Chandeleur (AV 10) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 50 text:

THESE MEN WERE ON WATCH AND UNABLE TO STAND WITH THEIR DIVISIONS WHEN PICTURES WERE BEING TAKEN left to right: First Row-P. W. KIMBALL, Sic; W. O. GOFF, SM3c; F. R, JAMES, F)c; J. A. LATELLA, MM3c; M. F. DiDONATO, Sic; C. E. STUETZLE, Sic. Second Row-H. R SESSIONS, AM2c; H. D. STATEN, STDlc; M. BARNES, STD2c; W. G. BECK, Sic. Third Row-U. J. PINO, AM3c; J. F. RUSS, ARM3c; P. E. ARCHINAL, MoMM3c. !:

Page 49 text:

M.A.A. DIVISION The Master-at-Arms force is in reality the police force of the Navy. Hence the nickname, Sheriff to those who wear the badge and seem to be everywhere at once aboard ship. You may go for weeks without ever slipping and committing an infraction of the rules, but the minute you or anyone else becomes guilty of some act in regard to a ship rule or regulation, who should be Johnny-on-the-spot but the man with the badge. When he arrives things settle down in a hurry and the guilty parties are usually taken in tow. The duties of this Division are, as we inentioned above, to suppress disorders and enforce both Navy and ship regulations, and to assist the Officer of the Deck in execution of the ship ' s routine. The M. A. A. has the custody of all prisoners and the brig. The Master-at-Arms is the man Irving Berlin referred to as The other Pup, because he is the guy that wakes the bugler up. A little later in the morning he is the most hated man aboard ship, because at reveille he roams the berthing compartments and delights in rousing sailors from their dreams of home, forty-four points, or Betty Grable. The Master-at-Arms is in charge of the crew ' s messing compartment. It is his job to make sure that tables and benches are set up; that the men serving the chow are clean and ready to feed the ever-hungry salts, and that the silverware, trays and cups are thoroughly clean as they leave the scullery for use by the men. The job of the Sheriff is often a thankless one. It is a job that no man asks for because he knows that in the course of doing his duty he may very well have to step on the toes of friends and that is always unpleasant. Aboard the Mighty G we have been fortunate in that ninety-nine percent of the appointments to this duty have been men who have shown the ability to perform their job and at the same time retain the respect and admiration of all hands.

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Our Seaplanes Cover Many Invasions This section of the book is devoted to Squadron VPB-21 who served aboard the CHANDELEUR during the most daring and important opera- tion ever undertaken by a seaplane tender. We also salute the men of the other squadrons who operated from this shipt but the written and pictorial record is too inadequate for inclusion. During the OKINAWA operation our Mariners sank nine enemy ves- sels, probably sank three others, and damaged twenty-nine. This in addi- tion to destroying or damaging numerous land targets such as trucks, docks, radar stations and weather stations. In addition, it was our planes that drew first blood in the OKINAWA operation by being in on the kill of a large Jap submarine on 29 March, two days prior to the invasion. Our search planes also spotted the Jap super-battleship YAMATO on the morning of 7 April and homed in the carrier planes that subsequently destroyed her. To summarize, our planes: (1) Rescued 20 downed airmen in four different open sea landings, and assisted submarines to make rescues on two other occasions. (2) Evacuated 7 downed Army airmen shot down over SHANGHAI. (3) Shot down one Tony, left another smoking, and damaged and pos- sibly downed a third. Two Mariners in this action against seven Tonys and Jacks successfully eluded them after a running fight. (4) Flew more than 500 combat missions for a total of over 7000 hours. Our squadron was under the command of Lieut. Comdr. Joseph E. DAUGHERTY of Philadelphia until 17 May when he was relieved by Lieut. Comdr. James D. WRIGHT of Alturas, Florida.