Brooklyn (CL 40) - Naval Cruise Book

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surface and hit it with three bombs and sunk it. We t and steamed through the huge oil slick that kept cdlrlmriiig up from the sinking sub. The entire officers and men of Sky forward and director control had watched a torpedo track go astern of the Brooklyn shortly before the planes hit the submarine. Beautiful hot day with low clouds and blue sky and water. We are on our way to Trinidad to fuel. One sub alarm in morning, but no results. We had a warm welcome in Trinidad because as we got there, a sub was trying to torpedo the HMS Indomitable and motor boats were laying a smoke screen across the harbor. We refueled fast and got out just after dark and went at flank speed for Martinique. Destroyer dropped eight depth char es on contact just as it was getting dark and we also haf a brief definite look at a periscope as it dove in the darkness. The Martinique question was officially settled today by conferences with Darlan and Petan. We are awaiting word to leave. There are definitely many submarines here and we would just as soon o. It took 48 hours to come, but it did and and we headed for New York fast. Admiral Kimmel was blamed for the Hawaiian attack and relieved as CINCUS by King. Try to go as fast as possible, but are held back a bit by destroyers who will run out of fuel if we go too fast. We get there and go into Gravesend Bay, New York, to discharge ammunition prior to going into Navy Yard. Were greeted with 118 bags of mail that had been trying to catch up with us. December 24 in a freezing storm we moved up the East River and into the Brooklyn Navy Yard to start our long awaited overhaul. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were quiet ones. For the second year in a row, I had the midwatch to welcome in the New Year. Had a few things to think about. One of the most adventurous and exciting, but also the most lonesome, year of my life. I figured we logged 43,800 miles of traveling on the Brooklyn. Wilson an Wakefield are gone to other ships and only three of our original five are eft. Friends have been killed in less than a month of declared war. What will happen when the war effort really gfoes intg action? A sincere wish to still be around next New ea.r's ve. CHAPTER 6 CASABLANCA - THE INVASION OF NORTH AFRICA The Brooklyn went back to the Bermuda Area Patrol after coming out of the yard, dodging torpedos and attacking subs, then was assigned as the leader of two highspeed convoys to England. The speed of the convoys reduce the sub threat because we could zig zag and change course during the night so it would only be chance if the subs happened to be where we were at dawn. They couldn't chase us and had to lay in wait for us to be able to get off any goapedos. During these trips, I was promoted to Lieutenant The main si nal on a trip like this with. big fast ships 1S the Zig Zag Plan. There are many variations and they are all given in secret book form to the captains of each ship at the convoy meeting prior to sailing. Underway the signal is sent by the flagshipnin this Case the Brooklyn, on what plan to use. Then ive minutes before each hour a si nal flag hoist is put up by the flagship telling whether to 11? keep zig zag going according to. same plan, f2l change to another designated plan, or 437 218 Zag Plans are made so you go to the left for an hour and then if the signal says to you go to the right for an hour or you go to the left again. We had been doing the left-right plan during the day putting up a signal every hour indicating this. I had some decoding to do and the communications officer took over my signal watch for awhile. When I.came back on the bridge, I know he turned over all. the instructions before I relieved him, but I was just thinking of something else, day dreaming and watching the ocean. All of.a sudden the officer of the deck yelled, Oh God, Captain, Captain Come Quick. It was 20 seconds after the hour and 24 big heavily loaded ships were going in every direction. For the five minutes before the hour they all had a different idea of what to do since there was no signal. Some said we have been alternating left and right so he means to keep alternating. Some said there is no signal so we keep zig zagging the way we have been. Some said no signal means no more zig zagging. And they all did their thing on the hour. How there Wasn't a collision of two or more ships I don't know, but I do know how I felt when the captain walked over to me after he got things straightened out and said, You didn't put up the signal did you? Everything we had done so far was warmup. We were getting ready for the main event - the invasion of North Africa. After extensive plans and preparation, we put to sea from Norfolk, Virginia, with the Savannah and Philadelphia plus four destroyers and waited for the 100 plus other ships that are going also. There is no secret on this trip. The plans were too extensive and the crew completely briefed. We are going to invade West Africa along the Northern Coast, take Morocco and then Algeria and Tunisia. Get Rommel from behind in Libya and push the Axis out of Africa. We face up to the fact that we are going into our first fight, but somehow the might we see around us is reassuring: 3 Battleships 5 Aircraft Carriers 8 Cruisers 45' Transports with over 100,000 men and equipment 36 Destroyers and Mine Sweepers 4 Tankers Our ship and all ships have been stri ped of everything that can burn. Even the paint has been scraped off the bulkheads, decks and rooms. Unlike anything else we did, the eyes of the world are on us because it rea ly isn't much of a secret. Even the radio and press were talking and writing about an attack on Casablanca. It was the 30th of October before we were all formed up and this is what it looked like. There are over 100 ships and this morning all are going to fuel from the tankers to be full at the start. We have some submarine alarms, but figure most of the subs are gathering over near Africa waiting for us. Sunday, November 8, is D. Day. The day the invasion begins. 0400,is H. hour, 4:00 A.M. On the last da of October, we were etting more sub alerts. Dropped ten depth charges the day before on contacts, two more last night, and now, today, every hour we can feel and hear more going off. Our best estimates have .a line of subs from the Azores to Cape Verde Islands. Thirty to forty subs are there. Radio re orts that Montgomery is smashing at Rommel in Libya. Also reports that no Axis aircraft in the area of East Africa for the past few days. Maybe they have come west to wait for us.

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-M three battleships, two carriers, two cruisers, 20 destroyers in the harbor when we got there. Put on all the clothes I owned and sat outside to see a movie. We happened to be moored in the same berth the HMS Prince of Wales was when Churchill and Roosevelt met. It was here I was qualified to stand a full officer of the deck watch in port or underway. Ialso was one of two officers that picked the right number out of a wardroom hat and got to make liberty in St. John's. We took the lucky 12 enlisted men and left the ship at 3:00 P.M. to catch a 4:15 P.M. train. The train didn't leave until 6:00 P.M. and.the gunner fthe other officer, he was in charge of the marines on the Brooklynl and I really fixed ourselves. We bought first class tickets because of our high opinion of ourselves. After standing back to let all the lesser folks on the poorly equipped train, we found there was no first class - never had been - and we had to stand and flop around for the better part of a seven hour, 80 mile ride. There were our sailors having a drink now and then and talking to the girl passengers while most of the other passengers read church pamphlets. We got there at 1:00 A.M. in freezing weather and with no lace to stay. Finally slept in Mrs. Kelly's house. We had, met a nurse named Phyllis on the tram and she had given us some phone numbers of other nurses. We finally got a room in the hotel, called the phone numbers and got dates for a formal dance at the Yacht Club that lasted most of the night. On a 7:00 A.M. train for a wild ride that took nine hours to get back through wind and heavy rain. So bad at Argentina that no boats could run, so with no food since the night before, we waited until 11:30 A boat got through the wind and we had a wet ride ac . Mr. Coleman, one of the Brooklyn's aviators, took me up in one of our airplanes for some bombing runs. After being here with all these ships for almost two weeks, we were ordered to Portland, Maine, and found the New Mexico, Yorktown, Savannah, Salamonie and Denebola there with lots of destroyers. That night had a message USS Kearney a destroyer, torpedoed south of Iceland with heavy loss of life. She was convoying British ships. Two dalys in Portland and off to Bermuda where we operate right around the island for awhile with no' long trips. A message that the USS Salanis, the tanker that fueled us a few weeks ago in Newfoundland, was hit by two torpedoes. The carrier, Wasp, and cruiser, Nashville, join us as the British carrier, Indomitable, and cruiser, Dispatch, left Bermuda. Message the U.S. destroyer Rubin James was sunk by torpedos off Newfoundland. Somethin was wrong with our turbine and we were standing by to leave for New York to have it fixed so no liberty. Then word came to stay here and try to fix it ourselves. Then were ordered into South Basin Drydock in Bermuda and we laugh. All the British ships are taking up the space in American dockyards and so we take British sgace. It was a tight squeeze to get in. We are the largest s ip ever to get in this drydock. Since we are in British base, the British extend us the hospitality of all their facilities including their wives. I mean we could dance with them at the Officers' Club. Made note of a typical but bad day on November 6. I worked all morning and stood watch all afternoon, then the Captain had very im ortant high priority secret messages for me to encode and, send. He wrote them, I typed them and he checked them and I encoded them. There was a bad mistake in one of them that he made and I didn't catch and I got holy hell. Then I had the midwatch and a commander came back from liberty with a little too much to drink and we had a fight on the deck. My relief overslept and I got no sleep at all. mber 11 is Armistice Day and we had British ne iiollfoard and after dinner ended up at the Royal gyasll-E Club and I was escorting Mrs. Waterfield, acknowledged to be the most beautiful woman in Bermuda. She invited us to play tennis at the club in Sommerset and we played the next day before a gallery and drank tea afterwards. Was invited to her home, Casa Nina, on Saturday night, Made note on November 14 that I had been an ensign one year today. The captain decided to have a dparty that night and I was one of 10 officers to attend an entertain the British. Big dinner on board and here was Mrs. Waterfield again. We went to Malabar and danced all evening while her husband watched. The next day we went out in the morning and tested the shaft. Then a boat to Somerset and the Waterfield's party. I missed the last boat and had to stay in a 330 a day honeymoon cottage. Got up early the next morning and put on a bathing suit and went around to Casa Nina by way of the ocean - three and one-half miles over rocks and barbwire in my bare feet. The Waterfields were a bit surprised to see me again. We had a good day in the sun. I walked all the way back the same way I came and the lady at the honeymoon cottage only charged me a dollar for the cabin in honor of our war effort. I got the boat back to the Brooklyn. Never did see the Waterfields again. On December 4 I noted I had come on board the Brooklyn one year ago. We went out and in on gunnery practice etc. and this is how it was in beautiful Bermuda when the calendar read December 7, 1941. Over the radio flooded the messages. Japan had bombed and torpedoed the ships and shore stations at Pearl Harbor. We are at WAR. We listened to the news all night in between our aviators giving us very vivid description and diagrams of how it is impossible to drop a torpedo from a plane in Pearl Harbor and have it hit a ship. No sleep for awhile. The coding machine keeps us busy around the clock with messages and we also censor all incoming and outgoing mail on the ship. As the reports keep coming in we know there was a heavy loss of American lives. Many of our original 90 day wonders were on those ships. E. F. Evans, one of the nine to fly to the coast with us on. the United Airline plane when we graduated from the Illinois, went down on one of those big ships. The President officially declared war on Japan and so did England, Canada and a few other countries. We went into war-time conditions today. Darken ship at night and Condition 2 in the guns. The coding room is jammed with work and the mail censoring piles up. The Brooklyn has been scheduled for a two-month overhaul in the Brooklyn Navy Yard and everyone has his lans for leave. But .at 2:00 P.M. today we are ordered undler way with the Carrier Wasp and three destroyers to go to Martinique to capture or destroy any French ships that might try to get out. December 11 Germany declared war on us and Italy followed. We sank a Jap battleship in the Philippines - the Heruna, the news says. We are making 27 knots racing t0 Martinique. We know there are seven French ships there Including a carrier and two cruisers. We went to General Quarters on the word that action was probable and stayed until 10:00 P.M. when it appeared nothing was golllg to happen that night. Things! Were quiet in Martinique the next day and the French ships ooked like the were going to stay there- There. were submarines aroundv here but we hadn't seen any until Just before noon. The destroyer on the port bow had a contact and attacked with depth charges. Then an h0l1f later another destroyer contact and we sent our planes UP with 350 lbs. bombs. They saw the sub just below the

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j .. . I l' 'MW I 44 '9e5lR A ' TGSCOLMSG Punt! Q t Q Wigorrh O SQDWM MMS I , l j g anifuvw j I I ,MMS I j I s 9 'A I I I I H Zffds I A A 'rexns fic 1 lwmsklllllllfl 'Hill , 'f,.'..eff III HI ' llllalzllll a I 4 1 1 1 . ' Zgyivl-ES I , l l I Hmm! , Shan' , , I Shvgvuuh Sragwzg I V' ' I I Q Striking force and convoy for Operation Torch We slow to eight knots today for a full fueling of all ships from the tankers and the depth charge sounds are more frequent at this slow speed. Also the bad news that U.S. aircraft carrier Wasp who we had patrolled with several times was sunk in the Solomons. Our first fight is a week away. Sundayg November 1 - D Day Minus 7 - We have come two-thirds of the way and Africa is 900 miles due east. We are turning south to make a fake' pass at Dakar. Another big U.S. aircraft carrier was sunk in the Solomons. In Gibraltar the parachute troops are arriving and off Dakar five U.S. submarines are taking position as spotting ships. We have issued all the equipment for each man. Flashproof hood, gloves, eye shields, helmets, life jackets, flashlights, knife, face masks, bandage case and clean clothes. All this we wear to battle stations and I also have binoculars and earphone set. Tuesday - D Minus 5 - We have completed our fake at Dakar. Last night the intercepted sub reports we got from various ships showed our force had been spotted by German subs who informed Germany. Some of the reports were able to be decoded. With this accomplished, we swung north this morning just before daylight and are now on course 035 degrees T. The Savannah had one torpedo miss her and Tuscaloosa saw a sub on the surface at night. The captain gave his speech to the crew over the loudspeakers. We are ready, he said. I ask only your best. Make no mistake, this is a killing affair. To stay alive, you must kill first. I have no inhibitions about kicking the enemy in the fteethl if it will help win. If we win, you will have a good memory of a job well done. If we botch things 'll have an awful defeat and probably the 1 tllle Kita? dvd our minds forever. Some will get hurt, Weczignqf think about that. Just think about the swell liberty we are going to spend in Time Square around December 5th. Much cheering. This is the largest expedition in history and the Brooklyn'S job is the most dangerous. We are to lead the main force fcenter attack forcel into Fedala. That means the Brooklyn steams ahead and within range of the shore batteries in the dark and can't open fire unless they do or we will give the show away. We stay in that zone within range of the French battleship Jean Bart's 15-inch guns all morning and protect the convoy as they come in. Our job is spelle out that we are to silence all enemy big guns before we are disabled. Wednesday the 4th - D Day Minus 4 - It's rough. So rough we can't stand up. High winds and big waves. We eat with chairs lashed to the tables and spill everything all over. We are on the upward swing and just off and out of sight of the African Coast. Just know there are lots of seasick soldiers on those ships. One carrier plane crashed yesterday and was lost as it tried to operate in bad weather. Thursday the 5th - D Day Minus 3 - It's still very rough - ship rolling 40 degrees and we really haven't had food on the table for the past two days. Just sit and balance a plate in our hand and try to stay in one place and eat it. At night we jam ourselves against the bulkhead and try to stay in bed to sleep. Not much sleep. Just pray for this weather to go away so we can use the small boats for the landing as planned. Battleship New York reported her A.A. guns and boats were being heavily damaged by the waves and early this morning the Minelayer USS Maintinowa had to give up and dropped back to come as best she could. The waves are over 35 feet high and hit hard. From Egypt comes news that Alexandria and the British 8th Army are giving Rommel's German African Corps a beating. A big victory with many planes and tanks, etc., destroyed. There was also news that heads of Vichy French Navy met with high German officers yesterday. This could mean the nme cruisers, two battleships, 19 destroyers and 30 submarines at Dakar and Casablanca will take orders and come out to fight us tomorrow or the next day. We kinda hate to fight the' French even if they have got themselves all mlxeduup with the Germans. If they fight, we have a necessary job to do on them or it could really mess this thing up. A British Catalina plane escorts us now. She can just about stay up in this storm. Ffriday, November 6, 1942 - D Day Mnus 2 - Our prayers did some good and the sea is calm and that awful pitch and roll has stopped. Had some sleep and breakfast and feel better. We are 300 miles off Casablanca. The destroyers all fueled and got that out of the way. The ship IS Complefely stripped and ready. This afternoon we go 111110 Condition 2 ffour hours on duty and four hours offl, and will stay that way until we go to General Quarters for the b1g show tomorrow night. We have on board a W41' correspondent and a naval historian. The historian IS Samuel Eliot Morison who was to write the Naval History of World War II and the corres ondent is from the New York Tunes. The name I remember is John Morrose. The other ships- also carry cameramen and war reporters. The Br1t1sh again had big victories in Libya, Madagascar SQVB UD t0day and we are ready here. Everyone is really qulte calm and businesslike. Saturday j Day Minus 1 - The day is beautiful and calm, and surprisingly only two submarine alarms all day. The Southern Attack Force broke off at 6:30 in the morning and went to attack Safi to the south. In the evenlhg the Northern Attack Force went north to attack Medehia. The carrlers dropped back and spread out. The Center Attack Force of B1'00k1YI1, Augusta,,20 transports and 9 destr0YefSf