LST (491) - Naval Cruise Book

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.......... .,..--.-m---- M..-M-..,.,.,. Q 1 4 if 5 E y EASTWARD Ho! -- DESTINATION U. K convoys did encounter some trouble. An undetermined number of German boats attacked the convoy as it was approaching the practice assault area, and caused considerable damage. When the practice operation was completed we sailed to Dartmouth, England, which is another of the beautiful little towns along the Southern shore of Eng- land. It was difficult to enter this harbor as the ap- proach channel was very narrow. The town seemed to be sandwiched between the hills, and the quaint little brightly painted houses presented a lovely picture. Many of our men visited Dartmouth College, which is located on the top of the hill overlooking the bay where the LST's were nested by two's and moored to buoys. Dartmouth College had been a military college similar to our West Point Military Academy. Now the buildings were being used by the American Navy as a headquarters base. We sailed in a few days for Weymouth, towing a rhino ferry, and remained at anchor there for several days. On May 6 Commander C. Guillott was ordered to report to Plymouth to assume command and duties of Commander LST Flotilla Ten. On May 7 we re- ceived orders to return to Plymouth. On entering Ply- mouth the next day we noticed a great number of new LST's which had recently arrived from the States. The harbor was so crowded that we had to anchor in the vicin- ity of the nets, very close to other ships. The condition of the tide was such that we would not swing and thus there was no danger. 19

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THE or! DOUBLE TROUBLE turned to Plymouth. When we returned to Plymouth we received aboard Commander J. C. Guillott, fCommander LST Group 295 USN, and his staff, including the following: Lt. fjgj A. C. Coates QGroup Communications Officerj, and Dr. C. E. Daugherty QMCQ Lt. USNR. Enlisted per- sonnel included: Chief Radioman Van der Tuig, Dick- inson, L. M., SM2!cg Connington, D. H., RM3!cg Hart, J. T., Y2!cg and Meyers, E., STM2!c. The wrecked city of Plymouth was a tragic example of the immorality and destructiveness of war. A great number of the historic old buildings and churches were in shambles. The city was blacked out each night and the air raids were numerous. Our ship was berthed astern of the Amphibious Force Flagship, U.S.S. Ancon. One night, during an attack by the Nazis, all hell seemed to break loose when the British Anti-aircraft land bat- teries opened iire fthe ships were instructed not to fire as they would disclose their positionj. Flak fell on our deck and wesaw a German plane come down in flames. 0ur next practice operation was again scheduled for May in Slapton Sands, the practice invasion area between Dartmouth and Brixham. It was on a much larger scale and many of our men thought that this time it was the real invasion coming off. Before we de- parted from Plymouth we had a new super-conn con- structed. We loaded the Army again at Brixham and the operation went according to plan. One of the LST 18

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THE o1.' nounuz TROUBLE We sailed the following morning to Salcome, tow. ing an LCT as far as Dartmouth. Salcome is a small town with a population of about 3,000 people. Before the war this town was a seaside resort where people came for their vacations. We had to lay to and await high tide as it was impossible to enter the bay at low tide. As we started through this narrow channel our steering mechanism failed and we had to shift to hand steering. It was a difficult situation, but the skipper handled it nicely. After entering, the ship had to be turned with bow down stream and secured to mooring buoys mid- stream. Six LST's were moored in this small channel and occasionally one would go aground at low tide. Our new Group Commander, Commander W. S. Blair, USNR, reported aboard on May 17. We spent our time in Salcome, training, cleaning the ship and going ashore. We all learned a great deal from Doctor Lawrence's lectures on poison gases. It was believed that the Nazis might resort to gas warfare and thus we did not want to be caught unprepared. While at Salcome the follow- ing men were received aboard: Iaggi, G. E., MoMM2!c3 Welge, B. E., Coxwaing Jolly, R. E., MoMM2fcg and Strohmaier, C. E., MoMM Z! c. One evening we received a message from Admiral Kirk, which was addressed to all American Naval personnel. After chow the Captain called all hands to quarters on the tank deck and read Admiral Kirk's message. The ship was then sealed and we knew then that D day was not far away. On May 31, all of the LST's in Salcome sailed for Brixham, Where we proceeded to the hard and loaded the 252nd Airborne Headquarters Company, U. S. Army, and 20 S ' !