Hopewell (DD 681) - Naval Cruise Book

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considering moving to another island. After refueling and giving all hands a few hours ashore to take pictures of the Gooneys, or have a few short ones, whichever idea seemed the more attractive at the moment, we were off again with our next stop Yokosuka. One day out of port, we ran into our first real taste of bad weather. The veterans of the last cruise said it was nothing like back off Formosa in the old days, but still there weren't many people to be found out of their bunks, except for the watch. Then one morn- ing it was calm, and there on the horizon was Fuji, and we knew that soon we would be in our home away from home, Yokosuka. After a short availability, we were off for the island of Formosa, and our tour of patrol duty. Until we arrived, patrol duty had been just that, steaming up and down a section of the coast until fuel was needed and then heading in to cos- mopolitan Keelung for fuel, provisions, movies, and LIBERTY. The morning we first saw Keelung, it was raining, and for the rest of our time in the area, each time we entered the port, we were met by precipitation, sometimes just a drizzle or mist, but always wet. ' ' ' T WSF - .. MlR.rMw.nE0:anm-J,'g1Q.

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Early on the morning of Tuesday, 4 lanuary, the USS HOPEWELL hauled her last line on deck, and therewith began her fourth cruise to the Western Pacific since her recommissioning. As we steamed past Point Loma, some of us were already contemplating the number of days until 22 May, when, according to the employment sched- ule, we would again hit the beach in San Diego, but the thoughts of others were already turning ahead to the ports we were to visit in the Far East. After a smooth trip to Pearl Harbor, we were greeted on the pier by a troupe of grass-skirted hula girls who danced on the guarterdeck, while the crew clambered over the superstruc- ture in search of vantage points to watch andfor take pictures. During our all-too-short stay in Pearl, all hands Cwith the exception of a few ofl the old- timers who had been there too many times beforel spent their liberty hours terrorizing the natives in such spots as The Royal l-lawaiian, Don the Beachcombers, and Waikiki Beach. Then we were underway -for Mid- way, arriving there on a day when the wind and rain were so disagree- able that even the Gooney-birds were

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During our stay in picturesgue For- mosan waters, we assisted in sup- port of the Tachen lsland evacuation, and spent most of the rest of our tour in the area running errands up and down the coast, from Matsu to Que- moy. Then one fine day fno one no- ticed the rain that dayl our reliefs ap- peared, and we were heading for Yokosuka, and a few days respite from the rigors of Condition lll. Never a dull moment however, and just as we were getting settled down in Yokosuka again, we headed for Okinawa for ASW operations with the Princeton and a division of British and Canadian destroyers. About this time we learned that we had been granted a diplomatic pass to visit Singapore. We also learned, to the chagrin of all polliwags aboard, that on the way we were to cross the Equator. For several days prior to that most infamous day in HOPEWELL history, l4 March l955, strange things were happening. Several times a day word would be passed for All shellbacks lay up to the CPG quarters, and woe be unto the polliwog who happened