Foote (DD 511) - Naval Cruise Book

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In consTanT sTreams The Japs senT Their Kamikaze IDivine Windl suicides To sTrike again and again aT The pickeT desTroyers and aT The bombarding ships close inTo The islands. The Navy's announcemenTs reveal The Toll we paid Tor a Ryukyus BasTion. In This TheaTer The FooTe added anoTher sure kill To a IisT oT Jap planes knocked down, and aT Aguni and Iheya Islands marked up scores Tor Two bombardmenTs and landing assisTs. BuT Two gunners. badly wounded by bomb shrapnel, paid The bill Tor The FooTe's Okinawa Tour. And now wiTh The uniTs oT a vicTorious TIeeT, The 5I I comes home. In December she will mark her Third birThday, This Time a peaceTuI one. . Brooklyn Eagle REMEMBER THIS? NOTICE TO ALL HANDS I. ETTecTive I5 May and ThereaTTer, all hands will wear shirTs Topside aT all Times. 2. When General OuarTers are sounded Tor air aTTack, wear heImeTs, IiTeiackeTs, and Tlashproof cIoThing. Flashburn oinTmenT has been issued To all exposed sTaTions. IT should be used To replace TIashprooT cIoThing only when This cIoThing inTerTeres wiTh carrying ouT your job. 3. Okinawa is an acTive area oT operaTions. Vessels in This area are subiecT To aTTacks Trom aircraTT, suicide boaTs, suicide swimmers, Torpedoes and driTTing mines. In order To provide maximum proTecTion All hands Topside should keep a IookouT and reporT anyThing suspicious To The 0.0.D. immediaTeIy. IT you are resTing Topside beTween waTches, do your resTing near your baTTIe sTaTion. Remember ThaT air aTTacks aT Oki- nawa are pracTicaIIy cerTain To happen. 4. Many desTroyers have been sunk here in The IasT six weeks. The aIerTness oT all hands can prevenT our ship Trom ioining Them. BE ALERT and ON THE JOB I 54

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Commander DesTroyer Squadron XX, Commander DesTroyer Division XX and The DesTroyer CapTains oT This Squadron have ThroughouT The currenT operaTions, demon- sTarTed The bold, deTermined, aggressive leadership which wins baTTles. The oTTicers and men oT DesTroyer Squadron XX have been resoIuTe and skilled in Tollowing The wishes oT Their leaders. lvluch damage has been inTlicTed To The enemy's ships, insTalla- Tions, and personnel. They have maTerially conTribuTed To The growing Japanese TraiT which Commodore Burke so apTly describes, When They make up Their minds To run, They Ief noThing inTerTere wiTh carrying ouT Their decision. ln addiTion To The above acTions This ship was on separaTe duTy Trom iTs squadron during The period 24 SepTember I943-OcTober 4, 1943 and operaTed under The conTrol oT Commander Task Force XX. During This period while operaTing wiTh Task Force XX.X, The ship parTicipaTed in a barren sweep beTween Kolombangara and Choiseul Islands on The nighT oT 30-SepTember-l OcTober. Also as a uniT oT Task Group XX.X, during daylighT oT OcTober I, I943, This ship parTicipaTed in repelling an enemy dive-bomber and TighTer aTTack oTF Niarovai, Vella Lavella, Solomon lslands. lnserTed ln our service records. OTT l-lagushi Beach The nighT ThaT Okinawa erupTed pyroThechnics in celebraTion oT The TirsT rumors oT Jap surrender, older members oT The crew oT This 2lOO-Ton desTroyer, grimly saTisTied, could remember a nighT oTf Bougainville almosT Two years previously, when a Nip Torpedo blew oTT her sTern, snuTTed ouT The lives oT I9 oT her men, and leTT her helpless in The dark waTers oT Empress AugusTa Bay righT in The midsT of a raging air and surTace baTTle. ATTer This unTorgeTable nighT Commander AlsTon Ramsay, USN, oT Salisbury, NorTh Carolina, said To his men: We are going To a navy yard To be repaired aTTer which we will reTurn To geT our revenge. The FooTe reTurned To The STaTes Tor a new sTern, Training and re-Training. STill under The command oT Commander Ramsay The 5l l made Tor The PaciTic war area in laTe CDcTober I944 in Time To assisT in The Tinal sTages oT The l.eyTe compaign, screening jeep carriers whose planes were saTeguarding The convoy lanes along which viTal cargoes were sTreaming To The Philippines. When newly-capTured lvlindoro was an embaTTled island surrounded by a sea oT Tar Trom impoTenT Japanese, The FooTe was in The proTecTing desTroyer van ThaT ToughT iTs way wiTh The TirsT resupply ships To The brand new American airTields There. On This Trip The Special ATTack Corps, Japan's suicide airmen, made a bid Tor ETernal Glory. Two oT Them Tound iT - Trom The business end oT The FooTe's guns - and The resT were splashed by oTher ships oT The TormaTion or puT To TlighT by The concerTed acTion oT all. ReTaliaTion again was The l:ooTe's when she moved in wiTh Three oTher DesTroyers To wiThin l5OO yards oT WhiTe Beach qli2 aT Lingayen GulT on January 9, I9-45, and pumped round aTTer round oT Tive inch shells inTo Japanese shore posiTions, baTTeries, Troops, and observaTion posTs, soTTening up The area Tor our armed branches and The Tin can sailors did Their biT while The heaT oT rapid Tiring blisTered The painT on Their guns. The nasTiesT, and yeT The mosT saTisTying iob oT all was Okinawa. Now skippered by l.ieuT. Comdr. l-l. W. Mclflwain, USN, oT Deer Lodge, MonTana, The FooTe in early May joined The pickeT desTroyers, ThaT Tar Tlung ring oT Tin cans whose mission iT was To warn The landing beaches, The TransporTs, oT approaching enemy aircraTT and To beaT down The Nips when They Tried To geT Through: and They Tried oTTen. 53

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SHIP'S ACTIVITIES I-IERE is a saying in This man's Navy lno oTTense To The WAVESI ThaT The besT ship you were ever on was The one you iusT came oTT-and The one you are iusT being TransTerred To. Well, during The war lremember?I The acT oT being TransTerred To oTher ships or sTaTions happened as oTTen as you are able To pick up a REIVIBRANDT Tor a small minT- meaning ThaT TransTers were VerboTen, buT ThaT you land only youl were an indispensable man. ResulT: The EOOTE was To be our home-and-Teeder even Though iT meanT To puT up wiTh some wild broncho riding and a IiTTIe spam wiTh de- hydraTed spuds now and Then. BuT sailors have guTs Imore or lessl and They can Take anyThing ThaT is dished ouT To Them, and while They served in The go-geTTer Tincan, The FOOTE, They learned all The Tricks and Trade oT naval war-Tare. I-Iowever, They also learned someThing else which is Twice as imporTanT To The individual selT - The arT oT relaxing beTween The Trying ordeals oT war. The TirsT crossing oT The EquaTor when The ship was en-rouTe To New Caledonia Trom Panama inTroduced some 300-odd men-all young and inexperienced To war- Tare. Some had never seen a gun Tired excepT in The G-lvlen Tlickers aT The local TheaTre, and as many never had a waTer-pisToI in Their hand - noT To menTion Tiring any oT The ship's guns. There They were-supposedly wiTh Their TirsT case oT war-nerves buT The only Thing They were worried abouT was geTTing wacked in The rear oT Their anaTomy. Only abouT ThirTy men had previously crossed The EguaTor and as Tull Tledged Shellbacks They had quiTe a Time whipping The green Pollywogs inTo The proper shape IOUCI-I!!I Tor Their accepTance inTo The I-Ioly Order oT King NepTune. The poor Pollywogs were accused OT having commiTTed such horrible crimes as spiTTing inTo The sea: preparing lousy iamoke lcoTTeeI: sleeping in The Torpedo Tubes, eTc., eTc., and even ThaT oT reTerring To Themselves as sailors. A guy couldn'T win Tor loosing - buT whaT Tunl Everybody was as happy as could be - and why noT? IT isn'T every day ThaT one geTs his hair chopped oTT by a Royal Barber, and a Tree medical examinaTion by a Royal DocTor. A Tree dive inTo yesTerday's garbage and a Tree shower under a Tull pressure Tire hose squirTing good clean sea waTer. Some Tun, buT whaT an honor oT having been duly iniTiaTed inTo The I-Ioly Order oT King NepTune. IvIosT sailors are good beer drinkers and They were worried no end abouT obTain- ing Their TavoriTe quenching liquid ouT There on Those beauTiTul liTTle Gardens oT Eden in The likewise blue-beauTiTul PaciTic Ocean. They boys had Their beer whenever They managed To geT To some nice beach beTween naval aTTairs - and Then They had To drink ThaT 3.2 sTuTT, which was guiTe all righT wiTh everybody Ibecause There wasn'T anyThing else To drinkl. America's number one sporT has always been baseball, and naTuraIly iT was The same Tor The EOOTE. The TavoriTe recreaTion oT our greaT Tin-can sailors was soTTball, and The FOOTE produced a loT oT good soTTball players. lvlazepa, The gunner's maTe, was voTed The number one player on The Team-a Team ThaT once deTeaTed The SouTh-PaciTic soTTball champs, The U.S.S. DIXIE. WiTh such greaT soTTball players as I-Iommes, French, lvlolnar, Oodshall and oThers, The EOOTE made quiTe a name Tor iTselT among The soTTball playing ships and sTaTions in The PaciTic TheaTer oT War. The Ordnance Division walked away wiTh The honors in an inTer-divisional soTTball series, and The winners happily consumed several cases oT 3.2 beer in Their hour oT vicTory. Newspapers and magazines used To arrive weeks To monThs laTe in The PaciTic, buT 55