Cascade (AD 16) - Naval Cruise Book

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A Letter Home On ii iaril L.S.S. CsM-ade ALL AT SEA I S imr» here in the Pacific) August. 1943 Drar (jiiisiii Ili ' pziliali: Well, here we are al last where we were going when we lefl where we were. As a matter i f fact we ' ve heen here for quite a while now, and I guess 1 owe Null a nicr lonn li-ller to ti-ll ynu all almut it. Not that I want to add to the work of the censors. They seem to lie well, meaning chaps and I don ' t want to burden them unduly. In this connection it occurs to me that it would assist them somewhat if I have a try at censoring this letter myself. There ' ll be a couple of things they will want crossed out, and I mij:lit as well dn that as I go along. First of all. I know Inm anxious you are to hear all alniut my ship. Naturally, I can ' t give you the exact dimensions. But. incluiling the length, it is somewhere between HHH and IHHB ' ' ' ' ' long. This is, however, without considering the width. You can get a fair idi-a of what that is when I tell you that if the ship were placed sideways in a certain-sized space, it would very likely reach from here to there. . ccording to recent estimates the vessel ' s gross displacement is approxi- mately half or twice what you think it is. This is calculated in short tons of iiiurse. L.ong tons are extra this year. You will also be interested to know that llie ship is so arranged mechanically as to move through the water with the forward eml going first, and the after part afterward. S ime idea of this fine lialaiice in design lan lie gained when you notice how tiie upper decks are to l c found above the lower, and the ingenious way the port side of the ship was built just to the left of starboard. It is propelled by propellers, its living spaces are used for living in, and it is lit with lights. I know you ' ve iirard a lot of things about the acrommodalions provided for the crew on this type of ship. I ' m afraid I ' ll have to set you right on that. It is simply not true that as a first-class Second Class seaman 1 have a suite of rooms with a private shower and band-embroidered bath towels and that my personal steward ' s name is Fredericks. I don ' t know how such things get slarled. Il just i n ' l sn. Ili» nanii- is Hastings. One of till- nicer things about the ship is the way they let you sleep late in the a.m. We are permitted to sleep until haljpasi (imagine!) on weekdays and even later on .Sundays and holidays. But here again it is not quite perfect. There is a man who comes around every morning right at the hour mentioned anil passes the remark to pli-ase get up ir he ' ll toss us over the side. There have been tiini-s whin lir has lii-en very ungentlenianlN. c all gel so provoked at him. Anil I -irniiK niii i lill ynn about til noiiri liing. For breakfast wr Iiim- | Fill ilinnrr we have a large lirl|iiri;; ..I pi-r till ' main dish is usuallv I HHH hint. It IS iinilorinly food and often WllB — •- • ' I I ' il ' uig hot. HUHH I ' I iilssiliilc. Fur », lia r ■■■i instead. but not often.) I am purliriilarly fond of the tiesserts. Thi- chief steward is a splniiliil fellow ami lie nearly always tops them olT with a poonful of yummy c al«ii ban- a gnat many sports. There is one »|Hirt played on the deck in which we divide up into one team. It is playe l with a long stick with a kind of a biinili of cloth on ibe end and u pail of »ali ' r and soap and »■ ' walk I ' lif!,! ' Eif htei ' n

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all over the deck pushing down with thr stick with ihe- clulh mi ihc end. Competition in this is very keen. We play it for quite a wliile every morning. Then there is another game they let us play in the kitchen in which they give all the players a small knife and a basket of some kind of round vegetable. The object of this game is to see who can peel them the fastest. I don ' t know whether you can understand the rules of the game from my description of it, but it is the most fun. They let us do our own washing, too. Some of the boatswain ' s mates prefer Lux and the master-at-arms swears by Rinso, but they can ' t make me switch from Ivory. I ' m saving the wrappers so I can win the Buick sedan when they have the contest in 1951. I like Ivory Soap because it always keeps my dunga- rees and canvas underthings so dainty and fresh. We also have a Juke Box which plays 24 records at a time. Not all at the same time, mind you, but at seemly intervals. Golly, I could just sit there all day and put in nickels and watch the neon lights go on and off. It ' ll even play I Want To Go Back To Where I Came From with an accordion accompani- ment. They won ' t let us play horseshoes on the ship, but did I tell yl u about the Soda Fountain? Well, we have one — with separate handles for all the flavors. It is quite crowded usually with a long line of customers. At first I used to stand in line with the others, but that was before I figured out the angle. My strategy was to slowly become the fast friend of the young man who runs it. And now — pfft, whenever I want to, and without any waiting at all I march right up and he lets me have a good lick (ui his ice cream cone. I ' ll never forget the day it had nuts in it. As you must know, we have a regular daily schedule we follow on the ship. First, there is reveille in the morning. Then we turn to for ship ' s work. At noon we line up for chow. In the afternoon there is ship ' s work. And at night we hit the sack. When this goes on for a couple of fortnights one begins to sense a certain sameness about it after a while — as you can well understand. Accordingly, when the Fourth of July arrived this year there was a general feeling throughout the ship that — warfare or no warfare — we ought for just once do something a little different and really celebrate. So, on the morning of the Fourth, bright and early, there was reveille. After which we turned to heartily for ship ' s work. Then promptly at noon we lined up and had chow. In the afternoon there was a full program of ship ' s work. And that night, to a man, we hit the sack. It wasn ' t much, but I can assure you it was a wonder- ful relief from the same old routine. I know you are anxious to hn l out where we are. and 1 wish 1 coultl tell you right out — Papeete or Kansas City — just like that. But the best I can do is to tell you what the people say when they meet you on the street: ugh-ugh, hi toots, gesunheit, aloha, actios, banzai, skoal. (Please choose any two.) Now you have something to work on. I ' m glad to be able to write that I ' ve studied that book by Mr. D. Carnegie you told me about, and that as a result I ' ve won some good friends on the ship. I ' m sure I could have managed without the book, though. You know how utterly ■■■■HUH- Hill- a ' devastatingly ■■■■ I can be when I want to. As for that, I even have a speaking acquaintance with the Executive Officer. You see, there is a list they make up each day — a kind of honor roll — for doing anything particularly outstanding. They call it being on report and everybody on the list is especially asked to appear before the Executive Officer. I -A 1 Pnrre Nineteen .u