Foote (DD 511) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 15 text:

AM graTeTul Tor This opporTuniTy To express my appreciaTion To The oTTicers and men who served wiTh me during The sTirring days and nighTs oT operaTions which we shared in The SouTh PaciTic and in The Philippines. The eTTecTiveness oT a TighTing ship, like any oTher organizaTion, is dependenT upon The loyalTy and uniTy oT acTion oT every man in The crew. l am proud oT The record oT This period, and oT The men who made iT. Many who served wiTh us lasT Their lives rin The service oT our counTry, and in combaT wiTh The enemy. LeT us pay humble TribuTe To Their memory, and leT each oT us in his own way insure ThaT These men did noT make a useless sacriTice. . ' B. L. AUSTIN COMMODORE, U.S.N. ALSTON RAMSAY CAPTAIN, U.S.N. O The gallanT oTTicers and crew oT a gaIlan+ TighTing ship, a well done Trom your TirsT Commanding OTTicer. T From The shores oT ATrica To The shores oT Japan, via The sloT, you have ToughT a good TighT. NeiTher The enemy's 'Torpedoes, guns, bombs nor Kamikaze plans sTopped you. You were wounded buT you wenT back To TighT again. l am proud To have had a small parT in sTarT- ing you on your TighTing career. l shall always cherish The memory oT my days on The FooTe and The shipmaTes l had There, especially Those who ToughT Their lasT TighT on ThaT long road To Tokyo. l appreciaTe This opporTuniTy To wish you all The very besT, in or ouT oT The Service, and To again Thank The old Timers on board Tor Their splendid work and True loyalTy in The diTTiculT days when we were shaking down. Very sincerely

Page 14 text:

H. W. MQELWAIN LIEUTENANT COMMANDER, U.S.N 900 Milwaukee Avenue Deer Lodge, lvlonlana OW rhal if is all over and we are scallering in all direclions il is hoped +ha+ i Shipma+es will bring back many fond memories in +he years ro come. The fad Jrhal such a book exisls is an indicaiion of The spirii and unily of lhe crew. To command The Poole during a porlion of rhe war has been my greaiesl privilege. To a greal crew of a grea+ ship, well done and Jrhe besf of everyihing in whal- ever you choose for The iuiure. f 6 'IO

Page 16 text:

SI-IIP'S HISTORY oT I942, The FOOTE was commissioned in CharlesTown Navy Yard, BosTon, MassachuseTTs. ThaT was a cold day. A skeIeTon crew had broughT her down Trom BaTh, Maine, where she was consTrucTed and They had broughT her aT Top speed. Ice coaTed The boaTs and supersTrucTure. The ship sTayed around BosTon Tor a Tew eks and Then made a shake-down run To OuanTanamo Bay, Cuba, along in The IaTTer N laTe December we parT oT January I943. When The FOOTE was commissioned she had a quarTer inch oT linoleum on nearly every TooT oT her deck space and since ThaT was iudged To be a Tire hazard every IasT biT oT iT had To be scraped up and Thrown over The side. In addiTion To This Tull Time iob There were drills and inspecTions and seasickness, ThaT banded TogeTher To keep The crew Trom resTing. The ship arrived back in BosTon To Take on a Tew exTra guns and a Tew new men on February I8, I943. We sTayed in The yard Tor abouT a monTh unTil March oT 43 and Then wenT To Casco Bay, Maine, Tor more Training duTy. Few men aboard will TorgeT The suTTering one had To go Through To make liberTy - anchored a million miles Trom The nearesT land and only a whaleboaT Tor TransporTaTion. The TemperaTure mosT always seT below zero as we made our way Through The choppy waTers oT The Bay Towards The coasT. You Thawed ouT whenever you reached a warm spoT leaving a puddle oT waTer wherever you sTood. There was'n'T much There anyhow, mosT oT The crew managed To geT Thrown inTo The local BasTiIe Tor some minor inTracTion oT The rules. There was one nighT ThaT ChieT OuarTermasTer P. A. Campbell Tried To pay oTT a PorTIand BarTender wiTh a bag Tull oT pennies-Too many pennies. Early in April we leTT New York convoying a group oT merchanT ships bound Tor Casablanca, French Morocco. IT was There ThaT we goT our TirsT TasTe oT Toreign liberTy, aTTer an unevenTTul Trio across. The nighT we arrived a red alerT was seT Tor Three enemy aircraTT reporTed in ThaT viciniTy which we knew noThing abouT Till The nexT morning. MosT oT The crew goT ashore aT leasT once while we were There. The only English The naTives speak well was, FIVE DOLLARS . . . and up. Nice liTTle place, Tull oT sleezy looking Arabs ThaT looked as Though There was noThing They would like To do beTTer Than TiT Their knives To our ribs. We shoved oTT Trom ATrica laTe in April arriving back in BosTon on The 8Th oT May I943. By This Time The word was preTTy well circulaTed ThaT we were To Take COMMANDER DESTROYER SOUADRON 23 aboard and head Tor The beauTiTuI blue PaciTic in a week or so Tollowing our arrival in BosTon. We Took The SOLIADDOC5 aboard and moved on down The CoasT To NorToIk where our TirsT Skipper CapTain Bernard L. AusTin, was relieved oT his command by Commander AlsTon Ramsay. CapTain AusTin Took over The duTies as DIVISION COMMANDER oT DESDIV 45 aboard The USS SPENCE. On May I8Th I943 we were given our IasT liberTy on UniTed 9 I 2