Brooklyn (CL 40) - Naval Cruise Book

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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

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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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i official message. Don't know if this had anything to do with it but for the first and only time he invite me to go aquaplaning while being pulled by h1S G18- That afternoon the USS Philadelphia came in. The three battleships took off and our coding room told me they wiere going to Newport, Rhode Island. After them, the Brook YE and three other cruisers went out of the harbor and heade north. The next day we joined the battleships and, With the destroyers escorting us, numbered 20 ships. Then.the message we are all going to Boston' and Im a little embarrassed at what I told the capta1n..Got even more confusing when our course was heading stralght for Norfolk, Virginia. I had just delivered the message to the captain that the USS Robin Moor was sunk when the cry of ' land ho WRS heard and there was the good ol' U.S.A. off in the distance. We left the USS Nashville at Charleston, the battleshlps at Norfolk, the destroyers at Philadelphia .and the remaining three cruisers continued north. It's getting cooler and we sleep below in our rooms now and go.to General Quarters every morning. Pm not sure how it officially started, but I am now officer of the deck at General Quarters. Handling the bridge and giving all the maneuvering orders to the helmsman at the wheel. A very heavy fog set in and we are wearing woolen underwear and bridge coats on watch. The cruisers are in position with towing spars strung out behind. Can't see each other, but keep position on the spars. Came out of the fog in the morning and anchored in Cape Cod Bay to await orders. In the afternoon, Brooklyn and Nashville got underway and moved up to graves to anchor in sight of Boston. Had a movie and went to bed to await liberty and mail tomorrow. Early in the morning we went alongside and docked next to the HMS Rodney which had just helped sink the Bismarck. Went ashore in Boston and, of all things, a date with Jean Buxton. Saw her in Auckland, Honolulu and now Boston. Small world! Returned to the ship to find all hands turned to load all of the many things being put on the ship. We had dinner on the HMS Rodney Sunday, June 22, and heard the whole story firsthand of the Bismarck show. While we were at dinner, word came that Germany had declared war on Russia. While the ship was being loaded, I went to the Navy Yard and went through the entire list of publications for operating in the Atlantic and made sure the Brooklyn's file was complete. Then back to the ship to find it so loaded with stores that some had to be set on deck and lashed down. The ship is filled to capacity with fuel and ammunition. There were a lot of pleasure boats out to wave at us as we went out the channel and headed south for rendezvous. We are in Condition 3, morning and night General Quarters and woolen underwear and face masks are being issued to the crew while they all speculate on our destination. Afternoon we pick up the start of the convoy, four transports, one supply ship, one tanker and four destroyers. Later the battleships, USS Arkansas and USS New York, and eight more destroyers. We are headed for St. Marys, Newfoundland, as our first stop. All personal radios on board were collected and locked up. The weather gets very cold and the windy gray Atlantic is a sharp contrast to the brighter Pacific we have been used to. We are all formed up in convoy formation steaming along practicing zig zagging with the trans orts for the longer trip ahead. As I stand on the bridge and, look around it's a little hard to realize that I'm actually looking at and a part of the first American convoy of the war. All the guns are set and orders are to open fire on any enemy aircraft or surface craft that comes within range. Everyone is kidding about the cold and how bad it would be to have ' . We were joined by 12 patrol bombers as add't' get-iJViI1llnThey are on their way to Newfoundland to esilaglsali a base and doubling as protection for the convoy, 'thout warning a very heavy fog set in, so thick dlii1ldn't see the bow of our ship from the bridge, We 1523 to crawl along and jl1Sll try tflkffep from bumping into one another. As I write this now, it IS hard to describe because radar takes care of all this in 1972. But just like trying to explain to a child of today what. life was like without television, it is just as hard to describe ships at sea Without radar. We did manage to stay together. The fog cleared Slightly and we found our way into Argencia, Newfound- land. So cold and had so many clothes on to stand my watch I couldn't move. And was still cold. In the next few days, while waiting for more ships to arrive, had a chance to go ashore and compare life in this rugged, rather backward part of the world, to what I had seen in Hawaii and New Zealand. The country is awesome and beautiful. Took a car ride to Platencia over very poor road. Was ferried across a lake by man in rowboat and had dinner in an old farm house. Back to the ship to stand 8-12 in port watch, but at 9:30 P.M. fTuesday, July D under cover of darkness and a light fog, all of the ships slipped out, formed up, and we headed north. Then the annolmcement we are going to ICELAND. Five transports loaded with marines, two supply ships with tanks, glms, etc., a tanker with oil, two battleships, two cruisers and thirteen destroyers. The night's so short now there is no need to go to General Quarters at sunu and sundown. We stayed in Condition 3. The ship's radlio got a press notice that Senator Wheeler says the U.S. is sending an expedition to take over Iceland and that we'll get there on the 24th. It's only July 3 now. Follows that the next day is July 4. The first time in years I haven't spent it in the Feather River Camp in California. On my first Christmas away from home, I swam in the warm Hawaiian waters and now, on July 4, it is snowing a little. Funny life. Our concentration is now on German submarines which are assumed to be all over this area. We drill each day on what to do if a torpedo hit us. Everyone had subs on their mind and the lookout concentrated. During this day, a destroyer sighted something and went racing toward it. We saw it and to us everything in the water looks like periscopes. It was a small boat with people, including four women, from a torpedoed ship who had been adrift four days. Then that night, with the sky in its semi-light, the general alarm went off with word, Man your general quarters - no foohngf' The crew went in underwear and plenty fast. It was a mistake. In the poor light, m jumpy si alman had read Turn Z1 to mean Emerg Syl, the suinsignal. We sight more floating life rafts and boats now and a destroyer drops back to explode a floating mine. I had a midwatch and the sun was only gone for three hours and the sky didn't even start to get dark. 'Ilhe.morning of July 7 started with a destroyer near US picking up a sub contact and dropping eight depth charges on the contact. Sure shook our ship. Then with pat1'0l P19-HSS, and our own Brooklyn planes spotting for US, we went through the mine fields and anchored in the harbor of the Clty of Reykjavik, Iceland. After one-half l10t11' we UP anchored and were led up a fjord to a beautiful hidden P1806 Where British battleships, cruisers, destroyerS, and subs were hidden. The cliff goes 2,000 feet straight UP b0th sides and the tops have snow on them. Heard the news that Our President had announced our arrival and with the SUI1 Shmmg brlght in my port at midnight, I went to bed- The next morning three of us put on some suitable c1otheS for hlkmg and climbed through some thick mud and rocks up. the 2,000 foot side of the cliffs of Hualfjarda. It Was qulte 3, Slghtl We rolled boulders down and watched them splash In the fJ0rd way below. Went by a British arm! camp and watched the men play soccer in what seeme to be