Dutches (APA 98) - Naval Cruise Book

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NARRATIVE i Chapterl COMMISSIONING AND SHAKEDOWN By the fourth of November, the ship had successfully passed her trial run, engines functioned, her anchors would drop, her machinery was installed, bunks awaited occupancy, her ranges ready for the first meal, the nucleus was qualified -to operate her, and the responsible officers were ready assume their duties. , The men from Newport, the Amphibian's from Fort Pierce, and the nucleus from Baltimore moved aboard strangers to one another. These groups- led on the boat deck together with the Bethlehem-Sparrows construction and civilian guests. A peal of the bugle introduced the Assistant to Industrial Manager, Captain Ward, who read the orders from the Com- t Fifth Naval District commissioning the U.S.S. Dutchess as a man-o- War in the United States Navy. Commander A. B. Leggett, U.S.N., then accepted Command and all of its responsibilities. As the bugle sounded its call of duty, the Commission Pennant was hoisted to the main truck, it would fly from then on till the ship met her ultimate end be it one year or 50 years. The Dutchess was now a ship on her own, the responsibility for her performance rested on the new Commanding Officer and his people. Immediately the ship must cross the harbor. Amid confusion of departing and bewildered men stumbling around a strange thing called a ship, First Lieutenant, Lt..R Stevenson, U.S.N.R., found his Chief Boatswain's , A. H. Nelson, CBMCTD, U.S.N.R. Cthe senior line petty officerl. They shook hands, and with one supervising the landlubbers on the lines forward, and the' other, those aft, the ship cleared the dock. With similar unfamiliarity in departmehts, the passage to the Supply Base at Port Covington was negoti- ated. Later, in retrospect, after becoming more experienced, all hands mar- Velled that the move had been accomplished with the ship still in one piece. Here at the Supply Base, the hundreds of naval items necessary to equip and habilitate a man-o-war had been slowly accumulating into a large stock under the never-ceasing stru.ggles of the Supply Department with the ties and commitments that made procurement so difficult. As rapidly as new crew learned successfully to operate the eight sets of booms, the were swung aboard and struck below. Gradually, as the order of or- tion became dominant over the confusion of strangers working together, Job' was completed. The Port Covington authorities commended the ship its Supply Officer, Lt. 'W. F. Crowl, U.S.N.R., for the relatively efficient in a minimum of five days. ' . The Dutchess was ready to try her wings. On the lOth of November the lines were cast off, and the APA-98 headed down the bay leaving her at Baltimore-Sparrows Point over the stern, perhaps never to return. was free of ties to the land. As she undulated gently into the salt WFIVGS the Chesapeake Bay she became truly waterborne, a thing alive. 'This Shakedown Cruise was designed to iron out all the bugs 1I'l 1119 , to train personnel, and to ready the ship for war duty. The kit! and petty officers urgently bent to the necessary tasks of fusing T e ent groups aboard into one ship. I g ' l' I L L days all hands labored night and day Out O1'1 the IOCIY and ln Operating, Base, ll-lampton Roads, Virginia, where the Dutchesg eil' G1 J

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t CIT Y P P CM and lowering it handsomely fcautiouslyl into the sea offered I , rtunity for serious accident as inexperienced men had to man the lectric winches For unately under conditions which in other APA s rews had sometimes resulted in fatalities the Dutchess casualties 'icted to one seaman s broken leg. Adapting himself well on his ship, the diminutive cmd resolute Chief Boatswain's Mate's Merchant erience was invaluable in the ticklish handling of the bulky 30-ton wif l 'rrp' J W 1'fi1iW 't if 5 ff'l'M.Qgl, - ' ,ff yi if 1 ' . I , - y f n, ik gil ,l I the o eration of the owerful 'llumbo Boom , lifting off deck? 3 ,I I 0 lsnt 1 K. C ' 1 Xu o I . P his boats were waterborne and loaded, the Boat Group Commander 2 officers and l3O men took over the Ship-to-Shore movement. On eaches of Cove Point, Md., the Boat Group landed again and again l freezing temperatures enervating compared to the warm Florida light operations were held in which the Boat Group Commander tis boats in response to radio signals from the Dutchess based on hile ashore the Beachmaster organized his men for the ickings, w t oplies. C . e Dutchess, already weather-beaten, steamed into Hampton Roads early December, her people had begun to jell into one crew. Ashore L, they suddenly felt themselves salty and commenced to stride with gait. While the vessel underwent a short availability, December l-5, rfolk Navy Yard to correct the omissions of the builders and the de- revealed by the Shakedown Cruise, liberty was granted on alternate :l few fabout 10705 short leaves were enjoyed. The crew had already Lhe traditional Navy view concerning liberty in Norfolk due to the of several hundred thousand servicemen crowding the limited recre- silities. Dutchess felt ready to accomplish her X mission, the Commanding ported ready for duty Then anti-climax--the Dutchess was as Training Ship at Newport R l to augment the practical training and ultimately, to attempt to insure that with better trained crews 's would soon be reporting to the fleet. Chapter II IP NEWPORT her first high seas voyage the Dutchess reported for duty at the ssioning Training Center Newport R. I. on December 7 Most of the people were pleased that they were remaining in the States close milies for a while longer A tough-spirited minority who desired to mbat load into a beachhead were disappointed but resolved to make ut of the duty the fortunes of war had dealt them A ight the officers and leading petty officers found themselves cata- o the capacity of teachers Each Monday several hundred officers comprising th pre commissioning crews of two or three ships then g construction would climb aboard and be assigned to the slgpi ste o epartments according to their specialties Instruction const :ollowed as far as possible by an assignmentlto practical duties in be operation of machinery and the performance of Jobs that the h For example fould be expected to accomplish on their own s ips eers stood engine room watches, the deck force ran wincheswwith f ded from the booms and fired at aerial targets towed IGQIIQD li ts suspen , it I I , c the Communications' menf' stood communication watches around C TRAINING SH r G .. i . 1 . . . 3 I. lil. . . . t ,, I . - . 1 I I, V , . . ul hi n - I ' W' l . ' .I 1 ' ' U 'St ,.- I EXW K I X , 1 .f A. 4 . 11 , - HJ Ti ic i ' V 'v Aviv!! Y I ul if 1 K - 1 r I I ' It! , I f 451- -. - t, Q it ' 1' S' ,Q gaq'i1,sv,l'g ,el V ,Q ak 3 , u utr I Q 1 as - 'N 2 J L. . I 1' vglA1':,:.L3 2 ,V I . V: y, Nga? V 'sl and other difficult tasks calling for the careful exercise of con-'T' seamanship. 2 fi