Lexington (CV 16) - Naval Cruise Book

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From the bridge the Captain looks down at the empty deck, the expression on his face indicates deep concern and reveals affection, as well as the pride he has previously expressed, for his airmen. The men in the gun galleries around the flight deck turn questioning faces up to their skipper. From radar plot we learn the laps are now 45 to 50 miles away, flying in formation at r9,ooo feet. The fighter director radios Buie that he is about 4,ooo feet above the lap planes and that when he sights them, to NGO GET 'EM. Now the images on the radar screen break into a scattered jumble, we spend the next fifteen minutes sweating it out. Then the scattered little blurs on the radar screen assemble into orderly patterns and the orderly patterns are identified as friendly bogies, our planes. The taut expression on the Captain's face breaks into a smile . . . his boys are coming home. Soon we sight them, they drop in to the landing circle, then land. Buie comes up to the bridge to report to the Captain 3 trying hard to appear calm and casual, he verifies and amplifies the fantastic story as it was revealed to us by the magical little blurs on our radar screens. He estimates that the Iaps outnumbered his outfit two to one, thinks it doubtful that any of their planes ever got back to wherever they came from. One of our Hellcats had its rear elevator rudder shot up, put out of control so that the pilot could not have made a carrier landing, he bailed out and para- chuted down just ahead of our task group and was picked up by one of our destroyers. Air intelligence ofiicers interview each pilot, crosscheck their observations. The Captain sends his report to Rear Admiral C. A. Pownall, in command of our Task Group. In this action between I2 of the Lexingzoffs Hellcats and 21 to 23 enemy fighters and bombers, Zekes and Haps, I7 of the enemy's planes were shot down, four more listed as probables. As we did not lose a man, the score stands I7 to o. To communicate the lusty enthusiasm, in evidence among the deck crew, to all hands below, the Captain has each pilot come up to the bridge and tell it all over the public address system. It is a press agent's dream of a million dollar all-star broadcast. Not a single word of bravado or heroics from any one of these boys, but a crackling humor that Bob Hope or Fred Allen might envy. Not one of them would admit that he had done anything really worth mentioning during this shindig, , 6 1 I i f' Tidy I .v, 4 . x .. J, . f X ,ggi- r WAITING-THE SKIPPER SWEATS IT OUT! x ef' -5 gi A .2 qs