Comet (AP 166) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 36 text:

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

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