LST (530) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 13 text:

V ADDRESS and dedicate this iip's history lo everyone who wrved aboard her during her life h the U. S. Naval Service. The pleasure of writing it be-falls me IS her ex-Commanding Oflicer and may I add with enthusiasm that as I do so it will involve reliving of days, both good and bad, when it was my fortune to serve at sea with a fine ship's company. On the 14th of December in 1943, the nucleus crew of the 530 was first formed, consisting of Lt. tj.g.l G. E. Ragle, Ensigns E. A. Mahoney, Roy A. Black, and F. D. Sullivan, Jr., Swales, Kitchen, Yarger, Pieczinski, Ray, Varnum, Castori, Van Wformer, Daniels, Harrison, Palm, Krisko and my- self. Wfith the exception of our good friend Mr. Black, we were a pretty green, unknowing hunch, headed for an intangible future aboard an LST as yet unbuilt, but there is no one who could say that we did not do a good job, or that we did not make the 530 perform better than any other LST in the U.S. Navy. On January 17, 1944, training at Solomons, Md., was completed. The short cruises we'd had were lure confusing than anything else,

Page 12 text:

Ude to an LST I think that I shall never see A worse ship than an LSTg A ship with graceful lines resemhlin' A mud scow 'fashioned by a gremling A ship whose paint disintegrates n From salt and lesser phosphatesg A ship whose steering engine works With grunts and groans and nervous jerks A ship that doesn't run, but trotsg That labors doing seven knots. Most any ship will try to please, But only GOD loves LST's. ,sa 1 Jw, Q- ME

Page 14 text:

T OLD CON 1 BEACHED AT NORMANDY if IN MID ATLANTIC 1 ful f ' 7 ' ,. M! Xa 'Qi A I ,f , but there was now no doubt in my mind but that I was working with cooperative men, which made me confident that we'd eventually man a good ship . Mid-February saw the comple- ment increasing as all hands reported to Great Lakes for con- centrated anti-aircraft training and some Wfindy City Liberty. At 0800 in Jeffersonville, In- diana, the current crew reported aboard the 530 , the ship that was to take them 70,000 miles and to two wars. There were around- the-town musters later on at such spots as Sealbaclfs Corner and Club Madrid, where the local folk were treated with the presence of many mighty men of LST 530. Un March 6, 1944. in New Or- leans. to the tank-deck-reverberab ing strains of the Star Spangled Banner. I had the honor to assume command at 1000 during the formal commissioning ceremony. I have been proud of it ever since. At 1600 on the same day. Ensign Norman Spooner, USNR. and En- sign Charles Pierce, USSR. fell wp the same gangway which Sizemore