Columbus (CA 74) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 44 text:

W , Www l E 7he VicTor Division is a small uniT consisTing oT Tive enlisTed men and Two piloTs. Our work aboard ship is somewhaT diTTerenT Than our Training schedule aT The home base, l.akehursT, New Jersey. Our shipboard acTiviTies consisT oT The Tollowing Types oT hops: Guard mail pickup and delivery, spoTTing Tor gunnery. TransTer of personnel. Plane guard is one job we are called To do when operaTing wiTh a carrier. We are also airborne, or Ain The sTandby condiTion whenever The ship is refuelling, or TransTerring personnel by high line. The helicopTer uniT comes aboard a ship Tor a shorT Tour oT duTy on TAD orders. Our sTay ranges Trom Tour To six monThs. One Thing is sure, and ThaT is helicopTers are here To sTay. They have proven Themselves Time and Time again. Proof is shown by The work and rescues perTormed in The pasT Two years. Rescuing a piloT ThaT is down now only Takes a maTTer oT minuTes. The enlisTed man's duTies in The helicopTer crew are To keep The wind wagon in operaTing condiTion aT all Times. The daily preTlighT, and periodical checks are his main iob. Our oTFicers are, of course, piloTs who have had many previous hours experience in convenTional aircraTT. They musT also go Through a Training period aT l.akehursT beTore Taking a uniT aboard ship. Flying a helicopTer is a Tricky ahfair and a piloT is always busy and on The alerT. '9 .Y0u mo 5 Lf- f ' . r UGHT , ..I I, Hour . vas, 4 ,A H If . PNA-fu ff x,,y6' 1-li T Y ' 0 1 'V 'IV 1' f'ouLpN,T Du IT 1, us ,ff . ' L1 . T Z 5 y J V ' -5-' N , ,-Q, , M 15 I f . .f m 42 'i x XX H-'va 15 .1 V.1F,1-..fNf-- I a XX' ,fxigzs .A I--N Tx ' y F..-r:,. X

Page 43 text:

v ig when 'The ship sailed Trom BosTon heading To PlymouTh, England The division was headed by W. E. Morris, LT lMCl U'SN,iSenior Medical OTTicer and The Junior Medical OTFicer W. C. Sharp, Jr., LTJG TMCTQ USN. TheiDenTal 'OTTicer was 'P. Hass, LTDC USN. The enlisTed sTaTf consisTed of 2 ChieTs, 4 FirsT Class, 3 Second Classfand 4 Thi'rdJClass. .IT was a good crew and everyone knew his iob and did iT well. We had The usual spaces in The sick bay. One large ward, one smaller ward, an operaTing room, a pharmacy and laboraTory, The DocTor's Office and TheisTorerooms. 5' K A ' The deparTmenT is now headed by W. C. Sharp, Jr., LT lMCl USN, Senior Medical OTTicer. Our Junior Medical OTTicer is J. C. Ladenheim. LT lMCl USNR. C. A. Harris, LCDR TDCT USN is The DenTal OTTicer. OT The original crew who came over wiTh The ship There are Tour OT us leTT, and one of The Tour now has his orders. z ParT' oT The Time There was a loT oT hard work and long hours. The TirsT case where everyone did his iob and proved she knew whaT To d.o was aT The Time The rnanxwas sTruck by The l'lelicopTer propeller. Due To The TasT and eTTicienT work of The crew The man's liTe was prolonged Tar beyond all expecTaTions. AnoTher accidenT wheres The'i H Division was on The ball came when The helicopTer crashed and sank. L. E. MapleThorpe, HMI using poor gear did an excellenT iob OT diving Tor The helicopTer. AnoThier Time when all hands were called upon To do a iob was The occasion where a man was accidenTally iniured in The gun mounT. Everyone piTched in and did a superb iob. One oT our presenT men, J. L. Cogborn, l'lM2, comes To us Trom The Marines and Korea wiTh a hero's record behind him. Wm

Page 45 text:

7oz l S in 'ev .saws 7he Fox Division is composed oT men who are iacks-of-all-Trades, alThough.our primary duTy is To operaTe and mainTain The equipmenT which conTrols The laying and Tiring oT The ship's guns. We serve The OOD as messengers- OT-The-waTch and pinch-hiT Tor The Marines during Their absence. By The Time The war in Korea was in Tull swing, The reserves were wiTh us and we were in The Med. The reserve componenTs were incorporaTecl and are carrying Their Tull share oT Theiload wiThin The division. We had relieved na ship in order ThaT our naval forces could be sTrengThened in Korea. Now ThaT iT is iusT aloouT all over we can look back and see ThaT we have done our besl' To sink FilTa Island, and have had our share oT General QuarTers and CondiTion III waTches. We can also hold our heads high when we Think of The job ThaT has been accomplished. ln our sixTeen monThs in The NELM area we have developed a closely kniT Team oT which we all can be proud. ATTer considering our ups and downs we Teel Thai' iT has' been a pleasanT and successful cruise. BUT THEY WERENT 'VF-W FOXES AT ALL