washington the only fast battleship in the South Pacific, covered the approaches to the Solomon Islands a11d our tenuous hold on Guadalcanal. Cruisers, destroyers, and even supply ships bore the brunt of forward action, but the WHShi11gt0l1 was there, backing the line, a great potential threat to Jap expangign yvavesn From October, 1942, to May, 194143, operating from Noumea in New

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CHAPTER THREE ENE! E S0 WESE PAC f-fy

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