Brooklyn (CL 40) - Naval Cruise Book

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outboard column, had a fire on board. Denebrink must plan these things out in his mind to be ready for any situation, because while all else were standing there with mouths open watching the fire, he had that Brooklyn out of our lead spot in the center column, around the entire convoy at flank speed and on our way along the port side of the burning ship. It was a very bad fire. Spread rapidly and left the ship a hulk sitting in the water. But not before Denebrink had our cruiser alongside right under the flames and cargo nets from the transport down to our deck. Men would hold the cargo net on the top of the transport's deck and Brooklyn do the same at the bottom. Then one at a time a passenger or crew member would wait for the right roll of the ships and he would roll down the cargo net to safety. Took off everyone of the hundreds on board without a casualty and it had to be done fast. I was with him and learning my whole time on the Brooklyn when he was Commander, Executive Officer and Captain, the Skipper. Many times I hated him for the moment but it was always his way of making a point that he knew would make a better Naval officer out of me or any of the other officers he was dealing with. He has a round face and when he was Executive Officer, I once took an ink mechanical drawing compass and did a portrait of his face all in circles. It turned out pretty good or I wouldn't have given it to him. I autographed it for the times we went round and round together on the Brooklyn. After all my care in doing the art work, I spelled Brooklyn wrong and he got a big laugh out of that. He framed it and hung it in his Exec's cabin and then the Captain's cabin. This was the first time since being on a ship that I had been without his protection. I felt kind of alone. I reported to the Landing Force at Naval Operating Base - Norfolk, and almost at once went before a board of high ranking officers for interview. The only thing I really remember was the first question, How old are you? and I replied, 22. About three questions later I realized what I said and blurted out, 'Tm 24, it's my wife that's 22. Making a big impression while being interviewed for possible command of a ship of the Navy and don't remember how old you are. Denebrink had done a good job. If he had written the questions, he couldn't have prepared me better for this interview. I was given command of LST 376 being built in Quincy, Massachusetts. The first thing I did upon leaving the interview was to find out what an LST was. A ship, longer than a football field. Three hundred twenty seven feet of ship that can be run up on a hostile beach and put off 50 tanks or trucks over the big front ramp that goes down after the big bow doors are opened. Crew of 120 men and six officers besides the captain with space to carry up to 500 troops. I was to report at once to Paradise Creek in Portsmouth to pick up my crew. After all the rushing: I had to wait three days for the officers and men to get t ere, but I spent that time finding out everything I could about a landing ship tank. I met the six officers: Stan Bowman, the Exec, Jones, the 1st Lieutenant, Hochman, Communications, Burns, Supply, Bankert, Gunnery, and Bower, Engineering Officer. The Exec had the service records of the crew. It was hard to believe as I looked through them. Seems like when they put out the call for officers to the cruisers, they did get volunteers. But at all bases they would take their troublemakers and threaten If you don't shape up, we're going to send you to the Amphibious Force. They d1dn't shape up and here they were in our crew. Their service records looked like the winners in a contest of who could get the most deck and general court martials. Some of those names I can't forget even from the first time I read their records, Virgillo, Pompillo. First order of business was to get us all to Boston. In a rainstorm we loaded everything in trucks to get to the Cape Charles ferry. Dave Jones fof all namesl, the lst Lieutenant, held things up a bit by getting married in the morning and Bankert's wife wanted to come along on the train. Burns almost missed the ferry but finally we were all on board. Got on the train at Cape Charles and found it was not a pullman sleeper the way it was supposed to be. Sat up all night. Had breakfast in Philadelphia and on to Boston. Got the men to Fargo barracks and ourselves to the BOQ. I called Regina, she said she would be up on Saturday and I had to find a place to live in this crowded city. Found a room and a big bath. In fact, the bathroom was three times the size of the room. It was in an old house on Commonwealth Avenue. We went to the Bethlehem Steel Company at Fore River, Quincy, Mass. to look over our ship. It was snowing and our first sight as we came up the ladder was a workman with a paint sprayer painting the deck with snow on it. We go every day to the ship mainly because the paper work to put a ship in commission is staggering. Regina arrived and my first taste of married life and commuting. Would get up in the morning and have breakfast. Put on my big fur-lined coat and boots and wade in the snow to the train. Work until about 4:00 and come home. The big day was the launching of LST 376 with ceremonies, champagne bottle breaking christening and the big party with wives, admirals, etc. Pictures, food, drink. Then the commissioning with more impressive ceremonies. Admiral Smith was on board and conducted the commissioning. Then the last paper had to be signed. I signed it and it said in fact, I hereby sign and receipt for 33,000,000 worth of ship. And a few days later we all sailed it up from Quincy inland waters to the Charleston Navy Yard in Boston with a pilot. Workmen are funny. If they like you they will do anything and have the time and material to do it. They liked us and help fit the ship up with many extra comforts. A radio and loudspeaker with record player in the crew's quarters and wardroom. A plexiglass windshield that I dreamed up because of my experience coming back from Casablanca without windows. Our conning tower Cbridgej is open and I could just visualize standing there at sea with head and shoulders above the sides of the bridge and freezing. They built a beauty with a solid metal frame that extended around three sides and was three feet high. We ran our trials. I sent Regina home to New York and were ready to try the ocean. The last thing we did was gunnery trials. Big deal after the Brooklyn, but the 3-inch gun on the fantail, 20 MM mounts on the bow and machine guns around the bridge were our armor. We also ran the degaussing range, calibrated the R.D.F. on 365 KC's and in 15 degree below weather with ice solid on the water we adjusted the magnetic compass and set the coils. I reported to the Commander of the First Naval District for orders and was told to proceed the next morning all along through New York and then out to sea and around to Norfolk without stopping at New York. When I heard the no stopping at New York, I called Regina and asked her to fly up for one night. There were no planes so she came by train and then all the hotels were full. We stayed in a house on Marlborough Street and the next morning the ice was so thick we couldn't get the ship out. Then the bow doors wouldn't work and we yelled and got moved to South Boston Navy Yard for one week to fix the doors. We had to move out of the rented room after one night but they let us stay in the ballroom at the Hotel Statler. The week was up and this time it looked like we were going. Bought Regina a railroad ticket. Re-confirmed our orders and were set to go. On the morning of Saturday, February 27, we got underway and I took the ship by myself for the first time. Backed it away from the dock without a pilot and out to sea. I wish I could say it ended up a proud first day but it did not.

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On Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 26, 1942, it is still very rough, but the Chenango decided to launch her planes anyway to keep a submarine patrol. A F4F Wildcat got off on a down roll, the wing hit the water and the plane sank immediately. When the destroyer got there, the pilot was swimming around and got picked up. How he ever got out, we can't figure out, only a few bruises. On the destroyer Wilkes a doctor lashed the patient to a wardroom table. Then lashed himself to the table and operated on the sailor for appendicitis. For Thanksgiving dinner had frozen turkey, dehydrated mashed potatoes and canned asparagus. Had to find things to eat it off of and then hang on to eat it. Sunday, the 29th of November, the worst storm the Brooklyn has ever seen calmed down after seven days. As a result of the storm, the Augusta had to put into Bermuda because of her damage. The Chenango had her 1.1 gun director and platform washed overboard and the forward part of the flight deck caved in. The Monadnock is still half full of water. Several of the transports have plates open and are taking water. Norfolk is only 250 miles away and we can look with satisfaction at a job well done. There is a wonderful pride in our officers and crew for our equipment and men. We really have the best. The surge in optimism in the whole Allied world following this successful operation is reflected in all the news releases. Yesterday the entire French Fleet at Toulon scuttled themselves, three battleships, seven cruisers, 25 destroyers and 30 subs, when the Germans tried to take them. The Russians started a counter offensive at Stalingrad that has put the Germans on the defensive with heavy losses. In Africa we have the Germans in a pocket in Tunisia and a big battle is a matter of days. Bring on New York and the Navy Yard. CHAPTER 7 LOVE I got more than I bargained for out of the trip to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. I had a severe attack of love. It makes a guy do funny things and changed the rest of my Navy story. We got back from Casablanca around the 1st of December and I really didn't expect much more to happen that year. But the first thing was promotion to a full two-stripe Lieutenant. Then as I stood the midwatch one night in the Yard, the chaplain came aboard and we started talking. Somehow I got on the subject of girls and how hard to meet nice ones when you're sailing around and looking around hotel lobbies ashore. He said he had just come from a visit to a friend of his who worked in the showroom of a millinery company that made high priced hats for the better stores across the country. He said the girl was very close to the couple that owned the business and he knew they had a very pretty niece that was a model at Milgrims Department Store on 57th Street. What would I say if he invited them all out to the ship for dinner. He had a feeling they would like it and could bring the niece along. I said, sure, and he made the invitation and it was accepted. The chaplain and I went down to meet their car as they arrived. The back door opened and the girl that tried to step out caught her heel in the hem of her dress and would have fallen down if I hadn't caught her. This was the graceful, beautiful model. I took Regina up to my room on the ship to see what could be done to the bottom of the dress. I had a needle and thread and gave it to her, but she explained she didn't know how to use it. So I fixed up the hem and we joined her charming Aunt Mable and Uncle Edgar Lorie with the chaplain's friend in the wardroom. After a very pleasant dinner, plus tour of the ship, and before they left, Regina asked me if I would care to go to a party that Grace Dalzell, a friend of their family, was having in her apartment in New York the next night. I went, we had a good time at the party and also got acquainted as I took a long time getting her back to her aunt's apartment where she was going to stay that night. Too far to go to Forest Hills where she lived with her mother and sister, the Arguimbaus. We had a date the next night too. Then Grace Dalzell, whose family had the Dalzell tugboats in New York Harbor, thought it would be a good idea to have another party with officers from the Brooklyn and it was a grand affair. Another date, then a visit to the ship for dinner. Then another visit to the ship for dinner when I knew we had to leave for a long trip the next day and I gave Regina an engagement ring. We left for the long trip two days before Christmas and didn't get very far when something went wrong with the engines. Were ordered back to New York.. The Amphibious Force was just being formed and a message was sent to all cruisers asking for volunteers of one full lieutenant from each cruiser to start this new force, lovingly nicknamed the Suicide Squadron. The commander announced this in the wardroom as we were on our way back to New York. I had an idea and followed him into his cabin. ' I told him I would volunteer if he would give me time off to get married. He agreed and told me the ship was going back in the Navy Yard for something that wasn't working right and he could give me whatever time we spent in the Yard and then I would have to be detached from the ship and report to Norfolk. Big excitement, rush, rush. The ship got back Christmas Day. I made the announcement to Regina. Her family was something. So were the boys on the Brooklyn with their bachelor party at the Ritz Carlton. I spent New Year's Eve on watch again this year, only it was at the Plaza' Hotel because a groom couldn't see the bride the night before the wedding. We were married in the rectory of St. Patrick's Cathedral on New Year's Day 1943. The chaplain that married us was the Brooklyn's chaplain, Father Francis O'1eary, the one who had introduced us. The affair afterwards at Aunt Mabel's was beautifully done and we moved into the Plaza Hotel. The ship was only supposed to stay for four or five days and I would call the commander each day and he would say, try one more day. It went on for two weeks and then he said, Tomorrow is it. I was detached from the Brooklyn with orders to report immediately to Norfolk for further duty. And that is how I got into the Amphibious Force. CHAPTER 8 LANDING SHIP TANK NUMBER 376 On the train down to Norfolk, I had some time to think about what I had gotten myself into. I knew they had to have ships ln an Amphibious Force, but I didn't know what kind. What I did know was a very good feeling for Denebrink for what he taught me. It was Captain Denebrink now and he had become Skipper of the Brooklyn before the convoys to England. Ever since that episode over Leeward in Auckland, I learned to. respect him for everything he did and what he did in training .me so I wasn't the least concerned about what I would find at Norfolk. Denebrink was born to be in the Navy - in Command. I recalled one incident while we were returning from the second trip to England with blg empty troop transports in the convoy. One of the transports, the USS Wakefield, way over on the starboard 4.1

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The waves were about ten feet hi h, which is fairly high, and before I knew what happenefl about 40 men and six officers were violently seasick. We weren't even out of the sight of land. The only thing I could do was drop the anchor. It didn't take me long to find out what I hatln't bothered to check in the service records. There was only one other man, the Quartermaster, who had ever beenoutside the I2 mile limit. In fact, for most of them this was the first ship they had ever really been close to. ' In the morning it was not too bad, and we managed to get underway and go through the Cape Cod Canal where the wind kicked up to 50 knots. These waters are known to have some enemy mines in them and you are supposed to stay in the swept channels. But the wind kept blowing this empty ship off course and the only way we could get back on was to make a circle and try again. Five times we did this and then Dave Jones, the lst Lieutenant, fell and hurt his back badly. I saw on the chart we were off Newport, Rhode Island, and I headed for the harbor. It wasn't nice what I did to that dock and only hit one other ship doing it. An empty ship in a 30 knot wind with a seasick crew is no way to practice your first docking. They told us we were the largest ship to come into New ort in years and when they found out what we wanted? rushed for the ambulance and got Dave to the hospital. So it wouldn't be a total loss, we went to a movie. The wind had definitely died down as we started out the channel the next morning when the steering gear stuck and I had to back full to keep off the rocks. We anchored and luckily fixed it. Had the first calm sail with the ship and, not to pressour luck when it started to get dark, I went in near Stamford, Connecticut, and anchored. I had an idea and put one of our two small boats in the water and had the coxswain take me ashore after dark. We couldn't figure out why it was so pitch black and we kept running into things and then found the shore when searchlights were turned on us and shouts went up. Seems I had picked the time to come ashore just when Stamford was having a trial blackout and Civilian Defense drill. They thought we were part of the exercise of a small landing party trying to sneak in and they were so proud to capture us. When I explained what I was doing, they drove me to the train station. I called Regina and we stayed at the Savoy Plaza that night and I left at 3:30 A.M. to get the train back to Stamford. The boat picked me up in spite of the ice that had formed overnight and we got the LST underway for Hell Gate. Took a pilot and let him off after we had gone by Manhattan and we proceeded out the New York Harbor when, the thrill of my life, I see the Brooklyn coming towards us. In the Navy when two ships of the line pass each other they render honors. This consists of a blast on the bugle as the ships come bow to bow and all hands come to attention and salute. You hold this position until the ships are stern to stern and then the bugle sounds secure. - I had enough trouble finding men let alone bugle. Most of this crew is still feeling their lack of seaworthiness and are sacked out below. I run around like crazy yelling, Everyone on deck. and trying to find something to blow. The outfit that was standing on deck half undressed when I blew a whistle, the only thin I could find, and yelled at them to salute was a real laugh. But the Brooklyn went along with it and my men's eyes popped out as that cruiser slid by close aboard so you could see every face of the officers, marines and men at stiff attention and saluting. As we moved away from each other, we exchanged many messages until we were out of sight. And then out on the ocean for the first time and heading for Norfolk. We steamed darkened all night and almost hit another ship off her course and darkene . It started to snow, then rain and was very cold. I was up all night on the conning tower LST 376 renders Honors to BROOKLYN and thank goodness for the windshield. We went through the mine fields off Norfolk with another 40-50 knot wind blowing and a snowstorm. The Exec and I went ashore in a wet small boat ride and there found we are badly needed in North Africa. We are to go back to New York and get fitted with four more boat davits and boats to become an Assault LST which means in a landing on hostile beach we goin first and land troops with small boats and then beach to land the trucks and tan s. All the next day we awaited word to get underway for New York when a boat came alongside and summoned me to a conference. Here I was told that 13 LST's would get under way at 6:30 tonight and go up the Chesapeake for a week's maneuvers together. I had a hospital case on board to take care of and didn't et away until 8:00 and in the dark first tried to find the Chesapeake and then the other LST's. Almost hit an LCI and, of all things, almost hit an aircraft carrier. I anchored and said the hell with it. The next morning got underway and found the rest of the group. For five hours we steamed in circles calibrating a R.D.F. frequency we already had and when we got to the one we could use they quit. Held .another conference and were told to get underway at midnight and hold daybreak beaching exercises. We steamed all around after midnight in a heavy rain and when morning came the column leader was lost so we drifted around, for awhile. I got mad and anchored because you couldn t see in this weather and didn't want to hit anything. I fell fisllffep after being up all night and when I woke up was a .little afraid since I hadn't asked anyone f0l' permission to anchor. But when I went up and looked, all the other LST's were anchored around us and it was still falnlng Very hard. So I went to sleep again and got up after noon- It WHS Pea SOUP weather and raining cats and dogs. So we just stayed anchored there. all Sunday morning another conference and picked SIX S IPS to 80 to New York. We were one of them. In the afternoon sailed all the way up the bay to calibrate R.D-F- OH 450 KCs and came back near a beach. Then at sunset, a .a One, W9 ran that ship up on the beach and it was really quite 8 thrill to run this big thing way up on dry sand for I I i 6 l l l u l ...J gm