Hollandia (CVE 97) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 24 text:

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

Page 23 text:

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

Page 25 text:

ting on the beach. We had learned much about loading and unloading on our first trip out and we really were in the groove. The Fleet Ofllcers' Club looked like Madison Square Garden the night of a championship fight. Third Fleet oflicers really took over. And they deserved it, because there was hard and bitter work ahead of them. We left Manus 12 October, stopped overnight at Majuro in the Marshalls on the 17th, then went on to the Hawaiian Islands, arriving at Pearl Harbor 23 October. It was our first visit to Pearl. Naturally it was most interesting. The destruction wrought by the Jap sneak attack long since had been repaired, but skeletons of a couple of ships which had been sent to the bottom were visible. But Pearl Harbor was 10070 efficient. We remained overnight, then proceeded to North Island at San Diego, arriving on the last day of the month. Then out again with more planes and passengers on 3 November, to Pearl, Manus, Guadalcanal, and Espiritu, returning to Pearl Harbor on 9 December. ADMIRAL GINDER made his inspection on ll December, and a rigid one it was. He went over the 97 with a fine-tooth comb and he found that we were a clean and efficient ship. Sidelight of the inspection was an incident during the Admiral's review of personnel. It was a hot morning. Admiral Ginder was doing a thorough job, and that meant a slow job. Finally he came to V-3 Division. He hardly had started down the line when there was a thump on the walkway. Art Walsh had fainted and fallen from the flight deck to the hard steel of the walkway, re- ceiving a healthy--or rather unhealthy-crack on the head when he landed. He had to spend nearly a month and a half in two hospitals before returning to duty 27 january 1945. While he was at Pearl, the 97 made its first trip to Ulithi. And Ulithi is another place to which the natives are welcome. We reached Ulithi on Christmas Day 5562, If 411101 .:11. xl Q 12217 - ly Q ANC-if -...1I ' 1- -i-f ,... from Guam back to Pearl. And from Pearl to the States where we had our second availability at San Diego Repair Base. Then back out to Pearl and then to Guam, with more planes and passengers. We returned to Pearl for another stay and from 5 March to 11 March we were in the practice area several miles off Pearl, qualifying squadrons in both day and night landings and takeoffs. Capt. Lee was a master at handling landings and takeoffs, and more than 1000 landings were made on the 97's flight deck. There was one fatality when a plane crashed into the sea. Another pilot took off from the catapult without benefit of the gear when he misread a signal. He took off all by himself using only 80 feet of deck, but smart work on his part brought his TBM through unscathed, although his wheels must have brushed the water. Following these operations the HOLLANDIA again went to Manus, and from there to Ulithi. On this trip we had Marine pilots and planes aboard. After leaving Ulithi we proceeded with three other CVE's to the neighborhood of Oki- nawa. We remained approximately 120 miles south of that island with another of the CVE's while two of them proceeded to within 60 miles, where their pilots flew their planes off to land at an Okinawa airstrip. A Jap suicide plane attacked those first two CVE's but was shot down a few hundred yards from one of them. When the ships re- tired, they passed close to us and reported to Capt. Lee, who was and celebrated the day as happily as was possible in such a place. Then from Ulithi to Guam and BEE. OTC, what had happened. So when we started up, we knew