Hollandia (CVE 97) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 28 text:

Qau- L - l3lfl.-'IJ V Q! iii- The Skipper was on the receiving end in another incident. One of the landlubbers, Remil- lard, was practicing semaphore on our first trip out. An expert, way up forward on the flight deck, was sending messages to him. Remillard's position for this informal drill was directly under the open bridge. He was doing fairly well, but finally his partner sent a word he couldn't read. He signaled for several repeats but still couldn't figure out what was being sent. Finally he heard a voice from the bridge calling out the troublesome word. By this time he was quite fed up with himself and without glancing up he growled: Aw, shut up! Then, and only then, did he look to see who was bothering him. It was Capt. Lee. It was hard to tell who was more surprised and shocked, Remillard or the Skipper. Capt. Lee stood there for a long moment, a puzzled look on his face, then turned to the officer of the deck and said: I guess I got told off. I'll go below and mind my business. And as an afterthought: I'll mind my business from now onf' Then there was the time Capt. Lee decided to test out one of his officers of the deck. One day he quietly instructed the helmsman to give three degrees right rudder and keep it there until the 0.0.D. noticed the error and ordered the neces- sary correction. Well, the ship kept turning and turning until ,f 'X GN 'Y it was on a reciprocal course--and still kept turning. That 0.0.D. received more than a thorough dressing-down. He received a new name that stuck: 180-Degrees. Another time Brosnahan had the boatswain's mate watch on the bridge. He was talking about the gals back home, and Capt. Lee inquired: uSay, Bros, just what is the secret of your suc- cess with the women? Does Macy's tell Gimbel's? was the re- joinder. Then there was the officer's order: Drill holes in those wooden boxes, men, so they'll be sure to sink. And the 0.0.D. who didn't know whether he should grant permission to secure the third engine. And another O.D. who called the bugler to blow tubes. Comdr. Brown was an enthusiastic bridge player. One day, while he was Skipper, he and Kristofak were opposing Comdr. Eastman and Doc Oliver. The Skipper and Kris were trailing by about 1000 points and doing their best to get back in the game. The Boss bid his favorite three no-trump. He and Kris went down five, doubled, and that wasn't good. Did it bother the Skipper? He merely turned to Kris and said: ' Kris, a turn of a card and we'd have made six. Darn the luck. One day early in the game the radarmen were asking their officers what they did before entering the service. Walsh said he was a newspaperman. And a voice from a far corner popped up with, How many papers did you have on your route ? Opal Burch, one of the radar gang, tells one on Bill Lewis. Bill called on Burch to run an errand, but as Burch stood up, his non-regulation white socks were revealed. Lewis said Burch wasn't in proper uniform to do the job, and sent another man. The boys in V-3 decided then and there that if they continued to wear white socks it would mean less work for them. fNeedless to say they didn't get away with itlj A I r u ,ff

Page 27 text:

bravery, which probably saved many of us from serious injury, Scott was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal. We were off Honshu when the laps quit. Back to Guam to await further orders. We remained there for three weeks. The Navy didn't seem to know what to do with us. We hit the beach often, but there was little to do on Guam, and we became tired of going ashore. While we were there we lost Comdr. Brown as Skipper, Capt. Calvin E. Wfakeman, USN, taking command. Comdr. Brown was given a new post, chief of staff to ComCarTransRonPac. Again we hated to lose our Skipper, for Comdr. Brown had carried on with the ability and understanding that had characterized Capt. Lee. Capt, Wakeman was born 9 june 1904 in Hornell, New York, and was graduated from the Naval Academy in the class of 1927. After duty aboard U.S.S. Wfyozzzizzg and U.S.S. Brlzre. he entered naval aviation, completing flight training at Norfolk and Pensacola. A series of aviation assignments followed, including service with squadrons aboard the old Langley and Lexington. On several occasions he returned to Pensacola as an instructor. In 1940 he was assigned as Executive Officer of the Carrier Training Squadron at Pensacola, later moving to Miami to open the air station for advanced flight training. He served aboard U.S.S. Sawz- foga from 1941 until 1944, when he was de- tached for duty at BuPers. From BuPers he came to the HOLLANDIA. bringing with him a wealth of experience both at sea and in the air. We finally received our orders and on 8 Sep- tember we left Guam for Pearl and then pro- ceeded to the States, where we received another availability at Terminal Island. There bunks were installed on the hangar deck and in every other available space to prepare us for our new duty, that of transporting personnel back from the Far Pacific. HAT ENDS the actual ships history, or as much of it as will appear in this book. But the story of Old 97 would be far from coma plete without a few of the highlights which had so much to do with making ours a happy ship. ff The Chink Lee brand of humor contributed many a chuckle aboard. There was the time we were approaching San Francisco early in the morning. It was rough and foggy and dark. The Skipper called down to radar and told the watch officer to keep a sharp lookout for the Faiallon Islands, because we won't know where we are until we locate them. Shortly thereafter the radar operator called in a contact, gave its range and bearing, and said he thought it was the Farallons. The watch officer called up to the bridge: We have what looks like the Farallons, range so and so, bearing so and so. The Skipper kept up continual calls for ranges and bearings, and they were passed along to him. After several minutes the man on the plotting machine said, I think that contact is a ship. It seems to be moving now. The watch officer wasted no time in calling the bridge. But before he could flip the switch, the light flashed and a bellowing voice was heard: Hey! Those Farallon Islands are now under- way! Capt. Lee had been doing a bit of fast plotting on the bridge and he detected the error as quickly as did radar. I-Ie turned the 97 around on a dime and hightailed it for the west, out of danger. A short time later he called down again: If you can really get the Farallons on that gear of yours, I'll head the ship back in. Soon radar did pick up the islands-the real Farallons that timefand the Skipper headed to- ward Golden Gate. And when the sun had risen and the fog had cleared, the HOLLANDIA was in perfect position to make the harbor in short order, x 'N 1? 1 , fx a 4 c nap! JVSY X' d 4' ,-N 'E XA! M X C 'Fora .,,, d unvam f. K 5 ' 1 S Ja' ' 'c eccc 1 ' J --

Page 29 text:

oc Turke had the radar watch on one occasron Radar had .1 plane on the screcn and oe called 1t up to the brrdge rn hrs slow and delrberate New England tashron Bogey bearrng two two zero A pause Drs tance erghteen mules Pause Course zero four zero Pause Speed one erghty Another pause We ve lust rdentrfled that contact as a frrendly plane It wrll pass Wrn Hodge who had the deck broke n Drop rt joe He just passed overhead There was the trme the Arr Department boys were pushmg planes around on the flrght deck durrng loadrng operatrons dorng therr best to complete the job That hard work drdnt seem to rmpress one of the ofhcers up on the brrdge who yelled down to the flrght deck Come on come on there get those planes nn posrtlon The sun s gorng down One of the enllsted men worn out from a full day of tough work turned wearrly and sard Srr 1ts a helluva lot easrer to push these planes around from up there on the brrdge joe Anderson once halted all volleyball act1v1ty whrle he searched for the athletlc olllcer Monk Hodgkrss to strarghten out the darly schedule of athletrcs He srmply approprrated the only ball aboard and carrred rt wrth hrm wh1le he tracked Monk down Those volleyball games were hot and heavy We had a champxonshrp tournament w1th the No 1 olhcers team wlnnrng the honors But the officers had been playrng nearly every day so they really had an edge before the tournament started We had a softball team that was hot It was an enlrsted men s club and comprled a fine record rn splte of drlhculty rn flndlng trme to play We were too often on the hrgh seas But we had one real ace rn the hole Rlcharcl Anderson a radar man who was as good a prtcher as you d expect to frnd anywhere He had speed and control and plenty of stuff on the ball Three and four hrt ters were regular achrevements for hrm Only trouble was that hrs teammates seldom made many more hrts rn a game They lust drdnt play enough to perfect the tlmrng so necessary rn soft 21 NY...-' But they won most of therr games wrth prrn crpal credrt gorng to Andy The basketball team trred hard but they couldnt produce rn satrsfactory fashron Best game they played was therr frnal one at Guam when they battled the USS Penrzrylwznza five down to the wrre only to drop a 32 30 decrsron That fine performance made up rn large measure for some of the drsapporntrng games And rf theyd recerved more practrce they too mrght well have put together a credrtable record agamst other Navy teams We had a track meet on the flrght deck one day see the prctures elsewhere rn thrs book and found the fastest man on the shxp Hartlield a steward whose speed was amazrng He walked away wrth the 100 yard dash and he ran rn hrs bare feet There were shorter SPIIDLS and a relay race but Hartiield was the man that day Capt Lee presented prrzes to all the wlnners BUT or ALL THE HIGHLIGHTS we remember from our months on Old 97 the ones that stand out llke a sore thumb or a sore head are those precrous days ashore on lrberty and leave When Capt Lee learned that Krrstofak and Walsh were plannrng to spend the frrst leave together rn L A he was heard mutterxng that he d have to keep 313300 ready to ball them out Brackeen and a shrpmate of the Frrst D vrsron came back from that leave wxth OPPOSILG complarnts Brackeen s grrpe vms No gals I-1 lf'-lvl