Comet (AP 166) - Naval Cruise Book

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jirst chow aboard ship The galley was in a state 0 con usion and the cooles were running about tearing at their hair trying A to put out a meal or the crew The tables werent as yet set up in the messhall and a ter the men passed through the chow line they had to seek a place to eat 4h the memory o that rst meal weiners and sauerleraut with the deck or a table and chair N The COMET left'San Francisco California on 29 February to Commander Fleet Operational Training Command at San Diego California This first trip was made following a few days loading at Naval Supply Depot Oakland California and operat- ing in San Francisco Bay in connection with testing degaussing equipment calibrating of compasses and radar and compensating radio direction finder .Enroute the COMET proceeded Without surface escort as Task'Un1t 14 6 2 at an average speed of advance of 15 knots. D I . f f f f . J , f . . I , If ' fl i 1 i ' f 1944 on its first assignment as a Navy ship under orders to report e 'B This was the first trip, and as recall, it also was the acid test. One day out of 'Frisco the forces of nature combined andthe test was on. If the crew had been judged that day as to whether they were sea-worthy or not, I believe that most Q of us would have been sent baclegto shore duty. Would- that! were able to describe the agony one experiences when ajlicted, it would rival any nightmarish tale of Poe's. Yes,'the fishes were well fed that night. g . ' Upon arriving at San Diego on 2 March 1944 and reporting to Commander Operational Training Command, the COMET re- ceived orders to undergo training off San Clemente Island begin- ning 5 March. The ship returned to San Diego Bay 10 March. The following day Rear Admiral F. A. Braisted, USN, Commander Operational Training Command, accompanied by his staff, held a military inspection of the COMET. T 32 as aeee I A gg ' I I' ,A A I

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As formal as the inspection was, it nevertheless held a note of comedy, ifyou could call it that. A flight of sea-gulls passed over the ship while the:men were lined up at attention, and a few of them, with very bombaraieristic ideas, attempted to changethe standard blue of our uniforms to a very un- decorative polka-dot scheme. Q . I V 1 . On 14 March the ship was ass1gned to Commander Task Force 13, along with the USS PIERCE, and the USS THUBAN, and placed in Task Group 137 under the command of Commodore H B Knowles, USN, on the USS MONROVIA This task group proceeded this date to Morro Bay, California, where loadlng of troops of the 81st Infantry D1v1s1on and their equlpment began the following day, and in the afternoon the ships began the return 'tr1p to San Diego escorted by PC 816 Cargo was loaded for two days wh1le moored to Pier 1, Naval Repair Base, San Diego, and 1n company w1th above named Sh1pS the COMET proceeded on 19 March to the training area off San Clemente' Island and com- menced land1ng exercises, Those landings designed to 'train the crew for amphlbious ope'rat1ons contlnued through Z6 March when all troops and equlpment were debarked at Aliso Canyon The ship then returned to the Naval -Repair Base at San Diego for bo1ler repairs I' - l Our stay wasn t very lengthy but while there we had our . share of shore leave and liberty San Diego then was notorious as a poor liberty town but thecr ew disregarded' the notoriety and commenced to make it a lively place One o the avorzte hangouts of the boys was the LITTLE CLUB in the base- ment o the U S Grant Hotel I can rememberthose nights when zfty or more men of the COMET could befound down . Baskin and Don Wol e really brightened up that burg And I ll never orget the night that Swanson stood on the corner o one main intersection and commenced guessing' peoples weight He was doing airly well in these deductions until one I f t . below. Guys like George Wolfe, Nugent, Art jones, Doc ' s f ' . , -f . . I f 34