Columbus (CA 74) - Naval Cruise Book

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i Mjri r- 1 ' • 1 ¥ if ' • ! ' • ,, . Tlthough the Tare Division is one of the smallest divisions on the ship, it is still one of the important cogs in the wheel it takes to run a Man-of-War. On these men ' s shoulders rests the responsibility of installing, servicing, and maintaining the ship ' s electronic gear. Under the able supervision and instruction of LT E. S. BAILEY, RELE C. E. hHORN, and E. L. MchHUGhH, division LPO, the division has strlved to keep the ship ' s electronic gear in proper working condition at all times. The division has been sub-divided Into three smaller groups to increase Its efficiency. The men in fire control, with the assistance of George LeMaire, service the radar equipments which are used in the directors to control the ship ' s gunfire from the mighty 8 down to the little 3 . The men in the communications gang stand watches in Radio II and are responsible for servicing and setting up the desired frequencies on all the radio transmitters and receivers. They must necessarily spend much time up on the masts, repairing the transmitting and receiving antennae. There have been quite a few changes in the communications personnel, but the gang operates quite smoothly with E. K. Francis in charge. Lastly, the search radar gang, headed by Ray Thompson, maintains the ship ' s navigating and early warning gear. They too, spend a lot of time swinging round on the masts servicing their radar antennas. The quartermasters on the signal bridge run for cover when an ET goes up the foremast. It seems a couple of our boys have dropped cans of oil and paint from the top of the mast without paying much attention as to what was below them. The electronics workshop is located between the soda fountain and the crew ' s lounge and houses all the heavy test equipment and Important publications. It is here that the men repair record players and radios for their ship-mates and align and service the TV sets that are placed around the ship when we ' re in the states. The main home of the division Is Radio II — that ' s where the coffee mess Is located! All of the rated men have graduated from the Navy Class A School for Electronics Technicians. The school, which Is thirty-six weeks long, starts with basic math and goes right up through most of the complicated electronic circuits.