Bremerton (CA 130) - Naval Cruise Book

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Commander Will P Starnes USN assumed duties as Executive Officer April 4 i955 Upon graduating from the US Naval Academy at Annapolis Maryland in i939 he was commissioned Ensign USN and reported aboard the battleship USS West Virginia for his first sea duty In i940 Commander Starnes was transferred to the destroyer USS Worden and was serving aboard her on December 7th, l94l, at Pearl Harbor when the Pacific Fleet was attacked. During World War Il, Commander Starnes served in various billets aboard five destroyers in the Pacific. At the close of the war he was commanding the destroyer USS Caperton, which was present with the Fleet in Tokyo Bay for the Japanese surrender. Later, he also commanded the destroyer USS Wallace L. Lind. ln November, i950, after a tour of recruiting duty in Oklahoma City, Okla- homa, he served as Operation Officer aboard the heavy cruiser USS Helena, and was aboard during her second tour of Korean Combat. His last tour of duty ashore was with the Navy's Bureau of Personnel in Washington, D.C. Upon detachment from Bremerton he proceeded to Washington for duty in the office of the Secretary of Defense. ' ' Will P Starnes Robert M. Brownlie Commander Robert M. Brownlie, USN, who assumed the duties as Bremertons Executive Officer in Yokosuka, January l0, is a veteran of the Atlantic and Pacific theatres of World War ll and the Korean conflict. He reported aboard after a tour of duty with the plans policy, and develop-- ment section of the Staff, Commander in Chief Pacific. Commander Brownlie has served aboard nine ships since his graduation from the Naval Academy in i939 when he reported aboard the USS Portland as an Ensign. From i940-i944 the Commander served in the Atlantic aboard the Crownin- shield, Arkansas and Hobby engaged in convoy duty. He was transferred to the Pacific in time for the Okinawa campaign. He was Executive Officer of the destroyer Hadley, which was severly damaged by kamikaze attacks. Early in i946 he assumed command of the USS Alfred A. Cunningham. From i946-i949 Commander Brownlie served as an insrructor at the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. In i949 he assumed command of the USS Haynsworth and served with the Sixth Fleet.. In i950 he became skipper of the Charles S. Sperry and spent eight months in Korean waters. He was Officer in Charge of officer procurement and recruiting in San Francisco from i95l-i954.

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Raymond H. Bass Captain Raymond Henry Bass was graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy with the commission of Ensign, in 1931. His first sea duty, in 1931-1933, was in the aircraft carrier, Lexington. He then went from the largest ship to the smallest, switching to submarines in 1933, As a iunior officer, his submarine duty included tours of duty in the S-20, Porpoise, and Snapper. He was skipper of the S-20 when the U.S. entered the war in 1941. There followed two and a half war years in command of the submarines Plunger and Runner ll in the Pacific. Under his command, the Plunger made six successive patrols, during which the vessel's torpedoes earned a Navy Unit Citation for his command. The Plunger was the only submarine to succeed in making two round trips into the closely guarded Sea of Japan. Back in the States, he made a speaking tour of Navy schools to help spur volunteers for submarine duty and then to command the new submarine, Runner ll, which his wife christened. This new submarine reached the Pacific in time to make one patrol off Honshu searching for mines ahead of Admiral Halsey's fleet. An anti-submarine patrol interfering with this hazardous mission was sunk with three torpedoes. He was on his way into the Sea of Japan for a third time when he was ordered instead to lead a squadron of twelve submarines into Tokyo Bay far the surrender on VJ Day. Following the war, Captain Bass served as a submarine Division Com- mander in the Canal Zone, and as Operations Ofhcer for Commander Sub- marine Force, Atlantic. ln 1951 he was the Navy member of the U.S. team in Copenhagen which negotiated the Greenland Base Rights Agreement. He commanded Submarine Squadron Ten in 1952-1953. From August 1953 to July 1954 he held command of the APA USS Rockbridge, which was awarded the Amphibious Eattle Efficiency Plaque for her competition group for the fiscal year ending 1 July 1954. Just prior to relieving Captain Kirkpatrick, Captain Bass terminated a two year tour in the Strategic Plans Division and Long-Range Obiectives Group in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.

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