Hollandia (CVE 97) - Naval Cruise Book

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MN tures of that sneak attack by the 'laps were filkefl by his camera. Following that raid he went to sea again and saw action at Guadalcanal, New Georgia, Rendova, Kula Gulf, and Kolomban- gara. So he came to the 97 with a real background. He was invaluable to Red in breaking in the reserve enlisted men of N Division, who included a couple of buglers whose only fault was in blowing reveille when nobody was ready for it. Rollins and his gang always knew where the ship was to go, how it was to get there, and when it was to arrive. We always arrived where and when the orders indicated. HE ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT provided the power to make those long trips to the Far Pacific. It had an ' t a W 'fi May F' i M N - s, l,,- T :W if A ee 46 e' tv 3 x , , N 'S lj I I rg ' ' -ik cj 4 ,,.,3,,l enviable record. The Black Gang never got us under- way late, never caused us to run behind schedule. Close calls, but always on time. Lieut. Raymond Pete Shannon was our first engi- neering officer. Pete came to us after sea duty on other Navy ships and with years of experience as a merchantman engineer. He started right out breaking in the Black Gang and took the 97 out on its first trip to Espiritu, Manus, and Guadalcanal. And by the time we had returned to the States the engineering staff knew their stuff as well as any gang aboard ship. There is much to learn in an engineroom. The complexities of station-keeping, for example. We made our first trip out unescorted but when we reached Finschaven, en route from Espiritu to Manus, they shoved us in with a convoy which could make but eight knots. That presented a problem to the 97, which was no speed king but cruised normally at approximately 15 knots, The trip took about 50 hours, all of which were spent in continual jockeying back and forth in order to stay in position. The engineering staff was up against something quite new to most of them. Following that jockeying trip, liuwever, gi revolution splitter was rigged up in the form ot a vernier adjustment for the main engine tut-off levers. This worked out to perfection, lfrom that time on the Black Gang just followed orders from the bridge, proclaiming that if the 97 ever was caught off station, it was the fault of the officer of the deck and nobody else, Shannon's boys were in the clear. When we returned to the States Pete went to the hospital for a short time, then left the Navy to return to his old job of engineering ofiicer on a tanker. Lieut. O. K. johnson, who had been his assistant, took over with Lt, fjgj joe Ander- son becoming assistant engineering otiicer. Whisper Sturgis and Electrician Merchant also were hospitalized, and Lillig left for other duty, leaving Shaky Dubler, Murphy, Dillon, Chan- nel and Winklhofer. Through all personnel changes in the depart- ment one unforgettable character remained--XX'il- liams, the assistant oil king. Williams ran through four oil kings in rapid succession. Possibly they were unable to keep up with his pace. Or per- haps they were smothered under the weight of his omniscience-or possibly just his weight. .asr LIEUTENANT and Damage Control Otiicer was Lt. Cdr. Phil Cheney, Harvard graduate. artist, Vermont farmer and expert on the better things in life, which he'd tell you are liquor and wo- , , tiff-llilur-ffl menhor is it women and liquor? Phil's many duties included keeping the 97 T A shipshape, seeing that repair work was done when and where it was needed. He A! had to handle abandon ship 4' assignments. He had to issue lifebelts. He had to take care dd- lon of all berthing, for both ofii- i cers and men. He had to handle the same thing for passengers, Anyone who has served aboard can tell you that the Q7 HIWAYS WHS Ueflf and clean, always ready for any- fhmg that Came her way in the line- of duty. PASSCIUZCYS were almost unanimous in declaring

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taking photographs, developing and printing. And he did an excellent job, If you like this book, you must give loads of credit to Klotz, because the pictures are the book. Boss of the Air Department at commissioning, and for some time thereafter, was Lt, Cdr. Tom Bradbury. Brad organized the department and developed it to a high point of ethciency, and when he turned it over to Lt. Cdr. jim Leslie, it was a fine organization. Clarence Bartley, a lieutenant, was assistant air ofhcer until he was sent to another CVE. UNNERY was the baby of Lt. Cdr. Lee Shorty Bains, a Southern barrister, who never lost the opportunity to let one and all know he was a devotee of Blackstone. Organization was a tough task. The de- partment was big, and the men for the most part knew nothing, or next to it, about gunnery. Most of the men in the First, Second, and Third Divisions were land- lubbers. Indeed, Bains had only seven enlisted men who ever had been to sea before. Many had never seen an ocean until they boarded the HOLLANDIA. So, in addition to learning about gunnery, they had to learn how to live and work at sea. These men really had to work at learning their jobs. They had to know their guns throughout. They had to keep them in readiness to fire 24 hours a day. They had to know how to fire them-and to be able to hit a target when they did fire. Gunnery exercises were held often, and the men attained a line degree of efficiency in blasting away at towed sleeves or balloons. There was ,other work too. The Gunnery divisions are the deck divisions. When the men weren't on their guns, they seemed to spend every waking hour in cleaning, scrubbing or painting. And when they weren't doing that they were painting, scrubbing or cleaning! The three divisions were large ones, and as such were harder to handle than the smaller groups. But when Capt. Lee made his first per- sonnel inspection, he named the First Division as the best on the ship. And you don't have to remind Lieut. Kristofak to remind you of that. They were his boys. In addition to the division officers under him, Bains had an ace in Gunner Whittington. Every Navy gunner must know his stuff, and Whitting- ton was no exception. He taught everyone, ofhcers and men. When there was something to be done, the Gunner saw that it was done speedily and properly. He was always there with suggestions-and good suggestions. Bains had Neg England, jack Martin, Kris Kristofak, Bob Rosberg, Dave Rice, and Duke Wellington as his ofhcers when the ship put out to sea. Then Shorty went to the Hancock, Martin to the Colorzzdo, and England became Gunnery Officer. LIEUT. FERRELL ROLLINS was our Navigator, and one of the best. Capt. Lee soon found out that Red's ideas always were solid ones and followed his suggestions gation was under discussion. Red came to the 97 from the staff of Commander Task Force 22, on which he was Qs 761 flag lieutenant. He had - served aboard battleships, light and heavy cruisers, and destroyers-and several car- riers, including the Yorktown and Rd7Zg67'. He was a good man to have aboard. As assistant navigation officers he had Ray Russell, Rusty Gunther, and jack Ward at one time or another. And he had a real salt with him in Howard Thomas Fraser, Chief Quartermaster, who served as Red's third eye. Fraser was one of the 97's three veterans of World War One. QDavis and Cheney were the othersj He enlisted in 1915 and saw duty on both big oceans in that first great struggle. He was at sea on all types of warships. He was a photographer at Pearl on 7 December 1941. Many of the exciting pic- without question when navi- - X u I :Fifa

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43- 44 K ,I FA ff Y I N 4 X Ili, 5' Y S'-.L-,Q 1 '-pl 1 I ,sa that facilities aboard were perfect. Phil Cheney deserves much of the credit for that. Lieut. Bill Evans, known as Windy, was Cheney's assistant until sent to another ship. Dave Rice and Bob Wheeler were other officers who pitched in to make C 8: R an efiicient part of ship's company. And Carpenter Dutelle did much to keep things rolling, instructing his men in routine and the deviations from routine which make sea life at least interesting. COMMUNICATIONS was one of the busier places aboard. More messages-some important, some unimportant-came through than can be imagined, but they were all received, and decoded when necessary. Lieut. Frank Bush 'E was our original Communi- Q cations Ofiiper. He came to the 97 with much sea duty ' XCMHK behind him and was able to give his boys thorough in- doctrination in the whys and wherefores of Navy com- munications. The rest of the communications ofiicers re- ceived their Communications schooling at the Navy's school at Harvard University. Howie Kraft was Bush's assistant, taking over his job when Frank went to a British carrier. Others were Frank Stahl, Don Stoneburner and Tony Finger. Then Stan Helmeci moved over from the Exec's Office. Red Purdy was there for awhile, shifting to gunnery. West and Dennison were later acquisitions. Finger handled the radio gang. Stoneburner was signal officer, and that gave him a chance to get up on the bridge in the open air now and then. In addition, he had charge of the post office and the incoming mail, a really important item to all aboard. Of course the Fleet Post Cffice deserves plenty of credit for the prompt mail service we enjoyed through most of our life at sea, but Stoney made certain that once the mail was aboard it was sorted and distributed promptly. Every single one of us-officer and man alike-ewas grateful to Stoney for that. LT. CDR. OLIVER-later Commander-headed the Medical Department, with the able assist- ance of Russ De Alverez and Bud Clarke and a gang of smart corpsmen. Russ brought babies into the P world as a civilian doctor, but it was appendicitis in- stead of babies aboard the NUT-STU HOLLANDIA. But he handled uw all his operations competently and coolly. Bud was dental officer and gave excellent service in his little cubby hole, all the while keeping up a fast line of chatter about nothing. Anything from a cold to an unruly ap- pendix, from a pinhole cavity to a really beat-up tooth-H Division was the place to apply. Our chaplain - Lieut. Robert DeWitt Yost-was a regular gent. He conducted the Sunday religious services, of course, but that was only a small part of his work. He was always ready to listen to our problems and do what he could to solve them. When emergency leave was requested, it was the Padre's job to make the necessary investigation, then approve or disapprove the request before it went to the Exec and Captain. And there were plenty of personal problems arising aboard ship and ashore. In addition the Padre ran the ship's library, with aid of a yeoman, of course. There were thousands of books or magazines to be loaned out, accounted for and traced down. He ordered the V-Discs which were played during non-work- ing hours. He edited the ship's paper, Casey jones, which was published as often as possible. He was given the job of starting work on this book. Yes, the Padre was busy, but he had time for a bit of fun now and then. HAT BRiNos Us to the Ship's Office. At first we had two offices, the Captair1's and Execs Prophet ran the Captains office, Helmeci the