Foote (DD 511) - Naval Cruise Book

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moving, and so he did. We all TelT like ThaT. When a snopper plane came overhead, we Tired on him, no one Topside knew we were going To open Tire because we ThoughT The acTion had IeTT us behind. ThaT's The sTuTT oT which grey hairs are made. The Tollowing dawn our Task Torce came back over The horizon. The USS TI-IAT- CI-IER passed us a Tow line and began To Tow us aT Tive knoTs buT iusT as The Tow line was secured 60 enemy planes appeared and passed overhead going direcTIy Tor The cruisers. They never even Tipped a wing in our direcTion buT There were a number oT TervenT prayers said while our TaTe hung on The Tip oT some Jap airwing Com- mander's Tongue. The cruisers drove The planes oTT and abouT ThaT Time a beaTuiTuI IiTTIe TIeeT Tug, The USS SIOUX, arrived To Tow us back To PorT Purvis. IT may be only a Ii+Tle rusT-buckeT To some, buT ThaT morning The Queen Mary couldn'T have looked any beTTer. We arrived in PorT Purvis a Tew days laTer and sTayed a monTh alongside The USS WHITNEY geTTing paTched up well enough To make The Trip Trom There To EspiriTu Tor Tinal repairs beTore reTurning To The UniTed STaTes. We had no screws, we had no rudder, all oT The aTTer TwenTies and The depTh charges were gone and gun :l:l:5 was iammed in Train, everyThing up To The base oT gun :l:l:5 was a ToTaI loss and The resT oT The ship was buckled like a model T chassis. On November 28Th I943 we sTarTed Tor EspiriTu escorTed by The USS SELF- RIDGE who had had everyThing blown oTT Torward oT The bridge in a running baTTle wiTh some Jap desTroyers. ThaT was on odd sighT, an auxiliary Tug Towing us and a crippled desTroyer escorTing us. We sTayed in The New I-Iebrides unTil January 2OTh when we were suTTicienTIy paTched up To reTurn To The UniTed STaTes behind a I9I9 Tanker, The S.S. GULF STAR. The BOBOLINK IATO I3II, which had Towed us Trom PorT Purvis, was To be hiTched asTern oT us and used as a rudder. We moved along aT a speed ThaT varied Trom 3 To 6 knoTs unTil we ran inTo rough weaTher, The Tail end oT a hurricane, and snapped our rusTy Tow cable. We rolled around helplessly Tor Three days while The crew caughT sharks Trom The quarTerdeck and beaT Them on The head wiTh chipping hammers. We were Towed To Pago-Pago, TuTuiIa, American Samoa, To awaiT The arrival oT a new Tow cable and The boys goT The TirsT look aT reasonably civilized womanhood. We conTinued our journey on February 4Th I944 and arrived in San Pedro CaIiTornia on March 4Th I944. There sTarTed The greaT days. lmmediaTely upon arrival in San Pedro we were puT inTo drydock. By The Time The ship was well inTo The dock The TirsT liberTy parTy was sTraining aT The leash. The dock Toreman called over and Told The G.Q.D. ThaT he'd have The gangway over in abouT Two hours, iusT as soon as The keel seTTIed on The blocks. By ThaT Time The whole bunch scheduled To sTarT on leave was sTanding on The TorecasTIe shiTTing Trom one TooT To The oTher. The execuTive oTTicer, LT. Comdr. M. S. Schmidling, came ouT and yelled over To The Toreman, I'II give you Ten minuTes To geT ThaT goddam plank over here Tor These boys or I'm going To know The reason why! I 5

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. were aTTacking The beached I.ST's. Orders came Through ThaT we were To reTurn and screen The TIOaTing TreighT Trains againsT TurTher aTTacks. The USS CONVERSE and The USS JENKINS accompanied us To The scene OT acTion. One OT The LST's had been hiT bad and was burning. The Tire and rescue parTy was called away Trom Our ship To aid The burning LST. We began TO circle abOuT and in a Tew minuTes gOT word ThaT anOTher TIighT OT Twelve TO TiTTeen enemy aircraTT was approaching and had eluded our cOmbaT airpaTrOI. This was our TirsT TasTe OT whaT mighT be called ACTION. A couple OT The planes aTTacked us, One OT Them coming Trom dead asTern, dropped several bombs which landed TiTTy TeeT broad on The pOrT beam. The OTher planes never gOT ThaT close. The damage TO The enemy was Tour or Tive planes: One deTiniTeIy by The EOOTEQ One probably by The EOOTE: One by an LST: One by The CONVERSE and One by a Triendly TreighTer. We suTTered a Tew shrapnel holes and Tive minor personnel casualTies. We were an exciTed and lucky bunch. We IeTT The Torward area Tor EspiriTu SanTOs in The New I-Iebrides abouT The 8Th OT OcTOber and sTayed down There unTiI The 26Th OT OcTober when we joined The cruiser Task Torce and proceeded To cover The American landings on Treasury Island. We really ThoughT we were in Tor sOmeThing wiTh a Torce ThaT size buT The Japs never showed Their Taces and everyThing wenT OTT according To plan. So Tar as we know There was only one ship damaged in ThaT operaTiOn. The USS CONY which Took Two severe bomb hiTs. Toward The IasT OT OcTOber we goT underway wiTh TE 39 To cover The landings aT Empress AugusTa Bay, Bougainville. We swung norThwesT under cover OT darkness and bombarded The Buka-Bonis airTieId area To prevenT shorT range aerial inTerTerence wiTh The landings. The Japs really goT iT poured On.Them ThaT nighT. There iusT seemed To be no end To The sTream OT shells ThaT poured Trom The cruiser's guns. IT was quiTe a sighT. AT dawn The Task Torce bombarded The ShorTland Islands group aT The sOuTh- wesTern Tip OT Bougainville. AT This Time The Task Torce Commander goT word ThaT a Jap Torce was heading Toward Empress AugusTa Bay and we were Ordered To inTercepT. Three hours beTore dawn On The 2nd OT November The Task Torce made cOnTacT wiTh The enemy Torce and a melee ensued. AT 0301 hours a Japanese Torpedo ex- ploded under The EOOTE'S TanTaiI, Taking I9 good men wiTh iT. In addiTiOn To These I9, I5 men and I oTTicer were wounded. For a Tew minuTes iT was Touch and go wiTh shells popping around us and Tlares IighTing The nighT sky buT The cruisers ringed us wiTh a smoke screen aImOsT immediaTeIy and The acTiOn sTarTed To move away Trom us. ATTer we were hiT Paul Caldwell WT 3fc said ThaT he came ouT OT The aTTer Tire- room and said To himseIT, IT I sTand here. one will hiT here Tor sure. I beTTer keep I4

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A Third oT The crew sTarTed oTT Tor Their ThirTy days immediaTely and pracTically all The resT wenT ashore as one man Tor Their TirsT sTaTeside liberTy in nearly a year. There's no poinT in going inTo deTail abouT The liberTies ThaT were made and The hell ThaT was raised. ExcepT Tor a Tew highlighTs, They are memorable in anyone's book. We sTayed in San Pedro Tor Tour monThs unTil The beginning oT July when we wenT To sea again on a Trial run. The old Tub perTormed like clockwork, much To The disappoinTmenT oT many oT us, who had hoped There would be someThing wrong wiTh her, since Los Angeles was abouT as nice a spoT To TighT The war in as any we could Think oT. We wenT down To San Diego Tor a shorT while Tor Training exercises and as Tar as any oT us knew we were To shove of-T Tor Pearl l-larbor wiThin a week. All oT a sudden we Tound ourselves in San Francisco Bay wiTh several monThs oT Training duTy sTreTching beTore us. l shouldn'T say sTreTch really. DuTy like ThaT doesn'T sTreTch, iT shrinks. A Third oT The regular crew was Taken oTT and billeTed on Treasure lsland and once a week a hundred new recruiTs were broughT aboard and shown The workings oT a desTroyer in acTual operaTion. Twice a week we sTeamed down To San ClemenTe lsland and 'back wiTh anTi- aircraTT pracTice and surTace Tiring on each run. ThaT lasTed well inTo The monTh oT OcTober. On OcTober 24Th, l944 we sTeamed under Golden GaTe and headed once more Tor overseas. We were lucky, because The resT oT The l.lTTl.E BEAVER SQUADRONH had liTTle more Than a monTh in The UniTed STaTes and we had had nearly eighT. Luck or no luck, Though, iT was sure Tough To be going under The Golden GaTe bridge Tor The lasT Time. We arrived in Pearl l-larbor in The early days oT November I944, and according'To The word ThaT was circulaTing around The ship we were To sTay There Tor aT leasT Two weeks or possibly a monTh. The very nighT aTTer our arrival we were ordered alongside agdock To Take on high-prioriTy supplies To be TransporTed im- mediaTely To UliThi 'Caroline lslands. UliThi'? Where The hell was UliThi. l-'lad we cap- Tured iT yeT or did The .laps sTill hold iT. We dragged ouT every available map and abouT one in Ten had The Carolines lisTed. We goT underway nexT morning aT TwenTy- Tive knoTs and Toamed our way Toward EniweTok, Marshall lslands. which was To be our TirsT Tueling sTop. From There we wenT direcTly To UIiThi. We sTayed aT UliThi AToll long enough To geT some idea oT whaT The .laps would be up againsT when They ran head on inTo The FlFTl-l FLEET. There were ships all over The place as Tar as The eye could see. lT was sure a big change Trom The handTul oT ships ThaT had ToughT in The Solomons Campaign. From UliThi we moved on To Kossol Roads, Palau lslands, and The dope was ThaT we were To ioin up wiTh one oT The carrier Task Torces ThaT was Turnishing air cover Tor The LeyTe landings. We lay around waiTing Tor several days wiThin sighT oT The largesT Jap sTronghold in The Palaus. BabelThaup. IT was said ThaT There were sTill several Thousand acTive Japs on The island. The Japs ThaT were sTill on This island had developed The Trick oT swimming ouT To our vessels in The dead oT nighT and blowing Themselves up againsT The sides I6