Hornet (CVA 12) - Naval Cruise Book

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HORNET VARSITY BASEBALL TEAM Won 12 - Lost 2 Front How, left to right: Sherrard, R., Percival, J., McLaughlin, J., Wakeling, A., Zanin, F., Dinnel, J., Ohsbar, H., Russamono, R. Rear Row: Corbitt, F., Payne, H., Soergel, D., LTfjgJ J. Gorman, Pearson, A., Kraus, H., Mains, C., Alexander, J. Missing from Picture: O'Connor, J., Manager. SOFTBALL TEAM Won 15-Lost 3 Kneeling, left to right: Waara, Manager, Colavito, Hoelting, ENS Henson, Coach, LT'CjgJ Berman. Stand- ing: Crawford, Bialoglow, Leming, Bettis, Chennault, Lake, Smith. . --Z HORNET BASKETBALL TEAM Won 70-Lost 13 Front Row, left to right: Jones, K., Manager, Sherrard, R., MacLaughlin, J., Parrmeiter, R., Manager. Back Row: O'Connor, J., Kraus, H., Manning, W., ENS James J. Gorman, Coach, Mains, C., Soergel, D., Payne, H. Missing from Photo: Schmitto, W., Kline, E., Evan- gelisto, A., Reynolds, E. SOCCER TEAM Top Row, left to right: Zaccaro, J., Marshall, B., Miller, J., Hans, J. V., ENS F. G. Walker, Notini, E. J. Middle Row: ENS R. C. Myers, Zanin, F. P., Williamson, K., Shihadeh, M. Y., McCloskey, E. R. Bottom Row: Walk, R. L., John, W. J., Coleman, M. G., Celler, R. E., Thacker, J. E. B B ' f 11 '- '4-'-L-A-'11- '-sil'Nun.f.a-a-rn-445.1 -J fix-Q-vp-. --1-....f-f---'.

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Tzsvxusm 1nmr.:a..xfo5.-'..2z:a,4x:.gwg: c..v.ei52.f-:Sires Q-1: P+' of 1-f 'fL5QL:'1:'fLJ'7SU?-. Y E0-F1fliPl','1.i'f F4Qii1i?5Efi1'TeQE5':'72'?1-'FST-1-TQ? A - r . '-: . .j , 1 :pw V , , , . Fas' DETACHMENT MIKE L 9 .5 , if g LCDR D. G. JACKSON, USN 5. 5415.5 v,5- I CL .A ' . f Mlwf- -:J ,' ':i':j . .24 , I ' fri' .31 0 ' . . . . . . ' Cemn' Urge . f A 1 E R A ,A ...H rpe ar, . . Hanley, T. C. Nelson, R. E. ' f .eff ' '- . 5 f'11f+2i'.ffi f L ' ' Card, A. L- Isbell, M. J. Perry, F- E- +... A H ..,, ..-r Chacon, Iquczynskis Pratt, I Davls, L. P. Majors, M. C. Stringer, V. C. f LT W- R- Zlmbeck Drlver, G. D. Marston, D. R. Trivette, H. E. LT J- F- Cfmdfen Dykema McBride, S. s. Weum, K. V. , LT C. R. Monthan Edwards, F. Meadows, H. W. Wild, W. F. LT fj gl N. Kuehnl Hackett, T. Myers, Always out in front. J. B. ff -.,1 '-mfssrwfmmf 'wwf X . fy., qs- .w.,',, .. 4 ,az I ' 1 I' ' .VJWW , . . i J... 1 f l . 1 L 5 . ' ' ' V V' ,pa .. T -. l - A - P1 A V . I .TL fl .. wiyf Lx I .7 U-5fg.,. ,, ' 47 5 1 Lf ' xii: ,IL ,wil ' H the n 7 , frl i . ii'ii1'1s - fl' ' fi' m'wf .,.-1. ALF ,, ,.:'. . , ,,7 ry, 1 M 1 , '!'. -If-T, - 2 V :'ij.. 1w- has I W ss' . M , .. , .-., I. - . . . ' f. , V , , .-' H' ij, M, ,u M . -- ,f X -5 f ff -,..Q.g3g , 713577 -1 ' 'Taft .553 ,, ' ff-A X ' f Our three birds. Where was this taken? We fix 'em. , , We wreck 'em. f Jack of all trades. The Hight deck jockeys. They never fail. 171 ,, 71?-if-T557-3:-':E71-51.3 J 1.Lf'T'J.-'TiJ7i.T7 ?1Q'T.LA3T.'?Q3TQJi.?j F? 'rl' U I-I U ill L! LI 34-3 I-5' 9-Jus ij La-'BYTSYTN3' QLFQI' Tzji, 'K

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'ir' V- - ' -i ' ' - - ,-,-,f ,-,, , Y ' ,.-.. s- - -rt . ,I-1 - N l I I - - .- fi -li , ,, -F tel- J.: il -il.- L. in L.. .-. .,.n, ,t, . . ,Lv ft-. I,--Sf 'if .1 -eJv:1t Q1 -17 -1 -4-1' -1 -'f ff- , -ng , ,- PM .. Reprinted, courtesy of SAGA magazine The fabulous Hornet, which took part in the tense rescue of passengers of the British airliner shot down by the Reds in the China Sea last summer, was taken out of mothballs some time ago and refitted. During her final maneu'vers before joining the Pacific Fleet, Seymour Ettman- spent a week aboard her, getting material for the story of her achievements and those of the seven fighting predecessors to bear her famous name. N a warm Sunday afternoon in May, I climbed up the port gangway to the quarter-deck of the aircraft carrier Horn-et, the eighth ship of that name in the tubulent history of the United States Navy. I was promptly guided to the Wardroom mess, where Lt. Commander Dan johns took me in tow. Commander johns, Hornet weather man and public information officer, is a mustang- an officer who came upfrom the ranks. The servic-e is his pride and the Hornet is his joy. His enthusiasm for The Fighting Lady and for the Navy in general is infectious, I'm convinced that if he ever cuts himself shaving, he'll bleed Navy blue. The Hornet, a fast task-force carrier of the Essex class, was due to get under way in the morning. There was nothing for me to do that night but pay my resp-ects to the bridge and work out a kind of road map which would take me through the labyrin- thian passages between deck frames. Top- side and below, I felt I could figure outfor myself. Before I turned in, I walked along the huge hangar deck and gawked at the planes-Panthers, Banshees, Cougars, and AD's. They roosted like falcons with folded wings, sleek and trim and deadly. They sure look mighty fast, I said to Dan. . Fast? he echoed. These jets .go through the sound barrier within l5 min- utes of the time we cat them off! Routinely?,' I asked. Q Routinely as beans, he said. And if the wind was right, the Cougars could prob- ably do it in ten. . It was hard to believe that on this same hangar deck-just ten short years before- jet was only the color of coal, and the only sound barrier anybody knew was the boom- ing of the big guns of the Imperial Fleet in Saipan Channel. In those days, the hot planes were Avengers and Hell-divers, and it was the flak that gave the boys the most trouble. Admiral Marc Mitscher, who once had commanded Hornet number seven hims self, was heading up Task Force 58 when the japdieet, after a year and a half of hiding, showed up in the Marianas to chal- lenge American supremacy in the waters of the Western Pacific. I . That afternoon of june 20, 1944, WHS 3 field day for the Hornet. Her combat .air patrol flushed the first Nips in the strike. Since the days of the American Revolution she's sailed the seas in many guises. But cutter, sloop or aircraft carrier, shefs a ship of destiny. By VVhile,the fighters scratched meatballs right and left-402 planes were destroyed by the task force in that single- day-the H0rnet's bombers bagged a first-line carrier of the king-size SHOKAKU class, and the tor- pedo squadron knocked out a nice medium CHOKAI class cruiser. The fighters went a little out of their line and dropped a 500-pounder on a carrier of the I-IITAKA class. It started a lovely fire. And all this at the cost of one bomber crew which never mad-e it back to be tail-hooked home. Not every day aboard the Hornet is as memorable as that afternoon of the First Battle of the Philippine Sea, but few duty days are dull. When the smoking lamp goes out and the bull horn squawks and the ship heads into the wind for a launch, there's always action enough and to spare. On my first night out, while- we were off the Carolina coast, there was. a qualifying launch. The Hornet was traveling with three West Coast squadrons, and the pilots were new to the ship. Group tactics and recovery were on the air operations schedule for the night. I was down in the ready room while the pilots waited for the 20-minute call. 'The boys were all in their gear. The briefing was over and the jets were posi- tioned on the flight deck and on the ouija board in the control room. One of the pilots, Lieutenant J. K. Ar- thur, was checking his Very pistol. I watched him slip it back into his holster. Lieutenant johnny Wright was fitting me into a spare LSO suit, since I was going out to the Landing Signal Oflicer's platform to see the jets come in. Red Volz, com- mander of Fighter Squadron 91, poked his crew-cut head through the door to hunt for the CAG-Jim Hedrick, Commander of the Air Group. Then Lieutenant Freddy Foxton, the LSO from Squadron 94, dropped by to pick us up. It's about that time, Fred said. VVe'd better get on back there. We took the escalator up to the blacked- out flight deck and walked cautiously be- tween the parked planes. Lieutenant Ernie Hubbard, the third LSO, was on the plat- form waiting for us. Up forward, the cats began to howl as the jets leaped into the dark. The launch had begun. It was a peculiar kind of night. Around us, the sea sparkled with phosphorescence in a tight circle. Beyond was a perimeter of E -uf. - r 1- r 4 : - '- .,-if-...g :i'- - v.'1'?t it'4 , SEYMOUR ETTMAN fog. There were stars if you looked straight up and nowhere else. Kind of like w-e're in a milk bottle, Ernie Hubbard said. He was right. The Hornet seemed- to be in a shaft of clear weather which accom- panied her through the per-egrinations of her course. We stood around talking about flying and fishing and home. Beneath us the sea swirled past like the rush of time. In the distance the destroyers blinked dimly through the fog. Before long, the first fiight of'jets roared above us in tight formation, then climbed upstairs to begin their breakup and landings approach pattern. Johnny Wright took the paddles in his hands and stepped up front. Fred plugged in the light jack, and johnny, with rows of tiny lamps on the bands of his LSO suit, was immedi- ately lighted up like a Christmas tree. The Banshees circled the ship again. Ernie Hub- bard kept his eyes trained on their fire. Johnny, he said tensely, that last ban- jo peeled off to starboard flying low. johnny Wright tried to stare into the murky blackness that closed in from the right. How low? Too low. I didn't se-e him complete the turn. How was his fire? Freddy Foxton asked anxiously. Looked okay from here. But he was mighty low. How cold is that water. Did anybody take a look at the board? Fifty-four, Hfty-six. Somethinglike that. If he dunks, the cans might pick him out before he gets too cold. All of us turned to look at the destroyers, wheeling a parallel course into the wind. What happens now? I asked. How will we know? . If he hit, Ernie said, we should be seeing his tracers right about- 'He never finished the sentence. A red signal liare shot high into the murk from about two miles off the starboard beam, glowed for a brief instant and then faded away. He's down! johnny said. He dropped his paddles, yanked out the jack, and shout- ed to the white-hats in the phone well. Plane down! Throw over everything you've got! Flares, smokebombs, the works! I'm coming down to help! 173 y 3 ffl ' Le n' -, 'N' . Ili' I 3'- Efnz' , 'Ffh I I