Ajax (AR 6) - Naval Cruise Book

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She worked on battleships, cruisers and auxiliary ships through August. At one time during this period AJAX was assigned exten- sive jobs on 19 cruisers and nine battleships, in August of 1944 while at Eniwetok a cruiser came along side for repair work. Unknown to the AJAX the cruiser had bacillary dysentery aboard, which the AJAX crew picked up. The following is a quote from a crew member who was aboard AJAX at that time: At one time we had several hundred men on the sick list. Everybody took sulfaguanadyne as a preventive measure, the crew being given their pills in the cafeteria line. At first you could find lots of the pills on deck where men had ditched them. Then a man died, and the boys started using their pills. A second man died and they started stealing them from one another. In late August we were put under quarantine, the ship moved from Eniwetok to Kwajalein for quarantine and we were out of action as a repair ship for about six weeks . In May of 1945, while in Leyte Gulf, AJAX, along with the Jason, accomplished one of her most challenging jobs-repairing typhoon damage to USS BENNING- TON (CV-20). BENNINGTON had suffered severe damage to the for- ward section of her flight deck. The entire collapsed section of BEN- NINGTON ' S flight deck was cut away and replaced.

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AJAX outfitting-San Pedro, Ca., 1943 AJAX ' s first CO, Cdr. John Brown l iSi Initiation of Polywogs Royal Baby for AJAX ' s first equator cross- ing. {k Original Insignia- drawn by a Walt Disney Artist. Banjo player Eddie Peabody entertains aboard.

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ONE YEAR OLD V. S. S. AJax October 30. 1944 USS AJAX 1st birthday program I USS AJAX with USS INTREPID (CV-11) along- side for repairs 30 April 1945