Catamount (LSD 17) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 21 text:

There was painting to do. Away I 3 LCVP Comnience Fire ' Near the end of tlie Yokosuka visit, it was leaned that the ship was scheduled to take part in the transfer of Indian troops from Inchon harbor to the neutral zone. Syngman Rhee had forbidden the Indians from touching Soutli Korean soil, necessitating other than usual means of transporting them there. Consequently LCU ' s and helicoi:)tcrs were needed in Inchon - and lots of them. Unable to carry an LCU with its arrangement eficcted in the yards at San Francisco, the ship needed to remove its mezzanine deck, its ramp leading to the well clerk, the water barrier in the well, and I lie catwalk across the well. Working around the clock, the crew, with the hc p of Japanese workmen from ashore, successfully removed the LCU ' s ' obstructions antl on the ' 21st, the ship was inidcrw.iy for Inchon, Korea. — 17 —

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OPERATING OUT OF YOKOSUKA September was welcomed with three weeks of daily exercises out of Yokosuka. General quarters, man overboard, abandon ship, steering casulty, and firing exercises s])rang up on the Plan of the Day consistently. The Catamount even tried her hand at serving as a helicopter landing ship, at •hich time the helicopter deck was used for something besides quarters for muster and a storage space for extra cargo and gear. P ' -- ) , - ' i W WfW. 4l 3 ■vf And out came the mezzanine deck Director Operator, Bright - 16 —

Page 22 text:

Penny? Choo ' n ' gum? INCHON Inchon, on the Western coast of Korea, was characterized by poverty ashore and a trecherous tide in the harbor. The ship spent six days there, disembarking and embarking the LCU and supplying crash boats to patrol around the Point Cruz (CVE - 119) while the helicopters flew the Indian troops from the LCU ' s to the neutral zone. The 35-foot tide peculiar to Inchon ' s harbor was a constant topic of amazed conversation, obser- vation, and vigilance. Boat schedules had to be regulated to the tide tables and several times boats were forced to lay off the shore more than a few minutes waiting for the tide to come in enough for the pier to be over navigatable waters. The currents in the harbor were constantly moving at a foreboding pace. Liberty, of sorts, was granted there, but lasted only during the afternoon hours since early curfew was effect in the city. Inchon seemed to be populated exclusively by the very yonng and the very old. Koreans in the intermediary age group - the fighting age - were nearly gone. The few that remained were in uniform. The children left the most Ia ' 5ting impression. Most of them orphans, they could be seen through- out the city playing in the dirt of the street, half-naked, ragged, the most poignant symbol possible of why the Catamount and all the rest of the nation ' s fleet must remain on duty in Inchon, Timbuktu, wherever needed. When the last LCUload of turbandcd and bearded Indian troops had hccn taken ashore, and the craft was safely dry in the vell, the Catamount turned back ir.to the ' ' cllo.v sea, rounded the southern tips of Korea and Japan, and returned to Yokosuka. The very young - 18 -