General Leroy Eltinge (AP 154) - Naval Cruise Book

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When we sailed for Karachi on September 29th our commanding officer was Commander Alexanf derson who, as things turned out, remained aboard for the remainder of the time the ship was in commission. This trip was much like our trips to Marseilles until after we passed Gibraltar when, instead of turning northward, we continued on down the Mediterranean close by the coast of North Africa. Past Oran, Algiers, Bizerte, along the Barbary Coast, past Tripoli, Bengasi, and Tobruch we went, arriving at Port Said on October 12th. Port Said was hot and dirty, although the waterfront was kept clean, possibly to impress passing ships. The surrounding land was flat, stretching out to the mountains in the distance. While we were taking on oil the bumboats clustered around us to sell suitcases, purses, scarves and all the other things which they had found Americans would buy. Cther ships were there and Royal Air Force speedboats were roaring by. Late in the afternoon we began the transit of that long, narrow ditch, the Suez Canal. The night was cool but with morning came the heat of the desert. Slowly we moved southward, occasionally passing small groups of buildings with damels tied in nearby parking lots. On the ferry landings were a few natives and soldiers but it was the women from the British Army camp in the distance that attracted our attention. We reached Suez, at the southern end of the canal shortly before noon of the thirteenth and, after anchoring for a few hours to take on our mail, which had been sent down from Cairo, we put out into the Red Sea. As we travelled down the coast we could see Mount Sinai in the distance and farther down the Arabian Peninsula we passed Mecca, the sacred Mohammedan city. The heat was intense and remained so even after we passed through the Gulf of Aden out into the smooth waters of the Arabian Sea. We landed at Karachi on the 20th. The CEN. CALLEN, which we had not seen since we left the Pacific, was there and even before we tied up our signalmen found out from her that liberty wasn't anything special. There was the heat, the smell, the camels and sacred cows in the streets, the curio shops, the Marina Hotel with its own brand of muddy gin, and running around were dozens of little gooks yelling, Hey, joe, are you from Brooklyn? And there was the big beer party Barga1'n Counter . . . Karac 1 at the Red Cross club on Elphinstone Road. We sailed on Cctober 22nd, returning the same way we had come, seeing the same biunboats that had gathered around us before at Port Said. We took on oil and sailed from there on the 29th. Back through the Mediterranean we went and on November 3rd we passed Gibralter. When we hit the Atlantic the going really got rough. What a storm! For days We staggered against the heavy seas. The if waves grew higher and higher and we rolled and pitched like a mad thing. Our bow would plunge down into the trough of a wave and the breaking seas would send a solid sheet of water up over the flying bridge. Not many , of the troops went to chow during that storm -they were in their bunks, or rather, were trying to stay in them which was a tough job since we were rolling 35 degrees. Cur at , Q X a 5 4 Q A 5 Y' at Q X g

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Karachi, Inafia A lt was good liberty though, the sidewalk cafes along La Cannebiere, Chaplain Alling's guided tour, the White Elephant and the Pink Elephant, and the CEE LIMITS signs. We left Marseilles on August llth with a load of troops, organized units, bound for the Philippines. They were an unhappy lot until August 15th when we received word that the war was over and we were to change course and head for Norfolk. Everyone felt a lot better after that. The 8-4 army nurses we carried that trip were a welcome relief from the thousands of troops--ship's company found plenty of work to do on the superstructure deck whenever the nurses were sunning themselves on Hatch 5. The nights were warm and the stars were out almost every night on that crossing .... The resistor room .... While we were still six hundred miles out of Norfolk, one of the doggies yelled Landl and three thousand G. l.'s fell for it and rushed to the rail for a look. They were really happy when we actually sighted land and, on August 20th, tied up at Hampton Roads. We had expected to stay Stateside for awhile but after four days spent loading stores, We sailed back to Marseilles. just before we sailed Captain Blau was relieved by Commander Cox, who took us across. The trip was much like the one we had just completed. However this time we passed Gibraltar during the daytime on September lst. Although we arrived at Marseilles on the 3rd and sailed on the 4th we were able to get some more of that good Marseilles liberty . . . Spanish cham' pagne .... This time the men we took home were high point men returning for discharge rather than organized units being redeployed., We carried 180 nurses this time but things were quieter than on the previous trip. We had acquired a twelve piece shipls company band at Norfolk and they gave out with music for our entertainment. . We pulled into Hampton Roads on the 14th--our band was playing, the band on the dock was playing, the troops were yelling, and the people on the dock were yelling back. The troops knew they'd be civilians in av few days and were happy about it. After we unloaded, we went into the yards at Portsmouth again for repairs Qand for leavej. - '

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Panama Canaf A starboard anchor was pushed through the side of the bow by the pounding of the waves and the starboard forward bulwark was nearly carried away. What a storm! We were glad to get to New York. We were met at the Narrows by a Welcome Home boat that had real American women aboard and even though the day was cold and damp everyone was topside for a look. As we went along the harbor and up the Hudson River our returning troops were saluted by the whistles of all the passing ships. We tied up at Pier 88, next to the battleship Missouri on November 11th ready for some good liberty. And we did have good liberty. We stayed in for 18 days, part of the time in the Todd yards at Hoboken. Liberty was granted two days out of every three and it was a lot better than Karachi, even Union City. But finally our orders came, we were going to Shanghai. We left on November 29th with a load of replacement troops and civilians for Panama and some civilians, including UNRRA workers, for Shanghai. The trip to Panama was uneventful. However, on December 4th, after we had made the transit of the canal, we tied up at Balboa to debark troops and we had a chance to find out what Panama liberty is like. It's good we discovered. And so is that Milwaukee Beer made in the Canal Zone. ' Cn the Sth we sailed and headed northwest as we were routed to pass north of Hawaii. Then we went down past the Marshall Islands, the Marianas group, and Ckinawa. Near Okinawa we celebrated Christmas. Midnight services were held the night before. Cn Christmas day we had a huge dinner followed by a party in the troop mess hall which was appropriately decorated. ' 2