LST (925) - Naval Cruise Book

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NO KIDDIN' ! Lies, more lies, and then statistics! But any way here are a few facts that may be of interest to some of us, and may seem quite unbelievable to others. The total ESTIMATED cost to the United States Government lthat's usl for the U.S.S. LST 925 comes to about 34,295,3l6.00. We arrive at that figure when we take into considera- tion the following items: To build the ship cost about 33,000,000, and to outfit her cost about 3l',000,000, so we started off with a pretty fair debt in the very beginningQ'fTheA cost of items requisitioned since commis- sioning totals around -3l75,000f'the cost of the food we atewas 343507, and the-A cost of feeding the army while it ' was . a b o a rd fwas 31l,3l4. Don't forget that we got Tbangedup a bit and that ran into a little pocket money. The-cost of 'availability and repairs runs about 335'0.,000, and the cost of anchoring, or .mooring in port plus the pilot's fees totaled about 32,500. Diesel fuel cost about 325,000, and training the crew was quite a little expenditure in itself-about 340,- 000. Then there are all of our pop guns to be considered and the dol- lars which they blasted away in smoke, about 350,000 would be a fair estimate of what the ammunition cost. And last, but by no means least on this debt side of the ledger, is the cost of paying everybody. A modest guess would be about 3l00,000. Now we come to the deduction side. This is really a rough estimate, but there is not too much to go on except the prices which were obtained after the last war. The equipment should bring about 3250,000 when sold, and thescrap value is another 3250,000, so that leaves a total net cost to Uncle Sam, of about 34,295,3l6, which is what we said at the first. Now if you take into consideration the fact that we landed two hundred and fifty- four officers and men, and that was our sum total of productive effort, then you can arrive at a cost of 3l6,- 9l0 per man it cost the Navy to land those Army men in Lingayen Gulf. Or, if you want to consider what the cost of this ship is to the average tax- payer, and you should for you are one of them, you can divide the sum total by 40,000,000 and arrive at a cost of about l0V2c each. Here are a few more items which may be of interest. The total number of rations fed to officers and enlisted men was 69,l03 and the number fed to the army was 7,530 Not many can guess within five of how many en- listed men have reported aboard for duty, but at present the figure stands at l63. We requisitioned over' 6,000 separate items of G-SK, used approxi- mately 403,7l4 gallons of fuel, and l,l79,374 gallons of fresh water. We also used 2,500 gallons of paint, a sizeable but understa dlable little fig- ure. Bender warmed aqnout 3,500 cans of beans: fried nearly 20,000 pounds of beef, and we ate around l5,000 eggs. We fired 25,000 rounds of am- munition, and the Conn Girls sent and received 6,300 messages. The censoring board chopped up 27,000 letters. . As we said at the start, these fig- ures are only approximately correct, so we can't quite say, Believe lt Cr Not, but they are close enough so that you can use them as the basis for a pretty good argument. IN MEMORIAM-William F. Shepley, loseph C. Follini

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A LITTLE BIT OF NON SENSE REcElvED 5 , ,mm 2139652 M NAVY U5PARTMEruT LIBRART 1 .J

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THE ASIATICS What do I know about the crew of the 925? Well mister, if I were to tell you all I know aboutvthose boys I would be talking for a long time land a couple of skeletons would rat- tle quite noisilyl but perhaps I can give you an idea of what they are like by telling you about a few of the more exemplary members. I guess a good place to start would be on that fateful night in Lingayen Gulf. Yep, that night when we were so rudely awakened was surely filled with many a strange and humorous incident. lust ask feather-merchant Zeiss. To this day he can't figure out why his twelve gauge shotgun re- fused to blast those Nips out of the water. Of course, the fact that he was using thirty caliber ammunition did- n't have any bearing on the case at that time. Turk Schneider, our strictly USN man, had quite a time too. I'Ie was on the fantail drinking his forty-third cup of joe when he heard some kind of gibberish down by the waterline so he leaned out over the rail and bellowed down in true coXwainly fashion, Say, wot in the ell's goin on down there? The rather impolite answer which he re- ceived was sufficient to satisfy his curiosity. Must have thought one of those laps didn't like him. No towels with the shower, either! Poor Pop I-Ieffner had a legitimate gripe, and probably gave vent to his long pent- up emotions as he groped around in the dark for those pearly choppers which the Nips had blown right out of his mouth. Plunger in hand, he raced for his battle station, only to fall back down through an open hatch and begin the search all over again. Pop wasn't haIDDY unless he had the short end of the stick, and he certainly had it that night. I.et's leave the battle .zone now and see what some of the boys do during the working!?! day. First of all there is bother Berkeley. I-Ie keeps one eye on his brood and the other on that sacred. solitaire game which he is always playing on the sick bay desk. The statistics he keeps show that out of ll,394,7l91A1 games of var- ious species he has won-3. You can see that he has perseverence. Of course, I must tell you about that fellow who just' came aong for the ride, old Yunk we call him. I-Ie claims to be Irish but with a name like that, plus a nose LIKE THAT I am a bit dubious. It is rumored that he has been the subject of many well known rhymes. Anyone can tell you! After our little mishap in Lingayen everybody was missing numerous items of clothing which were SUP- POSEDLY trapped in the squashed laundry compartment. A post mortem uncovered two of Frietas' skivvy shirts, but the explanation is not so baffling when you consider the fact that Yum Lum and Eddie have been shipping home numerous pack- ages ever since, and they have been bragging about their post war ambi- tions-the operation of an Army- Navy store. Not very subtle Eh! Advice on the body comes from that man with the perfect physique, Dewey Miller. I-Iave you ever no- ticed that build? It reminds me of a l926 Franklin with an underslung chassis and a spare in front of the radiator. Scuttlebutt has it that Dew- ey has been modeling for Form- Fit. I-Iis feature was a girdle boast- ing three way support! Dewey and Dewey have been seen together recently entertaining some of the shipyard cuties. While Dewey Sen- ior was making a floperoo of line number forty-seven, Dewey junior was making a hit with all the gals. No flies on his jungle juice cordials