Brooklyn (CL 40) - Naval Cruise Book

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.17- turrets. Knocked me all over the bridge and I couldn't hear for days afterwards, but I was impressed. When we are underway in maneuvers like this, including night exercises, my time on the bridge runs 14-17 hours a day. Spent my first Christmas ever away from home by playing football and swimming in the morning and then an invitation to the home of Navy Junior, Miss Hope Toulon, whose father is captain of USS Indianapolis. I also had an invitation there New Year's Eve, but saw the year 1940 out standing watch on USS Brooklyn in Pearl Harbor and wondering where I would be on next New Year's Eve. Among other duties was to rotate standing guard, boom patrol, at the entrance to Pearl Harbor. We would sit out there in the sun with a gun and watch the boom which went across the whole entrance and held up the anti-torpedo nets that protected the harbor. I often wondered later who was sitting there when the Japs slipped those midget subs through on December 7. During this period, Captain Smith left his command to become Chief of Staff to CINCUS. Captain E. S. Stone took over as Captain of the USS Brooklyn in very impressive ceremonies. On February 9 I had my first case of decoding a secret message, telling the captain and commander, and then having to walk around with a secret I couldn't tell anyone else on board. Spent two days loading marines and equipment on board while all hands made wild guesses at our destination. Actually, it was Midway Island. We took those marines to that little speck in the ocean and unloaded them in small boats. From out where we were unloading into boats, the place looked like a deserted forlorn little strip of islands with hundreds of birds flying around. Hard to believe this was the site to become known as the Big Battle of Midway. I became very friendly with an Annapolis Ensign, Joe Keough, on the Brooklyn and we went everywhere together. Joe introduced me to two sisters, Phyllis and Fay, whose father was captain of the USS Honolulu. Two charming girls who knew many interesting out-of-the-way places on the island. Joe and I even bought a Model A Ford together so we could all get around, named it Heathcliff, and we were really looking forward to our time off the ship. Then I got another one of those secret messages that was to take us on a long trip away from Honolulu. CHAPTER 3 LEND LEASE On Monday, March 3, we left Pearl Harbor and went due South. We stay in Condition 3 all the time except to go to General Quarters every morning at 4:00 A.M. and are there to greet the sun as it comes up. I know we are on our way to Samoa and can't understand why the captain is keeping it a secret from the rest. The weather is getting very warm as we approach the Equator. I sleep in flag plot where it is cooler and I can get to General Quarters in a hurry. The captain had General Quarters five times in one day and the crew was getting battle ready when he announced our destination of Tutuila CSamoaJ. Yesterday I was a Pollywog. Today I am a Shellback as we cross the Equator with a riotous ceremony. I paraded dressed in an emergency flag to meet Davey Jones, dumped in pool of Water, completely greased, shocked, spanked, hissed a big baby's belly and had a lot of fun 1n the boiling ot sun. Sunday, March 9, Cmy 23rd birthdayl we sailed into the beautiful island of Tutuila CSamoa Groupl and anchored in the Harbor of Pago Pago. Certainly one of the prettiest places you could imagine. The ,population come out in their outriggers and circle the ship, but for some reason we have an absolute gag on talking to them. We can't leave the ship or write letters either. Even I haven't received any secret messages on what we are doing. By this time, the rest of the wardroom just assumes I always know what is going on, so I am a stinker for not telling them whether I know or not. All of a sudden the next day the bans are lifted and liberty for the starboard watch. Like a cloud of locust the officers and men bought that place clean in a few hours. The next day it was the port watch liberty and those lovely people really worked through the night to be ready. They brought out old mats they slept on for years and every conceivable piece of used junk and still sold out in no time. For some strange reason, I was sent to a Naval Office on shore and very secretly signed for and drew out 40 publications for operating in Asiatic waters. This was one secret that really had me bugged. As far as I know they were never used except to drive me crazy trying to figure out where we were going. In appreciation of our visit and spending all our money on their goods, the island sent native dancers to entertain us on board ship that evening and you wonder how those little girls way down here in Samoa learned to wave those leis around their bare boobies. The crew loved it and the officers didn't mind either. That night I got the word we were waiting for. Auckland, New Zealand. And on this day the lend lease bill was signed. We took off for Auckland and there wasn't a doubt in the mind of anyone on board that we were going to give the mighty Brooklyn to the British. We no longer darkened the ship, even had a movie on fantail at night. The weather was getting colder and we changed to blue uniforms. Some islands were shelled during the night by a Nazi raider and we still go to General Quarters 4:30 A.M., 9:00 A.M., 2:00 P.M., but skipped the usual 7:00 P.M. We crossed the International Dateline and March 15 became the day that never was. Ironically it was pay day. A message said a British mine sweeper would meet us outside the mine fields off Auckland to chart our way through the mines. As dawn came up, we sighted the mine sweeper and she blinked us a message, Send boat to pick up commanding officer with charts. I handed Commander Denebrink the message. He read it and I being the nearest and lowest ranked officer on the bridge, he pointed at me and said, Small boat officer take a boat and bring the commander here. I went down on deck and the chief boatswain let out a long bow line and lowered away a motor whaleboat with crew of four. He put the rope ladder over the side for me to climb down and it looked to me like from the top of the Empire State Building. With the whole ship looking on, I went down the swinging ladder and got my feet and then the rest of me in the oat. We took off in pretty choppy water and got to the mine sweeper. There was a ladder over the side and the coxswain made for it. Charts in a tube were passed down and then the commander, with a British-type, cork life jacket on, came down and into the boat. We shook hands and the coxswain maneuvered well back to the Brooklyn. So we both got up the long ladder with the charts and I really felt pretty proud of myself as I led the commander through the men and up to the bridge with the charts. I wasn't at all prepared for the blast from Commander-Denebrink. He put his face, livid with rage by this time, right in my face and called me some pretty salty names before he got to the point. The first time we meet the British Navy and you have to show them we don't know a thing about seamanship. You went to that ship and you took your boat to the windward side. Any common seaman would know you go to the leeward side. I was never so humiliated in my life. Then a few remarks about my lack of Naval training followed by, When you go back, and you are going back, go to the leeward!

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- - - ' d in San pictures in the paper of each city. At the 611 , . Francisco, the paper had a picture of 9 of us with Stewardess, and the United A1r Line plane, of course, W1 this story: 9 ENSIGNS STOP HERE EN ROUTE TO HONOLULU Nine New York Giants, who might be but aren't a baseball team, arrived in San. Francisco over the weekend, bringing the West its first view of something else new in national defense. The nine tall youths, who arrived by United Malllllllel' in custody of diminutive Stewardess Gwen Nolan, are members of the first class to be graduated from New York City's Little Annapolis, naval training school adjunct newly formed to step up natlonal defense preparations. After four months' naval training, in port and on cruise, the young men are commissioned enslgns in the United States Navy, and are en route to Honolulu duty, following ten days' stopover in San Francisco. The youths, members of a charter class that number 264 are L.C. McCormick, R.C. Mallon, J.D. Lorenz, E.F. Evans, R.M. Wasarhaley, D.L. Cole, J.L. Laird, W.R. McClintick and R.C. Glasmann. I had a chance meeting with the young man from United Airlines some years later. He spent the whole war and had a big job handling service charter flights, all startlng with our trip. That was the cruise to Cuba plus the 90 days. CHAPTER 2 LEARNING Ninety Days plus isn't really a very lon time and many people in Oakland who didn't realize Pc? been away were certainly surprised to see me in an Ensign's uniform. At this point there were only academy officers and that took four years. Ten days of this and off to San Pedro to find the USS Brooklyn. We waited, swam and sat in the warm sun for three days before it came in and we went aboard December 4, 1940. Quite a thrill. Five-W class ensigns they called us. We ate our first meal in the wardroom. Three long tables where you sat according to rank. Starting with us at the foot of the third table up to Commander Denebrink at the head of the first. The Captain, W. W. Smith, ate alone and visited the wardroom only on rare special occasions. The logical thing to do with five ensigns was to assign us to each of five six-inch gun turrets as assistant gunnery officers. And to put us on rotation watches as junior officer of the deck. The ship left the next day for Honolulu. I started standing junior officer of the deck watches underway. Learned about station keeping on other ships. How to use a stadimeter, pelorus repeater and calibrating radio direction finder. Also learned an officer is supposed to wear a hat and they don't sell them on board. Which follows that I should have known better than to let mine blow overboard and I had to make the rest of the trip without a hat. I worked in the gun turret for two days and then something happened that had a lot to do with my later Navy duties, Commander Denebrink called me to his cabin and told me I was to be the signal officer and part of the unications staff. This meant that my time Blildldlilyn would be spent entirely on.the bridge wht?-I 3:2 ship was underway, led to my becoming the officer of the deck alongside the captain. and commander at Condition I Battle Stations and qualified me to command my own ship. ot m first real taste of a storm on this trip to Honol ltgwas all heavy storm and that 608 foot-long cruiser is 64 feet wide and really rolls in a heavy sea. Another thing I learned was I am not prone to be affected by seasickness Wakefield was violently seasick and some of the others tn some degree. Some get it, some don't. It was one of my blessings to be among the don'ts. We sailed into Pearl Harbor and tied up alongside two other cruisers, the Philadelphia and Helena. Now was to be my taste of what was really peace-time Navy. Wives of Brooklyn officers and men arrived and lived in Honolulu, We had duty days and watches and our work to do, then were free to go ashore. While on board with duty, the evenings were taken up with movies. While ashore, there was swimming, tennis, golf, daughters of high ranking Naval officers to take out along with the local talent, Waikiki Beach, trips around the Island, beautiful weather, the whole thing. In my job on the communications staff I was assigned to coding and decoding and was to be the first to read all secret and confidential messages coming in and to get them right to the captain or commander. My job as signal officer was an underway assignment. I had my men on the signal bridge that were experts at sending and receiving all forms of communications, semaphore, blinkers and signal flags. My main job was the rapid understanding and interpreting the meaning of the complicated combinations of signal flags. When ships are in formation together, the command ship handles the other ships by these signal flags. As a simple example, an admiral or captain will turn to his signal officer and say, Signal 45 degree turn to right. The flagship will run up the appropriate flags almost to the top of the mast, leaving about a foot of space at the top. All other ships with signalmen constantly on the alert are running up the same flags almost as fast as the flagship gets them out. They also stop about a foot from the top. Turn 45 is communicated to the signal officer on the bridge and through him to the captain or officer of the deck. Signal officer says, Signal turn 45 degrees to right. The reply from one in charge of deck is understood The signal off1cer's call to signal man is toblock, meaning run the flags all the way to the top indicating signal is understood. When all ships toblock, the flagship toblocks and it IS understood to stand by for execution. On the admiral's orders, Execute, the flags come down on the flagship and all other ships haul doen flags and execute the right turn maneuver. That's the simple one. There is a signal book .with explanations of all the possible flag meanings. A signal officer earns his pay in a big formation of ships when the lines are full of flags, three or four groups at a time calling for complicated ship maneuvers within formation. There were some moments with many ships involved all g0lng at lllgh Speeds, the air full of flags waiting for toblocli, 01' eXeCUll10lf1, and I'd be standing there with this big signal explallatlon book turning the pages, the captain standing over me with some choice words and I couldn't quickly Come UP Wlllh the answer to that one. I never failed to figure them out. Some just took longer. In a tremendously compelltwe Shlp Hgalnst ship performance with the first ship to tobl0Cli 1'9C0gH1Zed as being on the ball, waiting for me to flgllfe out the flags didn't sit too well. We g0.0l1lQ On maneuvers with other ships during the week and ship life IS one of constant striving for perfection. Drlll after dull, Competition with other ships in all forms of Seamimshlp and. performance. My first taste of gunnery practice was a night exercise. Nothing that I will see ll? all my Navy days impressed me like the firing of those 6-inch

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The commander was loud enough so the crew way back on the fantail could hear him so I was a little shook UP as made my way to that long ladder'aga1n. I motioned for the British commander to go first so I could pull myself together. He got down all right, but as he got his feet lfl the boat, the long line from the bow slackened for some reason and he fell sprawling face up on the small deck of the whaleboat with his feet up on one seat and his arms on another. In this position the boat slid under the scuppert bringing the various goodies out of the head and dumped it all over him. I got there in time 'to help h1II1 Plck mit some toilet paper and a few other things. He took off his life jacket to clean up and we took off. As we approached the mine sweep, the ladder was.st1ll down on the same side. I looked at the coxswain and he shrugged. I told the commander they would have to move the la der to the leeward side. Frankly, I still didn't know exactly what the leeward side was. The commander explained there was no leeward side because the mine sweeper was just sitting there heading into the wind. I told him I couldn't go back to my ship if he went up that same ladder so he called to his men to pull up the ladder and put it on the other sldie. You can imagine the expression on their faces, but they did it and we came alongside. The charts got up and then the commander. As he got to the deck I noticed he forgot his cork life jacket. I called to him but he said toss it up. I braced myself on the deck for the toss and just as I swung up, the boat rose on a swell and the wet life jacket traveled the short distance and hit the leaning-over commander square in the face. Commander Denebrink must have been satisfied with my seamanship on the second trip. He never mentioned it again. I saw the British commander in town a few days later. He was blessed with a sense of humor. Later on a trip through the mine fields went 0.K. Thank goodness. I stayed as far away from the commander as I lclould. Just felt like it would somehow be my fault if we it a mine. Went alongside a berth in Auckland and then it happened. The town was deliriously happy at our coming. The first day we were joyfully mobbed on the streets and pulled into pubs and private homes to have a toast and celebrate this great event. The demand for attendance at parties was so great that the morning of the second day we had to have a meeting in the war room and assign each officer to at least six parties that day. I got the Harbor Board Party, The Grand Hotel, York Squadron, Yacht Club and two private homes. Somewhere in here I met an American girl named Jean Buxton and she rescued me to the quiet of her place at the Waverly Hotel. At 9:00 A.M. the next day, off the ship for the same go-around. Children stop us for our autographs and the city was full of welcome banners. Everything is free to us, every show, pub and private home. I went and helped Jean Buxton mind someone's baby so the maid could o see what she could do to entertain the crew of the Brooklyn. I had an assigned trip to an Army camp with the biggest welcome yet. Young Army boys going overseas the next day just fighting to shake hands and get autographs. Cheering all the time - thousands of them. Then a climax banquet with all the elite of Auckland. I'll never forget our captain standing up to a hushed audience with his glass raised saying, I know you are all wondering why we are here. Many Hear, Hear's . Then the captain, If you don't know why we are here, you haven't got the sense of ood New Zealandsrs that I know you are. The cheering and shouting was wi . We sailed out of Auckland the next morning and I still haven't found out why we were there. 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'-l -5, i i4.'-gc gr P+ fi?-rl' ff'?a:1ff?ra11n: 2 A LI.11'l5i'Ii5'w'f1l3 P' ' f' -' ' ,L 'LIJ. ,2'f,l sw thief 1 :I-rw-22 ,.':'r:1i..'i'Z'f'-P 1. 9p1,,gfg5..y4-H., .. ti. ,-.3 'Z' ..f,.. J, Q. ,,- 11: 'ww H-,.1y.'. . -' ' --f' ' - ' Courtesy The Weekly News, Auckland, New Zealand, March 26, 1941. left, Ensign Ray WASARHALEY. MIITIIG CITY DAUGHTER! LIANY State functions were arranged 'for the captain and ollicers of the visiting uadron, and they were also Bllilfflillg, as they were heard to sav, by the city fathers' at Several pun-E3 male parties. Their irst secial gint, uction to the 'city daughters ,was at s cocktail party at the Grand Hora on Tuesday evening. The host was Commander J. P. Olding, the recently-appointed naval observer to the American Consulate at Auckland. to Tahiti for about the same known reason as Samoa and Auckland. We went back into the routine of four General Quarters a day starting before sun-up. The only eventful part of the trip was having two Fridays, March 21, as we re-crossed the International Dateline. Also a violent storm with winds 50-69 knots and heavy rains. One night waves knocked the port open in our room and when General Quarters sounded, Washburn and I piled out of our beds and almost had to swim. Some of the seats are empty at mealtime and meals are eaten with the chairs lashed to the heavier wardroom tables. Then the weather quieted down and there was the story-book island of Tahiti and we went into the harbor at Papleta. Anchored so our stern was only about 50 feet from the street running along the city shore. People crowded the shore and called to us in French. It's very pretty out there with the lush foilage behind the city. Some of the people are pretty also. Before any of us could go ashore, after our experience ln Samoa, the captain asked for a representative of the bank to come on board. The deal was made that the bank would take the crew's American dollars right there on board and exchange them for a given number of French francs. I forgot what it was, but say 50 for a dollar. Then before we C0l1ld leave Tahiti, the banker was to come back and buy back all the crew had left for the same 50 for a dollar. The agreement was made and the starboard watch was granted Ovemlght liberty. Many of the boys had a pretty short stay because at 500 per bottle of champagne in that hot sun, our Sh1D's shore patrol began carrying them back on board after only a few hours. Ira Wilson took Tahiti as a personal challenge. There waS only to be one liberty each for the port and starboardwatch an he was determined he was going to relive MUtlUy on