LST (491) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 46 text:

THE OL, DOUBLE TROUBLE and it was much appreciated. The Red Cross sponsored a ball game between the ship and the Repair Base Per- sonnel. The Navy provided a truck and everybody was taken out to the country to play ball. After the game all had hamburgers and Coca-Cola, which the Red Cross girls provided. And Oh-yes, the Repair Base team won the game. 28

Page 45 text:

OPERATION OVERLORD LST, which was already beached, ripping a hole in our bottom and causing the main engine room to take wa- ter. When the tide went down we off-loaded our troops and cargo, and the engineers and ship-litters repaired the hole. We retracted from the beach about 0400, june 19, and sailed for Southampton that day. We were awaiting orders to enter the dry-dock for repairs, but no space was available. After a delay of several days we sailed on june 23 for Newport, Eng- land. The night before a liberty party had gone ashore. A large number of the men could not get back to the ship as the liberty boat developed motor trouble, and thus those left behind had to travel over land from Southampton to Newport. In a few days we arrived in Newport and there entered the dry-dock for repairs. The bottom was repaired, scrapped, and painted and the screws changed. N'Ve all enjoyed our stay in New- port. It was a friendly little town and not damaged by the bombers. On july 3, we moved to Penarth, Wales, where we proceeded to load the gear and equipment of the Amphibious Repair Base for transfer to the Mediterranean Area. We had an extended stay in Penarth and thus it was possible for all hands to receive a 48-hour liberty to visit London and other places of interest. We shall not forget the American Red Cross Station in Penarth. The Red Cross girls were very kind to all of our men. There were a half dozen or so Eng- lish women who came to the Red Cross Station three times a week to sew clothes for the American Sailors. This was their way in saying Thanks to the Yanks, 27

Page 47 text:

l 6 Mediterranean Adventure On july 17 we sailed from Penarth, Wales, for Falmouth, England, where we joined a convoy which was enroute to the Mediterranean. The convoy con- sisted of 28 LST's, 35 LCI's, and the escort- 7 Ameri- can destroyers and the Flag, The Cruiser Marblehead. On July 24, we arrived at Gibraltar. Gibraltar was quite impressive to most of us. We had studied in school about this great fortress, and we realized that the Strength of Gibraltar was now a concern of the United States, as well as that of Great Britain. The third night out from Gibraltar was a hectic one. An emergency turn to port had been ordered by the Convoy Commander to get clear of ships approach- ing ahead. One ship turned to Starboard and collided with the Commodore's ship. fThis was the LST 504, not the USS Marblehead, as the Marblehead had left the convoy to enter the port of Algiers that aftemoonj All ships were under dark ship regulations and soon the convoy lost its neat formation and became some- what scattered. It wasn't until sunrise that we all re- gained our assigned positions. This was the only excite- ment during the trip and on july 27, we arrived at Bizerte, Tunisia. It was a difficult job entering the ' 29