Hollandia (CVE 97) - Naval Cruise Book

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Vim' 17 days. After stopping there, we will proceed further west. If you've never been to sea, 17 days seems like 17 years. After all, 17 days at sea is quite different from 17 days selling neckties at Macy's. It was a long trip. We made it without incident. We took a southeastern route and encountered few ships and fewer planes. It was better that way, for it enabled Capt. Lee to break in his officers and men. The deck watch officers, none of whom were qualified for that duty when we set out, were trained and qualined for their posts. Gunnery, engineering, communications, radar- all departments and divisions spent the 17 days learning what it was about. And there was plenty to learn. We reached Espiritu on schedule. There we unloaded aircraft and loaded more. Some of us made the beach, but not the Air Department. To those men, as always, fell the task of unloading and loading the planes. However, those who had to remain aboard didn't miss a thing. Espiritu is Espiritu-and the natives can have it. There were no Dorothy Lamours on the islands we hit in our travels. Our next stop was Finschaven, New Guinea. We didn't enter the harbor, but lay outside while the Exec went ashore to receive our orders. There was no change of destination. We still were going to Manus as we had learned enroute to Espiritu. But we were saddled with that eight- knot convoy, so it was a long trip up to the new base in the Admiralties. We were handed quite a surprise at Manus. Naturally we had traveled from San Diego to Espiritu to Finschaven to Manus completely blacked out at night. After all, the Japs had submarines in the Pacific, and there was no telling when we might encounter one. And as we proceeded west, the possibility became more and more acute. Yet when we arrived off the harbor at Manus in the darkness before dawn, all we could see was lights, and more lights. They stretched for miles-and they were bright lights. Hugh Brosnahan took one look and asked in his best New York accent: What is this, Coney Island? We were amazed. Manus was being built into a major naval base. The laps weren't too far away. Yet the lights were everywhere, advertis- ing a target well worth striking at. When we went ashore we expressed our surprise, but the men based there merely shrugged their shoulders. Oh yes, the ,laps are fairly close, but they're well under control. And so it proved as time passed. They made little or no trouble at Manus. And that was all right with us. Manus was the scene of more unloading and loading of aircraft. Again the Air Department was the work horse, while other more fortunate departments were able to allow their men to go ashore. The officers made a bit of history during that stay. They assisted in the opening of the new Fleet Officers' Club. With Pete Shannon setting a giddy pace, they established another part of the HOLLANDIAVS reputation as a fine ship-the play part. There were few ships in at the time, and the 97 gang led all the rest in setting the fast pace which always distinguished that fine club. From Manus to Guadalcanal. Here was a place we'd heard and read about during the earlier days of the war, a place where history had been made. Everyone was more than anxious to get ashore and see the island that had played such an im- portant part in the American drive to regain the prestige so shaken by Pearl Harbor and the events that followed. But enlisted personnel had difhculty in getting ashore. And those who went weren't on the beach f' ab K- - L- -22

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51369157 5 7-7- '-.'X 3 i Ai. AY ALNAV KEEWEM LET EM IH. ou'lT :xE::, 'f CLERK Q0 Executive Officer's Office before shifting to Com- munications. Later these were merged into the Ship's Office, where all ship's business was trans- acted, with heavy emphasis on personnel matters. Shortly after the change was made, Lieut. Weems, a Regular Navy officer, came aboard as right- hand man to Captain and Exec and took over the office. Chief Armbruster was Prophet's right hand man in the Captain's Office. He did a masterful job there and later in the Air Office and the Ship's Office. THAT MUCH for the sketchy outline of ship's organization. Nearly everyone aboard, both officers and men, had much to learn, and the only way it could be learned was through experience at sea. The great majority of us had never been to sea and never expected to go to sea. The war changed our plans, however, and we all pitched in and made the best of it. Capt. Lee and Comdr. Brown must have had many misgivings when they took over and saw the bunch of landlubbers they had to take out with them, but they were highly capable officers and through their ability and understanding they fashioned the HOLLANDIA and its personnel into a ship that ranked second to none in the United States Navy. We spent nearly three weeks at Astoria after commissioning, for there was much to be done before we could put to sea. Gear had to be in- stalled, stores taken aboard, and many other chores, big and small, performed. In addition, there was a ship's party, with music and enter- tainment, which helped to knit us into a family organization. Finally, on 20 june we got underway, laying our course for Puget Sound, Bremerton, and Seattle. That short run demonstrated one thing conclusively-the men who had been civilians only a short time before were quick to absorb the routine of sea life and to put what they learned to practical use. We spent a few days in the Seattle area load- ing ammunition and stores, then set out again, this time for San Francisco. On this jaunt we had our hrst experience with rough weather. The seas along that section of the West Coast can be rugged at times. The men learned that, many of them to their great discomfort. Some just wanted to stay in the sack and die. Anything would be better than that dread mal de mer. But all but a few remained on their feet, did their daily work and fought it out. And before we had reached the Golden Gate, they had conquered seasickness for once and for all. We had a bit of trouble getting into San Francisco because of rough seas, darkness, and a bit of fog, but Capt. Lee and Red Rollins were equal to the job, with a bit of aid from radar. By the time the sun had appeared and the fog had lifted we were ready to enter the Golden Gate and proceed to our berth at Oakland. We spent two days and nights there in loading, but officers and men did get an opportunity to spend a little time in San Francisco, best city on the Pacific Coast. Then down the coast to San Diego. We took a trip off the coast there for operational training. and the 97 experienced its first landings and takeoffs of Navy planes. Then we loaded up with planes and passengers and really put to sea. fNote: that jaunt down the Wfest Coast is scoffed at by the Regular Navy. Do you call that sea duty? j THE HOLLANDIA got underway 10 Ululy. Shortly after we had cleared the harbor. Cfomdr Brown announced to all hands that our desti- nation was Espiritu Santo. The trip will take' N funn.. XF-i XX --ii ign1 '-Q--mv W i 1 l

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f' Terminal Island from 29 AUgUSf fo 20 Sflatfm' SHIRT MANGLER long enough to see much. The officers were a bit more fortunate. Russ De Alvarez, Kris Kristofak, and Art Walsh bummed a ride to a hospital, MOB 8, where Russ was pretty certain he'd find at least one doctor he'd known in civilian life. He found two, and Kris found another he'd known at indoctrination school at Princeton. They proved to be good hosts. There were a few pretty nurses at the club there, but all the HOLLANDIA boys could do was look. But that was something at a place like Guadalcanal. From Guadalcanal back to Espiritu for another short stay and for more work, then back to the States. We were routed this time to Port Hueneme, up the coast a way from Los Angeles. Coming into Hueneme on 27 August we en- countered fog that really was fog. We were delayed for hours getting to our berth. But we finally made our assigned position, and again there was plenty of work unloading air- craft. But there was one good thing about our two-night stay at Hueneme. Because of a foul-up, we had received no mail after our first stop at Espiritu, and the HOLLANDIA was hungry for letters. They came-and how they came! Some men received 70 or 80 letters, some a bit less, but everyone had plenty of mail to read, some old, some new. And when you're a seagoing man, there is nothing like mail to cheer you up. It shortens the weeks and the miles, for it lets you know that the folks back home are thinking of you, are with you in spirit. From Hueneme we proceeded to Terminal Island at San Pedro for our first availability, We were at ber, and what a madhouse was the I-I0x-I.AIsIDlAl Yard workers took over completely. TINY '1PPCd and they tore. They removed this, installed that, and by the time they had finished, the 97 seemed like a new ship. They installed, Admiral's quarters, and We thought we were going to be made 21.fla85h'P' But we never did get an Admiral. They improved the flight deck, the hangar deck, the sleeping quarters of both officers and men. They prettied up the open bridge. They overhauled the engines. They did everything. It was here that the hrst leave was granted. Six days for the starboard watch, six for port. :BEFORE LEAVING San Pedro we spent two days at a cargo pier, which meant more work for all hands. Then on 21 September we were off to Manus again with more planes and passengers. We reached Manus 10 October, and what a dif- ference! On our first trip to Manus wehad seen a few ships in the harbor. Although Seabees were working like mad, the base still was in a forma- tive stage. But when we arrived the second time, the harbor was just jammed with ships of war. CV's, CVE's, battleships, cruisers both heavy and light, destroyers, transports, and tankers were everywhere. And the base itself really had grown. The Seabees had accomplished plenty. We soon found out that all those warships made up the Third Fleet and that they were about to start on a really important mission. What that mission was we didn't know at the time, but we knew it was big. As it turned out, the Third Fleet was about to steam over to the Philippines for the invasion of Leyte on 20 October. Wfe had no part in that invasion of course, but many of the planes and passengers we had carried out took an important part in the bitter fighting necessary on land and sea before Nimitz's Navy and MacArthur's Army secured that foothold which led to complete liberation of the important islands we had lost at the start of the war against japan. We were at Manus for only two days, but both officers and men were a bit more fortunate in get' fi 'i.4E-IFAWCO' 1