Essex (CVS 9) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 198 text:

ea -4' Elbow grease, concentration and a high-powered buffer remove dirt and rust to prepare ESSEX for a new paint job. Every inch of ESSEX received careful attention. The steel-helmeted yard workers and the white hatted crew members together undertook the herculean task of overhauling the great carrier. l9l One of the small boats aboard the mighty ship gets repaired.

Page 197 text:

Yard Duty lmmedlately followlng ESSEX s triumphant and splrlted return to Mayport from her final Mediterranean deployment as an attack carrler, she entered the New York Naval Shipyard at Brooklyn, for overhaul and repair During her slx weeks In the bug city ESSEX In drydock began to settle down from the busy and excltlng crulse lust completed to the routlne of paper work and near- drudgery that marks a ship s stay In the yard Acetylene torches flamed a brlef flery pattern against newly painted grey steel much as the lights of the city blazed nightly against the darkened skyline lust across the rlver The roar of lets on the flight deck was replaced by the monotonous chatter of the pneu matlc drlll the wet slap of the palnt brush the falnt echolng tap of hammers It was a time of waltlng for a new home and a new gob It was a time of education and tralmng for a new role a time of refurbishing and repollshlng the shlp as ESSEX prepared for her departure to Quonset Polnt Rhode Island her new home port There operating as an Antlsubmarlne Carrier she would assume a dlfferentand challenging role In her country s defense ESSEX in drydock . an awe-rnsplrmg sweep of steel

Page 199 text:

l Q l 1 3 Just take this bottle over there . . . ls your blood pressure always this high? l92 Blood Donations... ' Just as New York offered its myriad attractions to the ESSEX sailor, so the ship responded to the city, answering the always urgent need of the Red Cross for blood donations. The hangar deck, now emptied of aircraft, was filled with new activity, as amidst' the organized confusion of repair efforts, Red Cross work- ers, doctors and nurses took blood pressures, medical histories, and pints of blood from the ready crew. In return, the inevitable donuts, orange iuice, coffee and milk. . . and the stimulation of the smiles and sincere gratitude that met the large scale donation. Now this won't hurt a bit. In the traditional Red Cross manner-donuts and coffee.