Catamount (LSD 17) - Naval Cruise Book

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The Adrrir. ' Plenty cf sur. Circular formation LTJG Wilcz, OKINAWA LIBERTY The meteorological predictions for Januar) ' and February ' in Okinawa had been foreboding Overcast skies or rain was the forecasted norm for those months. Yet 1954 was diflcrent. Nearly hiiif of the month the ship stayed in those water, the weather was as fine as a travel folder could boast. Buckner Bay was only a hop, skip, and jump from Kinmu Wan and it possessed a pier to which the Catamount moored. U it R was in effect in a modified way and baseball-beer parties on the beach became frecjuent occurrances. A tour of the island was given and the knotty-pine walls of the EM club only a few hundred yards from the pier proved a satisHictory sanctuary in the evenings. Okinawa had little in common with Japan. Here, Americans completely dominated the scene. A vast network of highways, as fine as main- in the States, spread over the island. Officers ' and enlisted men ' s clubs were elaborate. Palefaces , unattached, were numerous. Yet the time came to leave. The Catamount had to take the beach at Kinmu Wan once again. — 31

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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 —

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OKINAWA LANDING 2 Preluded by philanthropy and cpilogiied with flycatching, February ' s Okinawaii D-Day was an overall success. Two days before the fateful hour when the warping tugs would again venture forth to the beach and all the Catamount ' s guns would be manned, a message entered the radio shack stating that the USS Satyr (ARL-23) had collected $35 from its men to give to the March of Dimes, with a challenge to the Catamount to top it. The Satyr had been the only other ship at Okinawa between the two landings. Mingling had been frequent between the ships socially and competitively. It was at this time that the March of Dimes campaign was laimched or 1954. Slowly Saturday and rapidly Sunday, the two ships collected money for the drive. With the aid of a disc jockey March of Dimes marathon on Okinawa ' s Armed Forces Radio net vork vhich acted as intermediary, the ships ' forces reached a pandemonium of philanthropy. It terminated Sunday night with mustaches falling to the deck upon challenges and several of the crew having officers as their personal mess cooks the following morning. The Catamount, with the help of the embarked seabee crew, donated more than $1000 to the drive. And then another landing. This time in addition to the usual procedure, the Catamount served as secondary boat wave guide and played the role of a destroyer in simulated shore bombardment. Also, there was flycatching, a constant, all-night vigil against UDT swimmers. Five sentries were posted around the sides of the ship and one of the LCVP ' s was manned for the purpose of continuously circling the ship as an added precaution. Floodlights were made ready to illuminate the v ' atcr at a moment ' s notice, and darken ship was strictly enforced. Yet Okinawa sunshine was !;oon to be traded for Japan snow; the wraping tu s and personnel were backlo idcd and the underway w.Uch was set. The starboard side of this mustch was worth S 2 5 Mess cook Patch (LTJG in spare lime) ab ut to serve Ayers breakfast in bed Er.sign Bringman serves mess to I ' irst Class P. O. ' s — 32 —