LST (925) - Naval Cruise Book

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Iuly 23 Yesterday we tinkered with our new toy. One man was lost over- board, at least Clemons and Thorn- ton thought so, but they finally put the small boats back. Again the port booby hatch caught fire. Quite a fire hazard, that booby hatch. Bender an- ticipated collison drill and was ready with the mats before breakfast. Last night Doc I-lagenbush reassembled his vi b r a t i n g-alternating-oscillator and finally saw something in the radar. We really don't think he knew what it was, but we changed course three d egrees anyway, and this morning we reached ATB Little Creek. Shumake claimed it wasn't really so little, but Crestol disagreed, rather violently. l-le was going to stab Shu- make, in a friendly manner, but de- cided to think it over all by himself. Iuly 24 Off for Cornfield Point where the next ten days became rather busy ones. The Chief practiced kedging the stern anchor, O'Brien forgot all about a certain hatch at GQ but was not too badly mangled, and the alarm was sounded for the first gen- uine fire. Geering passed the word that this was NO DRILL, but all the excitement subsided when we found that a reversed galley blower was the cause of all the smoke. Schmidt reluctantly put his rescue breather back, and Mote admitted he had been practicing. We had a little col- lision with the 1023 one night and almost tore one of her bow doors off. Five days in the Navy Yard would fix our starboard davit. No complaints were registered. On the morning be- fore we left Cornfield Point we made our full power trials and found that from going ahead flank we could- stop dead in the water in one and one-half minutes. Some brakes! August 4 We tied up in the Portsmouth Navy Yard today. Rose and D e r r i n g e r wanted to go moose hunting up north The Commission Pennant Wa.s H oisted Aloftv

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LEST WE FORGET lt was warm that morning of Iuly fifteenthas we stood at attention in our clean white uniforms, but we didn't feel the heat very much. We were all thinking-wondering just what the next year, or the next two years, would mean to each of us as a member of the crew of the ship we were about to put into commission. Could we have had the ability to see into the future, some of us would have felt our stomachs sink as we heard Lieutenant Commander Smith accept the LST 925 for the United States Navy: others of us would have be- come eager for the experiences that were ahead, as we heard Bos'n Floyd McDaniel Furr read the order which directed him to assume command. At 0946 Navy Time the commission pen- nant was hoisted aloft and the 'first command was given, Mr, Cooke, set the watch. No one remembered the hour, and few remembered the day. Those were not important things to remember. This was the beginning of a rather intimate life within a very confined space which would grow smaller with time. lt was this begin- ning that we did remember. Work on the new LST which lay alongside the Marginal Loading Pier at Bethlehem l-lingham Shipyards had stopped for a few minutes during the commissioning ceremony, but as soon as. the last prayer was con- cluded workers again swarmed over the ship, swabbing on paint, welding and chipping, and installing numer- ous items of miscellaneous equip- ment in a last mad rush. Soon she would be complete in every detail and would go to sea. lt would be up to us to sail her, yet only,a handful of us had ever been to sea before. Undoubtedly our first trip would prove an adventuresome experiment. We turned in late that nightp some of us might as well not have turned in at all. There was too much going on. Workers tramped about in the ship all night, and everything was still in an uproar. All hands set the special sea de- tail. lt took quite a while to get the word passed around the first time. The officer of the deck was afraid of committing a calamitous error and didn't get the ball rolling very fast. His messenger almost got lost below, but the special sea detail was finally set. At least the first entry l-L B. Smith made in the quartermaster's notebook asserted this accomplishment. After successfully backing away from the pier Cand without knocking it overlb we slowly picked our way through Boston Harbor and a short while later tied up for the purpose of deperming. Iuly 17 We cast off without too much diffi- culty this morning and headed for Commonwealth Pier Five. As we eased in past the transport West Point she began to lower her davits, but realized her mistake before we were hoisted aboard. Tomorrow we would put in a full day loading pro- visions, and tomorrow Louie Frietas would be logged as the first man ACL. . Iuly 20 Hasul joined up with us today, and as he came up the gangway he was preceded by one hundred and thirty- two pipe wrenches which the COD, Mr. Poyle, tried to steer into the arm- ory. Dog began to eat dog as far as supplies were concerned. Louie's sea bag was sent ashore this morningp Louie returned this afternoon. His tim- ing was a little off, but he would sail with us tomorrow. Slated to leave Boston in a traditional fog, the radar would get its first big chance. Now let's see, who knows how to work that stuff, anyway? L

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somewhere, so they went. Hagadone, Tomasso, and Nunziato came aboard. Tomorrow we would go alongside the 1028 for the first time. Our week in the Navy Yard brought the usual routine repairs and alterations, and everybody made a concerted effort to have a pretty good time. Schneider ran into a couple of boys who became such good friends of his that they came all the way back to the ship with him, but they didn't stay long. Tut! Tut! August 11 y We headed out for a run up to New York today-most of us, that is. Cun- ningham was having such a good time in New York that he didn't get back to Norfolk in time to go back to New York with us. 1-le was a little surprised about the whole affair. August 15 Three days ago we tied up at Pier 51, North River, and so far there have been no casualties. Moyer, McBee, Prestwood,XGi1bertson and Beverly reported aboard today. Cunningham came back to see how we were mak- ing out and decided to stay. Two hundred and ten dozen eggs were brought aboard. Most of us only got to work over one hundred and five dozen, as those things are divided on the fifty-fifty basis, you know, fifty for me and fifty for you all. Once again the fire alarm had to be accom- panied by the No Drill announce- ment over the P. A. Schmidt had to put bac kthe rescue breather. Picked up about ninety airdales today, and tomorrow the LCT crews will come aboard. More deck scrap- ers will have to be broken out. August 20 1 Yesterday we sailed in convoy for, the first time and had our difficulties maintaining station. GQ morning and evening! Zeiss still isn't convinced that da Bums is no longa de Woild Champs. August 25 This afternoon we arrived at Guan- tanamo Bay, Cuba. Before we could enter the harbor we had to wait for an outbound convoy to clear the nets so some of the boys went shark fish- ing and managed to haul a pretty fair sized one aboard. For awhile it looked like Higgins might put his cleaver to work, but no one wanted to clean it so Hand shoved it back into the drink. The liberty in Guan- tanamo was a big success, but there was nothing else of interest. No stores worth piratingl The trip from Guan- tanamo-down to Panama entailed painting, and painting. September 1 After two rugged nights in Coco Sola, one at the expense of Ensign Langer, we entered the Pedro Miguel Locks of the Panama Canal at 1350 and passed out of the Miroflores Locks at 1521 today. LST's 1029 and 708 were with us as we headed up the coast of 'Mexico for San Diego and our last home port-of-call. September. 14 One small fire is all the log re- corded during this stretch, but then, writing the log had already become a somewhat boring task. We arrived outside San Diego Harbor around 0300 and as was the custom, prompt- ly set the special sea detail. A few moments of delightful cruising were enjoyed by all before we tied up Cat 08305. You can never guess who we tied up to. What! You did guess? Well, you're wrong. lt was the 1028 and not the garbage barge A. L. Davis thought it was. September 19 Bubak and Moon joined us today, but our net gain totalled only one as Mr. Bennet left for the hospital two days ago. Mr. Foyle assumed. the duties of the executive officer, and Mr. Flynn completely defeated Mr. Verchot in their hard-fought contest for the title Queen of the Showers.