LST (491) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 22 text:

.ws',.fs Q-feQfma3:4fs'fs . .,1,a4s1r...f,,-wg SL-1 --Ax,14:,1r:aff,' :.- f qw if1:faxgg,is-5ff ::f.',-5:3145 3: I' lg f . ,v . . Yfihlllaw , '-5135153221-13235:1:12. K' I I x W Vw, , , ' wkwffww kg, 5 My if V .p 'f'::Q,, x ,mM'W 'ff' MW

Page 21 text:

f 1 ,f 42' , f ,f X y I If of kr! ' Z I Q L 1 ,321 Z , A ' V MZ I E , I 4 4 f b fy, ,, ,f f ,rw 1 f.,v,, -ff' ' ggff' -'X nf ,Jr rr, ff, , ,I A, .f I- v V, 4' fe X ,f I J J W' X' f , ri, I ,f X 1' Our Defense from Jefw lop Boffleshup NGCQCITO Novo! Baie me - . Ng X Inv' ,gc R' CKY 1 ,,,,zf

Page 23 text:

3 The Shakedown . Early Christmas morning we were on our way to Panama City, St. Andrew's Bay, Florida for our shake- down cruise. By noon on Christmas Day, the fog had cleared and it was a beautiful sight to view this 100 miles of meandering Mississippi from New Orleans to the Gulf of Mexico. Our noon Christmas Day dinner was really a wow. The cooks prepared a delicious tur- key dinner with all the trimmings. We all ate, and ate. About 4 o'clock in the afternoon we reached the mouth of the Mississippi and after an hour or so in the choppy waters of the Gulf of Mexico many of us lost our deli- cious turkey dinner. The fish had some turkey that day down Mexico way. We arrived at Panama City, Florida on December 27 and received aboard six boat crews, Ensign j. L. Lovitz, and Ensign B. B. Barger. As our training and operations were intensive, we were kept on the go most of the time. We beached the LST 491 for the first time and also test-fired all guns. Everything seemed quite satisfactoryg we were at last getting to know our ship. On January 9, we received aboard for duty the follow- ing men: Anderson, A. E., S2!c, Barclay, E. F., Slfc, and Russo, F. F., S2!c. Lt. YV. McBrier reported 9 . . , ' 4 4. Y4- ' -,vl vs - - ' A., 5 . . K