Elizabeth Stanton (AP 69) - Naval Cruise Book

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x ph . rwadion W ul understand the British have crossed over into the toe of Italy-but it won't be official until the Lizzie gets there. Dryly, Commodore Dierdorff opened a briefing session for the amphibious operation that was Salerno. And we on the ship had a possibly smug feeling that what he said was true, for the Lizzie was never one to high-tail it in the face of action. Of the Iive major landings of the African-European war, this ship participated in four: Fedala, North Africa, Gela, Sicily, Salerno, ltalyg St. Tropez, France. She missed the Normandy invasion only because she was rather preoccupied with the training of what seemed at the time all the troops in the Mediter- ranean for the forthcoming landings at Southern France. 'll he black-inked letters of newspaper headlines spelled invasion on November 7, 1942, on July l0, l943, on September 9, 19433 and on August 15, l944. For the Lizzie and her crew those days meant the culmination of weeks and months of hard work, long practice, careful planning . . . cutting minutes off here, adding a new precision there that meant greater efhciency and perhaps a saving in lives. We smile now remembering the days of 1942 when it took ten to twenty minutes to lower gingerly one LCVP 'over the side. But the smile is a pioneer's smile, for that time was shaved down to: HA11 ship's boats loaded with troops and in the water in thirty minutes. Amphibious warfare has been called the most hazardous kind of warfare, requiring the most skillful planning and the most precise execution. There are books on it now. There are books because the Lizzie and her kind wrote them. L And what was it really like? Behind all the words that are spoken and words that are written, what did it really feel like to be there? Well, we were tired and we were afraid and we were foolish . . . and some of us were brave. We were, in fact, all the things men are in time of war. l 21

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SLUIC, fc. NOVEMBER 8, 19442. We arrived oil Fedala on the blackest night we had ever seen, and by 0400 We had put our boats over the side. At H plus three our destroyers and cruisers began shelling the French fort overlooking Z the harbor-receiving answering fire from the Jean Bart, which was anchored there. Our cruisers were located about 700 yards from Lizzie, and at times shell splashes were observed within 1,000 yards. The battle con- tinued until early afternoon, when the Navy Air Corps worked on the Jean Bart. The unloading proceeded slowly due to poor beaches and the small harbor which was available. Every afternoon the swell would increase to such an extent that it was next to impossible to use the small boats after nightfall. Enemy air activity was light, most ofthe trouble coming from submarines. Cn November ll three ships were torpedoed at about 2000, and all small boats were sent to pick up survivors. At sunset on November l2 the Scott, Bliss, and Rutledge were hit with two fish each. Again the small boats went to the rescue. The Bliss was about two points off the port bow at a thousand yards. Lizzie was refueling a mine layer at the time. It was cut away and all ships heaved anchor and got under way, leaving the small boats to pick up survivors. On Friday afternoon, November 13, Lizzie pro- ceeded into Casablanca harbor. All hands aturned to,'7 and by 0300 of the following morning all cargo was discharged and piled on the dock. By 0900 Lizzie was homeward bound. The amazing part of the entire operation was that the ship was able to complete her assigned tasks with a crew of oflicers and men of whom ninety-five per cent had never seen salt water before, and were a little uncertain as to which was port and which was starboard.