Hornet (CVA 12) - Naval Cruise Book

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We waited a long time for our Japanese liberty, but when we finally got it, it was well worth the delay. Yokosuka Harbor looked almost like a miniature Portsmouth as we slid alongside Piedmont Pier: the first time we'd been tied up since Naples. The only incongruous note in the landscape were the tunnels, caves, and dugouts which could be seen in every cliff big enough to house a colony of mice. The familiar bustle of a naval shipyard swept aboard as soon as the plank was down. The little Japanese yard workmen looked strange wearing the same steel hel- mets weid last seen worn in Brooklyn. The same giant cranes lowered over the ship like prehistoric reptiles: even the ships scattered throughout the harbor looked like fleet landing at Norfolk. It didn't take the crew long to catch on to the yen situation. At first it was a little confusing using both MPC's and yen, not to mention silver change aboard ship. Usually you'd be able to tell a HORNET sailor by going over to the gedunk and watching to see which white hat would haul a handful of change out of his pocket and then turn red as he remembered the play- moneyn MPC's in his wallet. After the first day of liberty the ship took on the look of a bargain basement. The hangar deck was converted into a department store, and the men who returned to the ship after a' sortie into Yokosuka were, as a rule, laden with everything from porcelain pipes to bolts of silk. The EM Club, located off the base in Yokosuka, turned out to be a fabulous place. Every night there was a turnover of bands in its several ballrooms. The big building contained every convenience, in- cluding a yen exchange, ship's stores, sev- eral tap rooms and a large restaurant. Some of the crew went to Tokyo and other localities for R 81 R periods. They always found the Japanese people amiable and glad to help in any way they could. In many ways, 'Japan was more typical, or what you'd expect to be called typical, than any of the other Oriental countries we had visited. In other ways, it was much more modern than would have generally been believed. The terrain around Tokyo Harbor is very hilly. The japanese, whose propensity for industry is persistent enough to 'be a trait, have burrowed tunnels through any hill that happed to stand in their way. Miles and miles of catacomb-like networks can be found burrowed through the' rock. Within these hills, hundreds and hundreds of sailors, marines, soldiers, and representa- tives of every branch of the service can be found. Also, you can find almost anything else you'd care to look for. And nearly everyone did: from good food to knickknacks. 0ur stay in Yokosuka was brief, only two weeks. But that was plenty of time for nearly the entire crew to spend their pay. We only hope that next time we pull into Yokosuka, it will be after having spent three or four months at sea where, as every good sailor knows, it's practically impossible to use up all his funds. uxvnn mnuu cu! annum' Llritr A'1XlI.nX'J1.L 943., lily: , 'ii-1,1 115-ii-1'-Eff i e-gg L A A W - V . .. A

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