Brooklyn (CL 40) - Naval Cruise Book

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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

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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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the Bounty in that one night, and he did a pretty good '0b, He lined up a car anddriver and explained exactly what Le wanted. There were five of us involved and he wanted the girls that took part in the movie Mutiny on the Bounty, Also, the equivalent of a Tahitian motel on a beautiful beach for the night. The driver took us to.the other side of the island. Got us set up in what were individual huts with a bed in each. There was no glass- in the window openings or anything like that - just a little grass shack hut for each of us on a beautiful beach. The driver took off and returned with five girls, three of which, believe it or not, had been in the movie when it was made on Tahiti. I didn't want to spoil Wilson's dream of a perfect setup and it wasn't really necessary to point out that a few years had gone by since the movie was filmed here. These matrons seemed to have a good time that evening watching what we did as we paid more attention to younger, real beauties that seemed to be everywhere that night. We had seen Hawaii. You know what the mind pictures of Hawaii - grass skirts in the moonlight dancing on a native beach. Well Hawaii looked like downtown Los Angeles compared to what we saw on that moonlit tropical beach that night. There was native music and the native girls dancing on the beach for the love of dancing. The food on the island was pretty bad. They hadn't had many ships of any kind stop at Tahiti because of commitments elsewhere and they were making do with what they had. But in the atmosphere created by all the native people that wanted to get into the act that night, the meal seemed like a native banquet. It lasted pretty late, one thing led to another and we were pulled into an early mornin swim. I'll never forget the five of us nicely suntanned and looking pretty manly after our long trip at sea in the tropic sun, running like scared kids as a shark fin appeared in the shallow water. The giggling girls ran out and threw rocks at it and it went away. We got back to the ship at 9:00 A.M. to get ready to sail at 11:00 A.M. just as the money exchange with the banker was taking place. Since we had been on the other side of the island doing what we were, we weren't a part of what had taken place. Seems that each time a sailor went into a shop or bar or restaurant, they would take them in the back and start making deals for his dollars, 80, 100, 150 francs for a dollar. Most of them took it up and then bought all they could, but still had francs left that the banker was buying back at 50 for a dollar. The Brooklyn left with most of their saleable goods, etc. and most of the money. Back up across the Equator and an uneventful trip to Pearl Harbor to end a dream cruise that I call lend lease for lack of a better reason. Whatever the reason, I'm glad fate put lt on my calendar of events. CHAPTER 4 HAWAII TO ICELAND We settled into a pleasant routine of going out. on maneuvers and then in Pearl Harbor for days at a time. Heathcliff was running fine and Joe and I had lots of passengers from the Navy families living there. We formed H basketball team and played other ship's teams. Also a softball team with games against other ships. 'Swam and r0fle surf boards at Waikiki Beach, played tennis and golf. Qllllift a life. Even had a three-day visit from .lean Buxton, the girl I met in Auckland, New Zealand. She IS on her way to Boston via San Francisco. On a routine maneuver Tuesday, May 20, we had an eventful morning as a destroyer requested to transfer an 0fflCf-br with a very bad a pendix to the Brooklyn for Eosslble operation by our dbctor. The transfer was mgide Y D8SSlng lines between the two ships and the sick officer Pulled .across strapped in a stretcher-type sling. The appendlx operation was still going on when I pointed out th? f1agS1j11p battleship, USS Idaho, was running up a flag hoist designating Brooklyn follow me. Weexecuted the Slgnal and followed, all the way through the Panama Canal to Cuba. This was my first indication of what surprises Navy life can pull on people connected with it. The young officer on the operation table was to end up in Boston with only the pajamas and robe he came across that sling with. Families that were back in Hawaii had to somehow find out their Pappys had gone to Panama. fEven that was a secret from them.l Clothes were at cleaners ashore, girls were awaiting dates and Heathcliff is still sitting in that parking lot. The admiral on the Idaho made it a simple trip with few maneuvering exerclses. He had to conserve fuel. The trip to Panama was 4,689 miles. Deck tennis, grommets in hot sun and poker at night was the routine along with easy watches. The admiral didn't put up many flags on the whole trip and my job was easy. One signal flew on Saturday, May 24, that I had a lot of difficulty trying to figure out until I showed it to the commander and he knew the message immediately. The flag hoist meant Ship designated has been sunk hood. The reason I couldn't get it was I didn't know what the hood was. The commander explained to me it was the HMS Hood, British battleship. I know today, after the fascinating rerun late, late show movie many times on TV, that the Bismarck had done it and this was the start of the drama, Sink the Bismarck. On Tuesday, May 27, I delivered the message to the captain that the German battleship had been sunk. That same ni 'ht the whole ship listened to the radio broadcast of President Roosevelt declaring an unlimited national emergency. Since the Brooklyn was heading east at all possible speed, after a hurried departure from Hawaii, there wasn't much doubt in anyone's mind that we were going to do something. The spirit throughout the ship as all kidded and speculated on it was something to be a part of. One day the Captain scheduled a Captain's Inspection on the entire ship. As he and the commander were getting ready to start, they also wanted the officer of the deck. They looked at me and told the officer of the deck to turn the duty over to me and I had my first time at being in charge on the bridge for the period of the long inspection. The same night, to keep my ego in line, I got caught very late by the lst Lieutenant as I sneaked some sandwiches out of the wardroom and he really bawled me out. ' The heat got intense. Water temperature 89 degrees and the temperature well over 100 with heavy humidity. We take cots up on deck and sleep at night. Birds began to appear and turtles and porpoise are around the ship as we approach Panama. Early in the morning on June 4 we sighted land for the first time in 16 days. We have all the names on the ship and boats covered. This is all very secret. We don't go close enough to shore to be seen. Then at 8:30 P.M. we approach and start through the locks. It was dark but with enough moonlight so we could sit on deck and watch the locks and lakes as we went through. We were through Just before daylight and went to General Quarters right away. Word was passed we were on our way to Guantanamo, Cuba. A short run compared to the long Pacifictrip and we found the USS Savannah and battleship, Mississippi, also in the harbor at Guantanamo when we arrived. The USS N ashville and battleship, New Mexico, arrived the next day..I went to the Naval Station to draw the-necessary publications from the issuing officer to operate in these. waters and, by kee ing my ears open, found out we were icing to Bermuda. Had, the pleasure of telling the captain efore he got any