Hollandia (CVE 97) - Naval Cruise Book

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What's the use of being an old salt, all slicked up in tailor-mades, he said, when the boots get all the women ? Brackeen's shipmate-who must remain anony- mous-had had too many girl-friends. Or one too many, at any rate. He had gone ashore with 3400 in cash, a good part of which he was going to send home in money order form. But before making the post office he decided to join a couple of pals for a sociable drink-just one drink. When the pals left, he found himself seated next to a good- looker he didn't know. He ordered drinks for her and for himself. He remembers the next half hour or so. After that a large blank. He came to several hours later-alone and in a strange place, with NO dollars in his pocket. The Padre spent his leave in Los Angeles, and apparently he spent it quietly. Not so Kristofak, Alexander, and Walsh. They say that when they were together, single drinks were unheard of. Every drink ordered was a double at least. And one night, in the Zebra Room of the Town House, Vance ordered a quadruple stinger. Ordered it and drank it with- out batting an eyelash. HE HOLLANDIA crossed the equator eight times, the 180th meridian 14 times during our first 16 months as a seagoing Navy ship. We first crossed the equator 24 July 1944 on our first trip to the Far Pacific. It is customary to hold crossing the line ceremonies for all Pollywogs the first time they sail across the equator, but our festivities were delayed because of crowded con- ditions aboard ship. The ceremonies were held on the way back to the States, 18 August. The pictures of the ceremonies will tell the story It is sufficient to say here that King Nep XXXX tune held court and put the poor Pollywogs through some mighty stiff paces before accepting them as Shellbacks of his realm. Capt. Lee and Comdr. Brown were interested spectators and also chipped in with suggestions for special treatment for certain Pollywogs. It goes without saying that their suggestions were for extra punishments, not milder ones. There was no initiation for crossing the Inter- national Date Line, but we were admitted into the Order of the Golden Dragon when we did so. Those crossings were important parts of our Navy life. For one thing, they made us a part of a tradition that goes way, way back. In addi- tion, they helped show us just how big this world is. Because when you reach the equator or the 180th meridian-brother, you're a long, long way from home. During our months at sea up to 1 October 1945 the 97 sailed approximately 120,000 miles. ow, as this book goes to press, the HOL- LANDIA begins its new peacetime career as a personnel transport, under its new Skipper, Capt. Wakeman, who has already demonstrated that his understanding and his interest in his men match his skill as a sailor. Old faces are gone. Joe Anderson has taken over the Engineering Department, Ray Russell is Navigator, Bill Pyromaniac Hutchins has taken Phil Cheney's job as First Lieutenant. Communi- cations are in the able hands of Tony Finger. Dave Rice is Gunnery Ofhcer, Georve Budde Air C Ofiicer. And Comdr. Max Jacobson heads up the Medical Department. But she's still the U.S.S. HOLLANDIA, Old 97 to us vtho serxed aboard her the best ship in the Nasy In Capt Lee s vs ords Keep er so' awk fe' QQ? 7 7 Y 7 1 l . . V . - . V D A , V , U , ',, KK i ing. ' N N Tex --i Fo - N N Q W' WI .- 'bggg MW 5 ' 4

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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

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