Brooklyn (CL 40) - Naval Cruise Book

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Sometime the blue and peaceful Mediterranean could get very rough for short periods of time. The supreme executors of Operation Anvil fArmy: Maj. General Patch, Navy: Admiral Hewittl had timed it perfectly. No sooner had the Naval guns finished wiping out obstacles on the beach in the early morning hours on 15 August, than four to six waves of General Patch's Seventh Army shock troops, together with units of the vengeful First French Army, swarmed ashore to get and hold a foothold of this most desired real estate. All day long BROOKLYN, teamed with the Flagship TUSCALOOSA, kept up her persistent fire. The demoralized Nazi 19th Army was making tracks in a decidedly unmilitary manner. Planes from our carriers took off to control the air, BROOKLYN launched her own planes to gain topographical information and seek out the enemy gun emplacements. At dusk, German aircraft made abortive attacks on our shipping, made several potential torpedo runs on the cruiser BROOKLYN only to be balked by her very accurate and devastating anti-aircraft fire. On the 22nd of August, with the Seventh Army forces having penetrated French soil almost 140 miles BROOKLYN and two American destroyers entered narrow La Napoule Gulf to draw out the fire of the enemy's shore Z' batteries and complete the ruination of their defenses. Captain Dodge's cruiser did her job well. The shoreline was 7 , V a - , WMM p ripped apart by her leveled guns as tons of explosives were ffl -i.,,,a , , , .i.' ,.rl ts' lobbed into the enemy lines. Flames licking the muzzle of New .ffr W1 ,rt, s.la l,ni in , lvii one of her 6-inch guns would herald the flight of yet another as i ii meiieii missile- iii the .ieee ef this iiiieiiiiiiiei?ie fire, www surroundedby their burning tanks and shattered plllboxes, the terror-filled Germans threw down their weapons by.the hundreds. Cannes fell. Her Job over, BROOKLYN cruised e to e Corsican seaport fer replenishment ef her empty As the Convoy approaches the South Coast of France. The wake just under the gun barrels is from the mine sweeping paravanes, rigged from BROOKLYN is gi l s I a v 2 1 i Salvo, and the fight is on for the beginning of the end for the Axis and Hitlers Armies. IIlagaZlIl6S. On 22nd October, Vice Admiral Hewitt, Commander Eighth Fleet, established BROOKLYN as his Flagship, went on an inspection tour of all newly annexed U.S. Naval bases in the Mediterranean theatre - Toulon, Naples, Palermo, Bizerte, Algiers and Oran. The venerable light cruiser received reassignment orders at Oran at the end of the tour. After a lapse of fifteen .months without touching an American port, BROOKLYN was going home. Brooklyn's Best Slugger ls Home terday after 15 months of hazardous duty in the Mediterranean where the seven-year- 18 The U. S. S. Brooklyn came home to roost at the N. Y. Navy Yard, Brooklyn, yes- S old light cruiser's deadly, p and Southern France. oint-blank gunfire supported the landings at Salerno, Anzio The Brooklyn came throughiher commander, Capt. Frank R.. without a scratch after a score of ticklish tusslea with German lanes and artillery. Lucky? Yes, the crew agreed, but luck dldn't count half as much as the fighting ability of the ship and In Mediterranean wafers with ihe U. S. S. Brooklyn for 15 months, Capt. Frank R. Dodge frighil and Cmdr. H. F. Eckel- berg brought fhe light cruiser home-io Brooklyn. Dodge of Philadelphia. The really lucky ones were 36 hometown oficers and men de- posited practically in their Flat- bush backyards ln time for Christmas. g The Brooklyn is a work- horse shlp, Capt. Dodge said, describing the battlewagon's operations along the French coast. She's not the spectacu- lar type. We simply followed American troops from Cannes along the coast of France dur- lng the August invasion. When the troops ran up against an enemy strongpoint, Capt. Dodge said, the Brooklyn andy' other ships let the Germans havej t with six-inch shells until the-'J nemy force was neutralized.' 5 Capt. Dodge said the ship sper ome time at the Monte Carlo gaming resort. 'Break the Bank' I We hoped to 'break the bank' at Monte Carlo-with six-inch shells, Capt. Dodge sighed. But the Germans had evacuated the Casino and there were too many French flags flying. Because of the Brooklyn's marksmanship, Capt. Dodge pre- dicted there'1l be considerable activity for some time by the building trades ln southern France. The Brooklyn was in on the North African landings ln 1942 .and the invasion of Sicily. She was in New York Navy Yard for minor repairs when the Salerno landings took place in September, 1943, but she hurried across and, subsequently, supported the 5th Army on the beachhead. Buy Bonds. Serve Your Country! Save Your Money! 15

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7 RED ANZIO I was a veteran at Anzio, This wasn't my first close shave! Yet when the J'U?s came circling, I envisioned a Tyrrhenian grave, Yes, I was a beach-head supporter, Helping out with the Fifth Army Show: But it got hot as hell, When straddling bombs fell, To the accompanying shout, Red Anzi03 . Night gave us scant protection, Flares lit up the sea in lanes, While sticks of deadly calling cards, Dropped from those damned Junker planes. The Luftwaffe was having a field day, Attacking with a sledge hammer blowg I saw ships torn apart, Where bombs found their markg No warning was needeC, Red Anzio! . But our Old Man was a cool one, His ship handling was of the best? He knew hor: to outsmart the Nazi, We wouldn T he caught with the rest. Before Sieily's beaches and Salerno, HQ had learned to deal with the ioeg Sc he snealf1e.i our ship out, By wave ruund about, And get us away from Red finzio3 . Oh ga-g'nnp.r don't look so askanceg L, . . ., l I'm -1 'victim of combat fatigue, ' If K7 carcusiug, to you, is unseemly, Believe liquor is just what I need. For in my memory is sharply chiseled, The image of that pyrotecnnic tableau. So let's drink all around To help shut out the sound, Of that alarming cry, Red lfin.zio3 . . Anonymous Exhausted, the Yanks fought with their backs to the sea. Yet the beleagured Anzio beachhead held in the face of heavy odds and every type of counter-attack and counter-measure which the panicky Germans could muster. No little credit for this feat of defiance was given the accurate shelling by the Navy vessels under the Flagship BROOKLYN. Legion of Merit winner, Captain Cary fawarded him for his handling of BROOKLYN at Anziol, was temporarily relieved of his command by Captain F. C. Layne, USN, until Captain F. R. Dodge, USN, took command 12 April 1944. ' .f . Captain Frank R. Dodge takes over from Captain Frank C. Layne 12 April 1944 In May the British Eight and American Fifth Armies cracked the Gustav line wide open, slugged their way through crumbling enemy lines, stormed or by-passed snow-capped mountains. BROOKLYN returned with other units to -the Anzio-Nettuno area to lend support to the victorious Army troops along the Western Italian Front, actually forming a left flank. Acting on a rotation basis, the cannonading ships CUSS PHILADELPHIA, USS BROOKLYN, HMS PHEOBE and ORIONJ took turns carrying out daily firing assignments. Ammunition dumps and railroad guns were destroyed, reinforced concrete pillboxes ground to rubble by the cruisers' fire. The Fifth Army turned the enemy's right wing and compelled him to abandon his mountain strongholds, formed a triumphal motorcade down the ancient Appian Way. Rome was ours. As the Normandy invasion got underway on Tuesday, 6 June 1944, the Allied forces in the Mediterranean area were feverishly active in preparing for the coordinating effort. A number of heavies of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet CUSS NEVADA, USS TEXAS, USS ARKANSAS, cruisers USS TUSCALOOSA, USS QUINCY, USS AUGUSTA, USS CONCORD, USS CINCINNATI, several escort carriers and destroyersj sailed in to swell the Mediterranean armada. BROOKLYN was ready for her fourth and final major amphibious operation - the invasion of Southern France. The huge flanking movement COperation Anvili was underway on 14 August 1944 as the 1500-ship invasion force assembled and set course for the French playground seaboard between Toulon and Cannes. After steaming through the night, BROOKLYN arrived in her assigned area and commenced a one-hour, pre-invasion barrage ten miles west of CANNES. Approaching Southern France 8-14-44 Gunners Watching

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.,- , .,., .. ,. ..i sa., . ,,,,,,,l 5, l 1 1' 1 .. A.: 1 11 HIA ,INQU,IRE,R. THURSDAIY, MORNING. Crui erin 'Mothball ,' 1 1 tin Inactive Fleet The U. S. Navy put the first of its major fighting ships scheduled for peacetime idleness in mothballs at the Philadelphia Naval Base yes-. terday, starting a program which eventually will lay up a huge inac- tive fleet ready to go into almost in- stant action from Atlantic and Pacific ports. A Sealed against the slow' ravages of wind and water, the 11-year-old light cruiser U. S. S. Brooklyn be- came the first member of the inac- tive 16th Fleet at ceremonies at- tended by Mayor Bernard Samuel and a group, of top-ranking Navy officers. Admiral T. C. Kincaid, U. S. N., recently named commander of the 16th Fleet and former com- mander of the famed 7th Fleet, threw the switch that set going dehumidification in the last zone of the ship prepared for preservation. Lieutenant, Commander Harold Lank, retiring commander vof the vessel, turned her over :to Captain W F Fit' erald Jr commander 'of 1 1 i SAFETY INSURANCE , in All topside removable mateiiialjjis. below decks in dehumidified., land. sealed space, the .entire ship' is treated with rust-preventivesntop-' side guns are sealed with plastic filni, the hull is treated with poison- ous paint to kill barnacleslor other marine life. Admiral Kincaid point- ed out the availability of. the 16th Fleet and the 19th onthe Pacific coast, declaring they would ffcause ilaggressor nations to be hesitant I V f v Qi A I 2- I 1 l .- ze Q .. the isths Philadelphia. group.. 1 and 1 the inactivation process was-com-.- pleted. ' j With a maintenance grofdp of Qiive officers and 59 men, in ,contrast ,to-'l her wartime complement 'of.,86 of- ficers and 1154 men, the Brooklyn will rest here along with perhaps 40, other mapor ships, and' many destroyers, submarines and other craft-but everyone of. them' can spring to actionwithin 10'days- in the event of hostilities, due? tof the ,ingenious preservation methods' that ii NFIWY calls 'fputting them in -moth-fi balls. -. ' , of attacking us. Among the high ranking .-.officers attending the ceremony were Ad-. miral J. H. Ingram, commander-in-' chief of the Atlantic Fleetg Rear Admiral Milo F. Draemel, command- ant of the 4th Naval District: Rear Admiral C. H. Cobb, commandant of the Philadelphia Naval Base, and Rear Admiral S. S. Kennedy, direc- tor of maintenance of the Bureau of Ships. CHESTER ARRIVES AT BASE Another ship destined for similar retirement to reserve duty, the U. S. S. Chester, arrived at the base shortly before the ceremony on the Brooklyn. She is the heavy cruiser, U. S. S. Chester, with 164 Navy and Marine personnel, who debarked to leave for separation centers through- out the country. Among them were four Philadel- phia men headed for the Bainbridge, Md., center. They are Seaman First Class William J. Conway, 3221 Long- shore st.g Coxswain Richard F. Cut- ler, 5857 N. 6th st.g Radarman Sec- ond Class Francis T. Costello, 4413 Gansom st., and Radarman Third Class Edward J. Fahey, 1110 E. Earl -st. All were crew members of the Chester. ' From the Philadelphia Inquiror 31 January 1946. below is a 5 gunmount preserved for decommission- ing nvln Sami Canning Warships 4 Escorted by destroyers KEARNY and ERICSON, a jubilant BROOKLYN arrived in New York on 1 December 1944 and went to the Navy Yard for extensive overhaul. The fact that she was glad to be home was evidenced by her crew that month establishing a new record for Fleet War Bond Sales. The record was an average of 358.00 per man. Just prior to the Christmas Holidays, Skipper Dodge left his position as Commanding Officer. Commander Herbert F. Eckberg, USN, temporarily filled in. In anticipation of further combat, many new fire control and radar instruments were attached, blisters added to the cruiser hull allowing a protection from underwater explosions and torpedo penetration. On 12 April 1945, Captain William F. Fitzgerald, Jr., USN, embarked as Commanding Officer of a rejuvenated USS BROOKLYN. The German collapse, to which end BROOKLYN had made such a vast effort and contribution, culminated in Unconditional Surrender as the cruiser went south to Trinidad for a refresher voyage. She returned to Newport, Rhode Island, to again act in pre-commissioning training of green cruiser crews. V-J Day came as BROOKLYN was moored in Newport Harbor awaiting a Pacific assignment. The war years had come and gone. BROOKLYN'S war missions had been successfully completed without the loss of a single American life or major damage to the vessel as a result of enemy action. On 30 October 1945, USS BROOKLYN drew up alongside Pier A at the Philadelphia Navy Yard with the distinction of being the first ship to undergo the extensive preservation treatment at that Yard. Her metal surfaces and machinery were coated with a thin film of rust preventive, whereas anti-mildew and anti-decay substances were used to preserve wood, life jackets, cordage and other non-metal gear. Mechanical dehumidifying units were placed inside the cruiser to draw moisture out of the air and maintain an even temperature and relative humidity. Her guns were protected by netting coverings sprayed with a plastic paint, air .within these coverings being exhausted by special devices. USS BROOKLYN was placed out of commission on 30 January 1946 and into reserve at Philadelphia. Captain Fitzgerald, a few Marines, a Sailor or two observe the day the BROOKLYN was turned over to the Navy Yard for the process of Decommis- sioning.