Catamount (LSD 17) - Naval Cruise Book

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Not the Naqoya Caatle, but merely on edifice atop the wall that once surrounded the castle before the Japanese mishappenly used it as an Army headquarters and woke up one morning with no castle to surround with walls. A moat surrounds the walls. One of the three most sacred Shinto shrines in Japan. The others are in Tokyo and O aka. This worshiping place in Nagoya i3 surrounded by expansive grounds. The factory which produces some cf the finest china in the world. A complete tour was offered inside. Eighty per cent of Nori- fake China is sent to the United S ' ales-. Lt. Callies, while OOD at the Nagoya pier. - 29 —

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N A e O Y A The well deck had held many things in its time. Crossing the Pacific it had once carried a shiploadful of dependents automobiles. Pontoon causeways, LClU ' s, LCM ' s, DUKW ' s and LCVP ' s had been common cargo. Touch football, volleyball and swimming had taken place there. Yet when the Catamount was : nugly in her berth in Nagoya for five days of Rest and Recreation, she was due for something entirely new in cll deck activity. Instead of landing craft, there were Geisha girls. Geisha girls galore, in the finest of raiment, cavorting about in their inimitably charming dances. The recreation committee had arranged for a full-scale, authentic Geisha girl show to be held on the ship for all hands to observe. For those who enjoyed Geisha girls inimitably charming cavorting, it was well worth the $35 spent by the ship for the show. The only disappointing feature was the failure of the sword dancers to make their appearance. They were unable to perform because of the trecherous cloverleave pad-eyes in the well deck. (BUSHIPS take note.) That was a sidelight to the Nagoyan R R, however. The city was similar to Kobe in many respects. It too had homed heavy war industry during the war, it too had been heavily bombed, and it too had been rebuilt int o a beautiful and modern metropolis. The Nagoya tour struck upon such highlights as the large Shinto shrine, one of the three most sacred in Japan; the Noritake china factory; the Nagoya Castle grounds; and Japan ' s largest zoo. With a pretty young girl standing on the pier with multi-colored streamers in her hands stretching to the deck hands on the wingwall, the Catamount unsecured her mooring lines, backed out of her berth, passed the beautiful snow-capped mountains that surrounded the entrance to the port, and proceeded to Yokosuka to make ready for some relief from the barrage of Rest, Recreation, and 1300 liberties that had filled the past month. Anyone need a camera? 28 —

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Swim Call OKINAWA LANDING -i The cold of a Yokosuka winter was nearing reality, leaving the Catamount vith no alternative but to point her bow southward for the semi - tropical mecca of Okinawa. First tliere was a two-day anchorage off the shores of Camp McGill where in alternating rain and drizzle, four warping tugs, two LCM ' s, a DUKW, two jeeps, and two trailers were taken aboard along with approximately 125 seabees and Civil Engineering officers. It was this cargo wliich the Catamount presented to another simulated enemy on the beach past Kinmu Wan (Kinmu Bay). Before tlie landing, however, there was traveling in formation with a darkened ship, the usual drills, and a somewhat unconventional pre-landing exercise, the annual administrative inspection. Blasting the serenity of this Philippine Sea paradise came an LCVPful of gold and silver bars and stars. The crew was standing on the superdeck at attention, some in clean dungarees, others in blues, still others in whites. The twice-postphoned, greatly anticipated inspection was ready to begin, discrepancies had been corrected, dirt swept from every crevice, and the red tape of paper work had been neatly wound around the ship ' s offices in an up-to-date, mummified pattern. A warm 75 ' sun shown over the water, illuminating a clear shade of light blue stretching to oddly shaped corals and an expansive beach. This foreground was topped by green hills witli palm trees licntling in the wind in true Hollywood travelogue tradition. Came rehersal day, followed by D-Day, with G. Q., ballasting, lighting off, liandling lines, and Condition III gun watches. On D-Afternoon, witii her duties temporarily terminated in tiie landing, the ship was deballasted, the well was swept clem, the sliip was b.illasted again, and the tailgate w.is closed. The Catamount ' s luxuriant salt water pool had been created. Swimming trunks] were the uniform of the day. — 30 —