Lexington (CV 16) - Naval Cruise Book

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RADAR PLOT BOYS BRING SCOREBOARD UP TO DATE T I r J 7 i i JG?-and it's turkey dinner with trimmings for everyone. The Marines have blasted, burned, and dug out the enemy and raised the flag on the trunk of a defronded palm tree at Tarawa. The first U. S. plane has just landed on Betios airstrip. They are also setting up the little white crosses over the graves of the I,O26 U. S. Marines reported killed. One hopes that some of their 2,557 wounded are able to eat turkey today. Said USMC,s Major General Holland M. Smith: No way has yet been found to make war safe or easyf' The U. S. now holds the Gilbert Islands. Lexin g1f0n's Hellcats have completely smashed two successive attempts by the enemy to send aircraft from the Marshalls to aid their hard-pressed garrison on Tarawa. Buie's boys are officially credited with shooting down 29 planes in these two interceptions. They left few, if any, of the enemy's planes to get back to their bases. None got through to Tarawa. We head Westward towards friendly waters and a rendezvous with the entire task force. to rest, refuel, and reorganize for the next operation. The destroyer that picked up our pilot after he had bailed out of his damaged plane, in that first combat interception, comes alongside and sets up the gear to send him over. A voice from the destroyer calls out, What are you paying for aviators today? Benny Wright promptly shoots back with Twenty gallons of vanilla and we throw in a couple of crates of oranges. So we get 53

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our flyer, and the destroyer boys eat ice cream and get a whiff of fresh fruit. It is in the tradition that for every airman picked out of the drink', the carrier pays tribute in gallons of ice cream. All Navy airmen have a soft spot in their hearts for the destroyers. In Navy lingo these tough and doughty ships are affectionately dubbed cans,', they do all the mean and many of the heavy chores of a task force, and they are known for dishing out and taking punishment out of all proportion to their tonnage. The imposing, awe-inspiring array of Naval vessels now assembled in this quiet sector of the Pacific is evidence of how much the fleet has grown since Pearl Harbor. Aircraft carriers dominate the picture. Great CV's, sister ships of the Lex, CVE's, escort carriers, and off on the horizon the gaunt, unmistakable silhouette of the Sczmzfoga, a sister ship of the old Lexington. Not far from us rides another grand old war bird, the big E, the Enterprise. While meandering around on the flight deck getting pictures of the boys lolling around, play- ing games, sunning themselves, the Captain's voice comes barking from the bullhorn telling me, and incidentally all hands, there is a good picture to be had if I can get to the fantail in a hurry. I sprint down to, and along, the full length of the hangar deck, dodging around and under planes, arrive breathless at a hatch leading to the fantail where I bump squarely into F rank Morris. Morris, war correspondent for C 0ZZz'er's Magazine, is breathing a little sharply himself. When he heard the Captain's message he concluded that where there is a picture, there is also apt to be a story. It was a good try but we both muffed it. A destroyer had come in to deliver a pouch of secret mail, but the maneuver had been quick and so smooth that when we got there it was all over and the destroyer was already heading for somewhere else. There are not many methods of taking things easy on a carrier, but we try all of them. Reading, studying, sleeping, poker, and in secluded corners maybe a nice little crap game. Sometimes it is sit and chew the fat, and sometimes it's just plain sit. Any two men that are not doing one of these things are sure to pull out their pocketknives for a game of mumblety-peg.