Wasp (CV 18) - Naval Cruise Book

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Introduction IxDl'l'Ulf'.S' .X'tl'l'l'f.' To ofrlnin flu' Illllylillllllll in 1'11fov1111'11l from l,'lIl1ll .S' I'lI'fll'.S'. il is ,yllQQ!'.Yf!'If lim! the rwzzlwr' fnzsl jzwityff Ihr' f'IH'l'lYlgf'.Y of flu' jzorlv irfyllezf 111111 llren follow ll'ffflUllf fIlf1'l'i'llfJf1iUII lin' r1111111'11g rl1'.y1'1ipl1or1 lllllf f1i1'lo1'11ll fllflllllflfllllllllr Hf Zl'flfl'fl ll'flXi 1f1'.yfgHz'fl In fllllfllll' e'1f1'1v frlrwl of life' on liourrl our sllfjzf AN AIRCRAITI' CARRIER is ll real production lllllIllJC1'. lt's big 2111d it's complex. lt's composed of lllillly diverse elements, all of which h21ve to be welded i11to ll solid unit or the ship might as well IICVCI' leave the pier. It has 3,000 lllCl1 lllltl it's El lot like ll llLlg6 high school where you really 11ever get to liIlOXV 2111ybody outside your ow11 class. You see hundreds of people every day and you realize they're with yo11 but they 111e2111 lleillllllg to you llllll it is difficult to feel th21t you 2ll'C 21ll shipmates with El common goal. There is 11o11e of the close-knit, club-like feeling th21t one gets OII 21 destroyer or ll s11b. The ship 21s ll glflll big family see111s 21l111ost laugliable, The divisio11 is your only anchor. ,fX11d when you stop for 21 1no111e11t to consider the disadvantage of life aboard 21 carrier it is perhaps no XVOITClCl' th21t so ofte11 a 1112111 st2111ding o11 the liangar deck will look r21tl1er wistfully at Zl passing destroyer and say, l'f1e11:'s the dutyff ft's Q1 phrase no' trite and clithed Zlllfl even worth Zl snifker, but there is so ottt-11 ll 11ote of honest longing i11 the voice of the speaker that you fan- 11ot ignore its llllllfblillllllftf. I The size of Zl carrier makes life aboard it pretty CllSllCf2Illt'jl1lI1g 21t ti111es. And I guess the worst llC2lCl2lf'llC is the waiting in fine. ff you XVZIIIL to lJlly IOOUIIJZISLC you wait i11 li11e. If you 11421111 21 hair- cut, yo11 YX'2lll i11 li11e. If you Willll 21 seat 21t the movie you wait in li11e. To get 21 liberty bo21t ashore, you w21it i11 line. And, rnost im- portant of 21ll, to get chow yo11 wait 2111d wait and wait till some' ti111es you forget YVll2ll meal you are waiting for. And, incidentally, to get a chocolate su11d21e you 21lso w21it in li11e. The carrier navy believes th21t they also serve wl1o st2111d Zllld wait. But it's IIOI all b21d, 11ot by any n1e21ns. You feel rather corn' fortable 21nd Illllyllt? even ll little smug on a choppy day as you watch 21 DD's bow Zlllll half her super-structure disappear under the 'fblown spray Zlllll the flung SIJLUT16 21nd the long waves fly- ing. And it's good to come to the fleet landing after a wild night o11 the town 2111d know that because your ship has five large liberty launches you won't l121ve to go quietly crazy fretting away precious sleeping time 213 yo11 stare helplessly 21t the lights of your ship out i11 the middle of the b21y. Yes, il CV h21s its rewarding features that 21re actually t21ngible. Hut it is tl1e intangibles th21t offer tl1e real satisfaction. An air- craft carrier is Zl true big de21l in the strict sense of the word. In fact, it is unquestionably the biggest deal in the navy today. The well-known lJl1l'2lSC from the Marines Hymn, 'ion land, on sea, in the air, applies to flattop operations-21nd the flattop operations exclusively. YVhat other ship wages war in the air as does a carrier with her planes, on the sea 21s does a carrier with her guns, and on the beach 218 does a c21rrier with her landing force? No ship has the striking power of 21 floating airport, not even El mighty battle- wagon. Nor is any ship so vital to the security of our nation. The fact of the matter is that, with very few exceptions, every man o' war afloat is there to help the carrier, for she is the fleets reason for being. The principal elements of the fighting navy, the nucleus of the task fleet is the fast carrier task group where the submarine pickets, the screening destroyers, 21nd destroyer escorts. the sup- porting cruisers and battleships 21ll h21ve 21 single purpose: keep- ing the flattop afloat 21nd operative. It is the carrier that counts. XfVithout it Il2lV2ll power is non-existent, or. at best. only de- fensive. YVithout it the freedom of the NVestern NYorld cannot be lll2llllI2liI1CCl. lt is :Xlll61'lC2l,S big tl1re21t to all Xytllllll-l3C-Llge gressors Zlllll those would-be-aggressors know it. It is 11ot easy to view your OXYII life as ll CY sailor in terms of tl1e ll'6IIlCIlilOllS signihcance of your ship. .X little reflectioii. how- ever, will convince you that the sl1ip is only you: you o11 your cleaning station, yflll o11 watch, yo11 at CQ. yo11 at chow. you asleep, you at the movies, yflll living the sometimes exciting. some- t1111es inonotonous atasea existence. Now vou will realize that yo11 21re riecessary, yo11 are vital, you persoiially are an lllltxglkll part of this cornplicated organism called an aircraft citrrieii I11 the pages interspersed among those of the ports we visited. we've tried to show our ship in action, front the nioment we get underw21y through the p1'epa12ato1'y stages right into the siuuilated battle with its Flight Quarters, CLQ, Torpedo ITQXIKXIISQI. 1-1m11i1i1m watches, the high spots, the low spots. the l'1'a11ti1'. the dull. ey ery facet of ll lull-scale carrier operation, eyerytlting that exhausted you, thrilled you, boted you, left Yklll sleepless and shorteteiupered. everythitig that, oddly enough, makes you .inswer llllllfli proudly when asked by .1 1'ivilia11 what kind of ship vo11'1'1- 1111, XII .1i1'11.1ft lllll'lt'l 2.,. 1l11-W.XSI'. 91

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