Bunker Hill (CV 17) - Naval Cruise Book

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swtfm of bees, to infest the first, second, and at least third and fourth trolley cars to roll glong. By three or four in the morning, 9, gogd deal of the energy had been dissipated and the yoggg bloods began straggling in, some afoot, some afoul, some by streetcar, some with Shore Patrols, and those fortunate or fore- sighted enough to have any money left, by cab, This happy routine continued for many weeks, but at last the fact that the Bunker Hill was soon to be commissioned made our going aboard a mere matter of days. One Spring afternoon we evacuated the big, squarish building and marched down the street into the Navy Yard to board our ship. To former carrier men, the aspect of the Bunker Hill was nothing particularly astonishing. But to the large number of the crew that had just lately come from behind steering wheels, desks, ploughs and typewriters, the out- landish looking vessel was something to conjur with. In the first place, a person standing on the hangar deck felt absurdly small and just didn't believe it! You felt it was the misplaced main floor of a manufactur- ing plant. It was simply too large, too open and too long, to be a ship and one looked forward to heavy seas with something akin to lack of confidence. Why the damn thing overhead-What is it, the flight deck?-will in all probability rattle loose! Oh, well-l Our slightly bewildered new crewman had little time to philosophize on the aberrations Of modern naval warfare, as he was hustled, willy-nilly, bag and baggage, below decks, tripping over welding cable, from time to time, dodging showers of sparks, winding a way from compartment to compartment, through devious passageways-thoroughly convinced that, left to his own devices he would like as I10t perish down there, before Hnding his way out. The locations of the sacks, lockers, heads and chow lines were ascertained in that order. . Despite the size of the task and considering the infinite possibility of any milifa-FY 01 Sanization for organizing a chaos, the embarkation of the crew was carried out with a minimum of fuss and dislocation. Meal.time meant waiting in the inevitable chow line and, of course, the inevitable udfaggingn for, as one philosopher rational- fzedi if you can't impose on your friends, who ln hell can you impose upon? With this bit Of immaculate logic, many persons daily avoided the dismal ordeal of waiting in line that seemed to grow ever longer. Perhaps 5 .ni iv X l-eff s lo f Le the most efficient group in this activity was the Marine Corps. Well disciplined, compact, working as a well-trained unit, the Seventh Division developed an infiltration technique that was the envy of all who had the dubious privilege of watching its execution and, as it turned out, many were to be so privileged. One Key Man would somehow bore into the line, in extreme cases, the Key Man waS observed to wait in line as much as five or six minutes before mess was sounded! Placing himself in a conspicuous spot, he waited- and like moths to a flame, his comrades in arms would spot the tell-tale green uniform and casually drift over to him. Whaddaya say? lVImmmm? Whooze got the chits? Izzat so? 'e did? Hell with mmmmf' Yuh. With such gem-like conversations, the new-

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refuge wherein one might sit comfortably assimilating malteds, cokes, coffee and ham- burgers, while discussing the relative merits of the young ladies behind the counters. Gnce inside the sacred portals you were safe, and even though VVheeler might drop in himself for a morning shot of joe, it was an un- written agreement that there would be no unpleasant scenes. One could thus relax until a similar, though shorter, alert that occurred in the afternoon. By that time, Wheeler had shot his bolt, so to speak, and found it difficult to remain awake himself. Thus it came to pass that much valuable sack- time was logged during the long afternoons, marred only by an occasional training film in which a cultured British voice explained the various types of Italian surface craft, and just what should be done about them all. During the day the time was well marked by the crowing of the announcing system, at an appointed time each afternoon emitted something that went like this: Now the faw to eight ahmed gahd lay down to the ahmed gahd room. About ten minutes later, this announcement was supplemented by a slightly grimmer version, in which the announcer said direly: Now the faw to eight ahmed gahd lay down to the ahmed gahd room or GO ON REPAVVTP' This seemed to constitute an end to the whole affair, as no more was heard regarding the ahmed gahd. At this point in the day's activities there were three definite classes of men in the build- ing. The distinctions were unique in the history of classes, for they were not based on money, antecedents, color, education, former occupation or previous condition of penal servitude. They were governed by the pos- session, or lack of, a small oval disc with a number stamped thereon. The numbers were odd and even and on alternate evenings were good for one hell of a time, in and around the environs of the Athens of America, Home of the Bean and the Cod. They constituted the Liberty Cards. The first, and far and away the most for- tunate class, was the one that actually rated liberty. The second was comprised of enter. prising young men who didn't rate liberty, but had grimly resolved that they were not going to spend that night in the Fargo Building, Many pounds were sweated away of an afternoon, weighing the chances of success of one or another particular scheme, Wonder. ing if the matter would come off without any hitch. The development of a hitch would have the dampening effect of landing them in the brig for various lengths of time. After an absence, the unfortunate ones would reappear upon the scene, healthier, less pale than the rest of us, no signs of dissipation, with a shorn pate-evidence of having spent some time in durance vile. The last class composed the group who did not rate liberty, and had no intentions of doing anything other than washing a white hat by way of an evening's entertainment. Before supper, the most favored class would fill the washrooms with merry singing and low insults. Row upon row of eager lads cheerily gashing their faces in an effort to outdo the next man in the ruddy smoothness of jowl found so attractive by New England's young ladies. This orgy of cleanliness would end only after every hair was in place, teeth brushed within an ace of removing the enamel, shoes shined to mirror-like perfection, and an honest effort made to brush the extraneous matter from the blues. Then the neckerchief, tied with care never lavished on a civilian tie, and tucked beneath the jumper to avoid collecting various bits and drippings of the meal, and so-down to chow. Some, im- patient of solid nourishment, would waitin the liberty chit line comparable, in their patience, to school kids awaiting the bell that sets them free on a Friday afternoon in Spring. Scarcely the first notes of the bugle sounded than the hounds snatched the chits and fled down the passageways toward the elevators- Some spurned mechanical aid and raced madly down the five Hights, out past the hard- pressed Chief trying to make a show of inspCC- tion of all hands, and onto Summer Street where they waited, buzzing happily like 2

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YI . 5 A .-r i iq i comer was Hin. Nothing could match the aplomb of a Marine approaching the Key Man. In fact, he rather condescended to be drawn into the line. No eagerness, mind you! The chow is probably rotten anyway, but what-the hell, it's part of your pay, Mac. Dependent upon their esprit de corps and organization, other divisions entered into the spirit of the thing and poor in friends indeed was the man who 'could find none in the line to give him entry. -. sf K TT iff --fe ' 'flair 4 V' . . ., ?'z ff-iff' ' ,. :'y. i me -fs -fi me fail QL Q 'ct Liiffsxl' , fffffl QR rEf 'f'1gffff f 31 A' ij JN J. :T '55 32 'Nif 'fffl 7'iFf.'1?7,'fi , : ' -f fl I - 'ii' J . iff 'fifwk ilfi.,4if,-' fm: -, X' ws ff if 5 : Qld 'S' ya P, ing' .Q ' -if. if' ffew: 4 ,.4. 1. . f Nw' !'W-.. 1 'f'x A g ,ff ' if f. ,f's.'iX-.f1.'fi .5 ' 1 i . 'fi' If f F' i f 'f X W iii- flip is f-- i r ff: i Yfififfi 'QS-Z Pe -. ' 4 3 Y ' Rx :xi , ' . . Q: Wmffi-1' g'FT1.mir'.,, i'r ' I ' 'i A 677 A 'l x 2 , 4k,,,-ff? X00 ,L my i 1M,,ff-- - I A' X. 'LJ Q 1 u f i aaie a 4 1. as - x 4 , We could not, in 'all fairness, in a discussion of lines, or queues, fail to make mention of the godlike characters who would go directly to the head of the line, and smiling blandly, bowing slightly, step gracefully in front of one as though it had been thus ordained since time out of mind. Some dark day, defying all his high placed friends among the MA's and other powerful interests, I shall cut down one of these supermen, catching him just under the ear with the edge of a mess tray-a. hot one. V A After acclimating himself to the confusing atmosphere created by pre-occupied workmen, amid a steady din punctuated by the ear- shattering roar of an occasional pneumatic cutter, our new man found himself curiously Watching Navy Yardmen fouling the air with cutting and welding gadgets. Alas, as it turned out, this was the wrong thing to do, for soon he had a regular task set for him, namely, watching welding and burning but with the stern rule that he must watch until said operations had been finished, and in Company with a CO2 bottle Weighing in at 51 pounds but increasing from hour to hour, When the watching got monotonous for all concerned, he and the Welder would sit and watch each other, casually discussing the baseball scores, Spinoza, or the relations of man to Art. If the conversation became too deep, they might, in a moment of weakness, Hee the cares of the war-torn world, and find escape at the cinema, some carping individual having intimated that the bulk of Hollywood's efforts were escapist in nature. When not employed watching would-be pyromaniacs among the welding crews, our jaunty salt often was called upon to effect the moving of various stores, sometimes food, to storage and refrigerated spaces below decks. Sometimes, unable to resist the pro- vocative Navy labels, he was known to sample the contents of such boxes and cans that might readily be opened with the tools at hand. This spot sampling is an important and Widespread system in the Navy whereby the enlisted personnel ascertain whether or not the goods in question merit all of the energy expended in such transferal. A goodly amount of food finds its way into other than the intended storage spaces but as the eventual destination is the same, this booty is regarded as the legal reward of a hard-working stores party and, it might be added, the diversion of such edible goods requires an inordinate amount of ingenuity and guile. Of chipping, scraping, wirebrushing and sandpapering, there was much and, of course, the inevitable painting. Soon the ancient and bitter war between the deck seamen and the painters broke out with renewed Vig01', the painters crying angrily that the whole of the Navies of the United Nations couldn't suf- Hce to keep the deck divisions of this ship out- fitted with brushes, such was the carelessnr-BSS of the men. The painters felt strongly about the manner in which the seamen--With malice aforethought!-left brushes in pots, with and without paint, and then proceeded to forget about the pots entirely, leaving the discovery to some benighted soul on his WW ' fg ni, ' .wif 1 rf' if' ' ' :f , '51